Like other third world nations, opportunities in Jamaica were limited. If you were born poor most likely you were going to die poor. America is one of the few places in the world were a poor person could work hard and make a decent living.
People knew this around the world. To get a visa to live or even visit America is priceless in many Jamaicans mind. People would pay almost anything for a visa. People that had the opportunity to leave the country to reside in the U.S. would do economically better than if they were to stay in Jamaica. Most Jamaicans who resided in America would return to Jamaica to visit their friends and relatives. They would return with an abundance of food and clothes. Because of this, people who sent or brought back goods to Jamaica were considered to be well off. When in actuality some of them weren't. But in the eyes of many Jamaicans, they made it.
Rick grew up with his grandmother who he considered to be his mother. To him his real mother was this stranger that visited ever so often from the city, Kingston. He disliked going to Kingston to visit his mother. He knew the lady to be his mother but had a hard time accepting her. He had a hard time communicating with her and even calling her mommy. He never really called her by any name until he was in his teens.
Although he never grew up with his mother, she always made sure his best interests were met all the time. She made sure he went to the dentist at a time when many of Rick friends didn't even know what a dentist was. She made certain he had clothes and would routinely give money to his grandmother to raise Rick. Rick's mother had been trying for a long time to get visiting visas for Rick and herself to the U.S. She wanted Rick to visit his father and for her to see what America was actually like. She had serious thoughts about living in the U.S. One day after months of trying, she finally got visiting visas for Rick and herself. The day she showed Rick his passport he immediately asked if he could take it and go show it to his friends. All his friends thought he was the luckiest person in the world to have the opportunity to visit the mystical land of America.
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