I realize that I have been remiss in posting updates about Jamaica, but one of the causes of this is that there are so many different topics about which I could post that I am slightly overwhelmed in making up my mind. I could summarize my current day-to-day activities (which I will refrain from doing since for the most part they simply consist of various lectures and meetings), or I could reflect on our service day this past Friday. Rather still I could describe some of the many observations that I have made about Jamaica and Jamaican culture. With so much that I want to say and my inability to choose a topic, I fear rambling about nothing at all.
That being said, I’ll do my best to explain Friday. On Friday the three volunteers who will be leaving in a few weeks took the three new volunteers to their various service sites. We started at St. John Bosco, a boys’ home for boys who have juvenile records, who were living on the streets, or who were removed from their respective home situations. They range in age from seven to eighteen. The experience at the school was great. Jen, one of the current volunteers, teaches a drama class to the boys, so I helped with that for a while. Unfortunately for them I had to sing a solo and play "Helper B" in the short time that I was there, subjecting them to my lack of vocal and dramatic skill. I then went to the library with Michelle, one of the other volunteers, and there I read and talked with many of the boys, which I really enjoyed. Steve is one of the current volunteers, and he coaches football (soccer) at the school, but since the weather wasn’t great, we didn’t get to hold practice with him. Instead he took us to some of the homes in the area with very poor or sick residents, as he visits them periodically to offer his support. In the afternoon we went to an area, in which Jen volunteers, known as Albion Gully. This is a very small, rural area situated between two mountains. There are only a handful of families there, but there is a small Catholic mission church in the gully. While there we held youth group with the kids. We also read, colored, and sang with them. We ended the afternoon there by hiking with them to a cave that was hidden back in the side of a cliff. It was a great day overall, as it was great to get a glimpse of what the next year will bring.
Most days since we have been here have been spent in meetings and lectures, so the service day was a great change of pace. Today we were given the daytime off before a Civ-like lecture on the History of the Church in Jamaica (including a history of the Reformation and the history of England since about 1550). Luckily we were able to take advantage of our time off by spending a couple of hours at Treasure Beach during the day. We drove a little over an hour to this small beach on the south coast of Jamaica where we got lunch at a little beachside restaurant called Jack Sprats before swimming in the little cove. It was the first time in my two weeks here that I have even had the need for sunblock!
There are so many other entertaining things to touch upon, from the food to the roads to the language to my bobsled ride (kidding - that one was for Bennett), but I think for today I’ll just leave you with a little bit about how in Jamaica I might as well be Lady Gaga with the amount of attention that we all illicit when we are in public. I hadn’t given much thought to skin color before I left and the fact that I would stick out, but we are extremely visible at all times here, and the people are not afraid to let us know that they have noticed (and I know, my extra pasty skin isn’t helping it much). Whether it was the man that proposed to me in the grocery store the other night, or the numerous “Hey, Whitey!” calls that I got from passing cars on my run this morning, the visibility and attention is going to take some getting used to over the next few weeks!
I haven't been very good about taking pictures, so I will have to get them from the other girls another time, but for now here are some of the photos I've taken this past week.
Reading to some boys in Albion Gully.
This photo is of the three current volunteers who will be leaving August 1st. From the left they are Michelle, Steve, and Jen. This was taken at a dinner with the Mandeville Support Team.
From the left it's me, Sean, Natalie, Brendan, and Kathryn. These are the five that will be here this year. Sean and Brendan are staying for their second year. Sorry it's not the best picture, but it's the only one I had!
This is Treasure Beach. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo until the clouds had rolled in and we were out of the water, but it was beautiful.
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