You must be so torn, @millycf1976 — wanting to honor your family and your roots, but at the same time wanting to build your life elsewhere, where there is more opportunity and less crime. It sounds like you are making the right choice for you, and it means living elsewhere, even though you carry Jamaica in your heart.

About six years ago I went to do some community service projects in Jamaica and stayed for a week. I was repeatedly told about the crime and how it is unsafe to go anywhere alone. We were in a very rural area, and we stayed in a gated compound. I was very sad to see the amount of poverty the people endured there. Many people were homeless or living in shacks constructed from cardboard and sheets of plastic. It broke my heart. I was wishing that I could do something to help that beautiful country to reclaim itself as one of the earth's jewels, and have enough commerce to support its citizens.