My pictures won't upload, so I'll upload them when I get home!
I have
continued to fall in love with the kids and staff at Mustard Seed and
everything about Jamaica. At times we
run into caregivers that aren’t as accepting, but I feel as though we have now
earned the respect of the staff and the kids throughout Mustard Seed. I feel like we fit in and feel comfortable
with everyone. We’ve learned so much
about the Jamaican culture, and even the aspects that are different or
sometimes seem crazy to us we’ve come to love and accept. All of these things are making it really hard
to prepare to leave because I feel like we’ve gotten the hang of it all and
there’s so much left to do and I wish I could stay for much longer!
I
thought I’d share a little of what I’ve learned about the very rich and strong
culture of Jamaica.
There is
so much that I love about the culture!
First and foremost I love the people in Jamaica. I was explaining to Natalia that I’ve never
felt as welcome as I do here. When you
walk into a room immediately everyone stops to greet you with a smile on their
face, we just don’t see that at home because everyone is so absorbed in what
they are doing or what they have to get done.
I can’t get over how pleasant everyone is and their joy is
contagious. At times I’ve witnessed
quick tempers that usually stems from many of the people’s extreme honesty, but
I love that the majority of the time if someone has a problem they openly
discuss it (sometimes loudly), resolve it, and quickly move on. I love the music and everyone’s ability to
sing, I swear everyone on this island has a good voice. People often join into song together on the
bus and I love that the people love to dance every chance they get. I love the way Jamaicans worship, despite all
of their poverty so many of them have shown me acceptance, love, and true
untainted faith that they easily share with everyone. They are unashamed of their faith and will
engage in deep theological/philosophical discussions without reservation but
with great poise. The Jamaican church
that we’ve attended and the devoted staff at Mustard Seed have taught me what
it truly means to pray without reservation and what it means to take your faith
to the next level. Jamaicans seem to be
overall a very passionate people in every aspect, they love to engage with
others and the majority of their day is spent interacting with others not
watching T.V., traveling, playing video games, or using technology…talk about
refreshing! I forgot to mention that August 6th is Jamaica's celebration of 50 years of independence, and everyone is busy getting ready, I'm sorry we'll miss the celebrations :(. To say the least everyone is
very excited and proud of the Olympic team that is representing them in the
next week, they even have a new reggae song about their team! I love Jamaican food it is seasoned so well
and really really good! I’ve been
slightly adventurous and tried goat and pig’s tail (sounds HORRIBLE but both
are actually quite good as long as I don’t think about it)! I love the beauty of the island, we’ve seen
so much amazing scenery that can’t be compared.
I will certainly miss the people and their zest for life!
There
are several aspects of the culture (as in any culture) that seem negative and
difficult to overcome. I have mentioned “Jamaican time” and I’ve
learned that this a phenomenon all over Jamaica, resulting in a laid back
attitude, changes in plans, and lateness.
Although I appreciate the laid-back attitude it sometimes leads to
extreme laziness and it’s sad to see the bus in the morning full of women who
are most likely single moms while the majority of people playing card games on
the street throughout the workday are men.
In Jamaica marriage is actually very uncommon but most people have many
children from different partners and there sometimes seems to be a lack of
responsibility when it comes to parenting.
Because having children is so expected a woman is called a “mule” if she
is 24 or older without children (so guess what that makes me)! The gender inequality is very evident in many
places in Jamaica. As I learned from a
talk we attended many men often consider their children a “collection”, they
say “I got 6 kids” instead of “I have 6 kids”, when hearing this speech it was
really apparent the difference in their attitudes when using this kind of
language. When I say we’ve learned to
use public transportation it hasn’t been an easy feat. It involves taking a “taxi”, a.k.a. someone’s
personal car that they will drive you down the mountain in for 80 Jamaican
dollars. It is the absolute norm here to
pile 5-7 strangers into little Toyota Camry’s that are probably from 1990 and
then fly down/up the mountain going at least 85 km/hr J. In Jamaica
there are no double yellow lines and most roads are extremely narrow and FULL
of potholes, which makes their love for passing each other and playing
“chicken” all the more fun as they yell at each other as they speed past. They all drive EXTREMELY fast, ignore stop
signs/red lights, and beep continuously as they drive through the
mountains. Although the whole taxi and
bus stuff seems crazy to us we’ve never had a bad experience and I think
they’re actually some of the best drivers around because despite all the crazy
driving I’ve felt safe (besides almost being pick pocketed while waiting for
the bus – but I said almost!). We’ve
loved talking to the taxi drivers who entertain us with their stories and
singing. We’ve had some that have been so
kind and will explain how to get to anywhere we need to go. We’ve had drivers that will brag the whole
way down the mountain because they have a car full of “whities” (not sure what
there is to brag about but we’ve had to get used to that lovely nickname and
the marriage proposals that often come with it)! One of the saddest sites throughout the
places we’ve been in Jamaica are the immense piles of trash that are all over
the side of the roads. They have to pay
for trash collection which many people can’t afford so they just litter
everywhere or burn their trash which makes for a horrible smell and of course
more pollution, it’s really sad to see!
The stray animal population is also extremely sad, there are stray dogs
literally everywhere all over Kingston.
Most look malnourished, beaten, and/or slightly crazed as they eat out
of the piles of trash or fight with each other.
As a dog lover that was one of the hardest things to get used to and I’m
still not quite over it, we quickly learned that in Jamaica they definitely do
not treat pets like we do in America!
Although some of these things are rough around the edges I see so many
who are working to overcome these downfalls.
It has been as usual a busy two weeks. I’ll try to recap each day, internet connection has been rough lately!
On Wednesday July 18th we were caregivers for the day at "My Father’s House". We helped with breakfast and brushing their teeth. Then we spent most of the morning in the PT room. I was able to hold a little boy for over 2.5 hours. I worked on stretching him, interacting with toys, and got to rock him to sleep when he was done J! I also fed him his snack, I love feeding the kids it is the best time to bond with them, it can also be really sad when a kid struggles so much with eating that is a chore for them. That day the little boy struggled repeatedly just trying to swallow some peanut juice, it’s heart breaking holding a little one in your arms while he constantly chokes but you know he needs to keep eating, once again an eye opener to all of the blessings that I take for granted, just being able to eat a meal without almost aspirating! After working with the kids we were able to join a group of teens from the inner city listening to a motivational speaker, who also happens to be a popular comedian in Jamaica who grew up in Trenchtown (a really rough area in Kingston). The speaker was arranged by “Roots” the Mustard Seed radio station. It was an awesome talk that focused on overcoming poverty and gender inequality that is so prevalent in Kingston. It was really sad but interesting to hear the teens’ perspectives on the poverty that they experience in their daily lives including their exposure to gangs, drugs, sex, and violence. It was also great to see how intently they listened to the speaker. I loved one of the messages that the speaker shared, he said, “Tings don’t happen to you, you need to happen to tings!” (I didn’t spell ‘things’ wrong, that is just how the pronounce it J). Overall it was a great day and I really enjoyed acting as a caregiver!
On
Thursday July 19th we woke up at 3 a.m. to attend 4 a.m. praise and
worship, adoration, mass, and recitation of the rosary. I know I’ve mentioned this in past blogs but
I wanted to explain a little more, it all takes place at “My Father’s House”
because that is where Monsignor Gregory (the priest who started all of MSC)
lives. As I’ve mentioned many of the
kids attend this prayer time and their example and witness is truly something
to see, especially when they lead the rosary.
I’ve considered it to be the most valuable experience in my time here in
Jamaica because I’ve never seen such pure worship. We had to say goodbye to Ben (the medium term
volunteer who was here for a year in the past) that morning, we’ll miss him
greatly as will all of the kids! After
attending that we joined the short term group for breakfast and then headed
back to “Sophie’s Place”. We were able
to work at “Sophie’s” for the first time (even though we live there we are
never usually there during the day). We
brought our bag of donations and used it to read stories to the kids, give them
different sensory experiences, and play different games. Kathryn even helped do one of the girl’s
hair. We then attended their “Thank You
Thursday” celebration which included singing, praying, and playing games as a
Sophie’s family. Ugh this video won't upload but I'll put it on facebook, it is an
example of why I love this place and I’m not ready to leave!
