Tendai Franklyn-Brown, Staff Reporter

Regisford-Gueye

With more than five million people in the Jamaican diaspora, the northern Caribbean island needs all the help it can get.

Significant strongholds reside in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada, funnelling billions of dollars in remittances - the biggest foreign exchange earner for Jamaica.

Now, South Africa has joined the party.

Dianne Regisford-Gueye, the only South African delegate on the opening day of the Third Biennial Jamaican Diaspora Conference, has big plans to rally support for her country of descent.

Regisford-Gueye, an entrepreneur of media firm Talawa Communications, wants to lead a movement that will allow Jamaican children in the diaspora to share a range of benefits and experiences. Among the projects envisaged are scholarships and exchange programmes.

Facilitating networking

She also wants to facilitate networking among Jamaicans in southern Africa. Regisford-Gueye, who said she knew at least 40 Jamaican professionals who currently reside in South Africa, mainly in Johannesburg, its most populous city, and Botswana, expressed confidence that her efforts at the conference would facilitate partnerships in both countries to support nation building here.

Regisford-Gueye, who is of Jamaican parentage, said the diaspora conference needs to go beyond mere talk to achieve sustainable development.

"It is a powerful presence we have as Jamaicans from across the world," she said, "and it's important that we continue to communicate once we return, and that it does not stay amongst ministers, policy makers and conferences," Regisford-Gueye explained on Monday.

The two-day conference, held at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston, ended yesterday.

tendai.franklyn-brown@gleanerjm.com

Prime Minister Bruce Golding (right), listens keenly to Earl Jarrett (left), chairman of the diaspora summit Preparatory Committee, during the opening ceremony of the Third Biennial Jamaican Diaspora Conference on Monday. At centre is Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Kenneth Baugh. - Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer