Journal 3-19-2006: on the plane Jamaica - Chicago

There aren't any dates in this journal, and to tell the truth, this is just one big entry because the English major in me was on vacation this week and didn't want to write.  But now that I have a chance to finally sit and think here on the plane, I do want to write things down.  And I think the lack of dates will be appropriate considering the Jamaican sense of time -- may as well be culturally accurate here! We started at Cove school the first day and man! was it a big job.  It's the largest of all the schools we had to do, and we painted the outside gray on the bottom and a yellow/creamish for the main part on three buildings (school, kitchen and bathroom buildings) and all the grates and eaves on the school building.

At a Jamaican farm near the tech school (Seaford Town, Jamaica, Mar. 2006)

We actually couldn't finish in one day and had to come back on Thursday to finish the kitchen and bathroom buildings and the eaves.  A huge job and we all were completely exhausted and complaining, but afterwards, everybody gathered behind the school and the children sang to us as a thank you.  When "One Love" poured out of those beautiful children's mouths, I couldn't help but cry (ok, more like sob).  I could see these three girls in the front row who'd been attached to me all afternoon and it hit me how important what we did was to them.  The school may have dirty little fingerprints all over it by now, but I hope a few of those teachers and children remember the goofy foreigners who helped them once, and I hope they pass it on. The second school was Ketto school which as a pre-school for 3-5 year olds.  Adorable!  There wasn't too much to do since last year's group painted the outside (blue and yellow!!) but we still put in a full day painting the inside baseboards, their tables and chairs and building a swingset.  We had to come back to finish the swingset (rode motorbikes over there!) and when the kids swarmed down to try them out, we had our first wreck.  A little girl let go too soon and fell off - well, got to break them in eventually eh?  But it was so sweet to see them so excited to finally have some play equipment.  It's something American schoolkids always take for granted - a school always comes with a playground.  But not here.  Unfortunately, we never were able to build the jungle gym, but that'll be a good project for when we or the next group comes back. Speaking of coming back :)  Ken talked to the principal at Ketto and they need a new kitchen and dining room built on to the school and he's seriously thinking of coming back to take it on.  He's thinking just after Christmas, but we'll see what happens.  Mary, KJ and I have been trying to think of ways to help fundraise already and possibly go back down to help. The third school was Mango Hall school and it was by far the smallest and most in need.  It's also a pre-school and we got to paint it a beautiful yellow (I love yellow!) and install their bathroom and a kitchen sink.  I'm amazed at the things these schools do without, and yet they're so focused on teaching the children that they make do with every little bit they get.  The kids were going to the bathroom in a hole in the ground with a box as a toilet and cooking the kids' lunches with no running water!  We managed to get everything installed, but didn't have time to turn on the water to see if it all worked.  I really hope they continue the momentum we had that day to finish everything and give those kids what they need and deserve. One thing I've noticed with the children is that the girls are so much more openly affectionate with their friends and they're also just as aggressive as the boys.  We were playing a makeshift game of catch at Cove, and the girls were tackling each other for the ball, and they'ad also push or hit back if a boy did it to them - no whining or crying from these girls!  But I guess in this culture girls and women have to be tough to survive sometimes.