After working
with the kids we left Sophie’s around 2:00 and decided to go get lunch at
Wendy’s, I love Jamaican food, but we were tired of rice and beans so Wendy’s
was our best option. We enjoyed our
lunch and then had the bright idea of walking back to Papine which is near
Sophie’s, it was a lot farther then we originally thought but a nice walk. That evening we helped feed the kids and then
packed for the weekend, because we were going to Montego Bay!
Afterwards
the group went shopping quickly and we headed back to “Blessed Assurance” which
is the apostolate we stayed in. It is
also the apostolate where my God-daughter lives (whom I didn’t think I would be
able to see again), so I was so happy that I got to hang out with her again
even if it was for a short period of time!!
We came back and explored “Blessed Assurance”, ate dinner, and went to
bed early! “Blessed Assurance” is a
beautiful apostolate about 30 minutes away from the beach at Montego Bay.
That
night was an eventful one, because we were out in the country, we had a few
extra roommates including a rat (that bit Mandy’s finger, ate Charcey’s bag,
and was eating things under Kathryn’s bed – but didn’t bother me J) and Mandy and I were bitten ALL over by some
mysterious bugs, which we think were sand flies. When we woke up we were covered all over in
red bumps, but luckily they didn’t itch (until later). Although it was eventful we chalked it up to
a good story and were excited about going to the beach on Saturday!
Saturday
July 21st – We woke up early and helped feed the kids’ breakfast. Then we headed to the beach for most of the
day. We swam most of the time, climbed
the “iceberg”, and jumped on the trampoline, which was of course a lot of fun!
After a day at the beach we got to have dinner from Pizza Hut and hang with the kids. We had a great time getting to know the kids there and the caregivers were all so welcoming and sweet. We laughed about our experiences the previous night and we had the bright idea of sleeping with the lights on all night to discourage our four legged friend from visiting and it worked (and we all slept well even with the lights on)!
Sunday
July 22nd – We got up early to leave “Blessed Assurance” but first I
ran and said goodbye to my God-daughter L
I’ll really miss her, but I’m looking forward to keeping in touch through Mustard Seed. We took an express bus back from Montego Bay to Kingston, which was an extremely windy, mountainous 4 hour trip, with beautiful scenery (and 2 lovely movies to watch). As we were coming back to Kingston and we started seeing more and more of the metal and cardboard shacks that people live in, it felt like home. I realized that staying in Kingston has been a major reason this trip has been so wonderful because we are surrounded by poverty and corruption yet Mustard Seed has started up something amazing right in the middle of it and we get to witness that working with them every day! This is a picture of the gate at "My Father's House" and what the surrounding neighborhood is like, so you can see its right in the heart of the city. (with lots of security).
Kingston will always have a very special place in my heart and even though the other side of the island was beautiful I think the true beauty remains in the daily struggle to overcome so many obstacles! After arriving back to “Sophie’s Place” we met the new short term group from Atlanta – all 27 of them J (our 6th group we’ve met). We joined the group to go to “Matthew 25:40”, which is a home for boys with HIV/Aids. This house is full of life despite the illness these kids are facing. They are so much fun and we loved playing cards, being taught card tricks, playing soccer and other games, and just hanging out with the boys. As we were leaving one of them kissed my hand and looked at me with a huge smile that just melted my heart, providing a loving place for these kids to live is just one more miracle that Mustard Seed has made possible (the stigma against HIV is still extremely negative in Jamaica, so these kids are truly ostracized members of the community). We knew it was our last time seeing the boys so of course it was really sad saying goodbye even though we’ve only met them a few times! After we went to Devon House and got some amazing ice cream! We came back home and hung out with the kids from Sophie’s and helped to feed them dinner and put them to bed, always my favorite time of day.
A great week overall :)
No comments:
Post a Comment