Kingston the Ghost Town

August is always a slow time of year for expats who go away to escape the stifling heat, but this year the heat isn't only coming from the sun, it's coming from the elections.

While I doubt that this year's election-period will be anywhere near as violent as those we have experienced in the past, the word is out that Jamaican elections can be dangerous, and that the worst increase in murders came during the infamous 1980 elections.

The result is that expats, and especially non-working expat spouses, have been leaving Jamaica in droves, planning to return right after the dust settles in late August or early September.

It seems like a decent strategy.

Thankfully the elections are not being held in the middle of a school term, which could cause a major disruption in the schooling of young attendees of Hillel and the American School. At the same time, it doesn't look like we are in for a violent period.

The kinds of things that are happening seem non-political in nature, or just tribal. Our fingers are crossed, however, and that includes the expats who decided to stay and weather the storm.