The stunning ranges in affluence

Celebrated my birthday last night with a Jamaican neighborhood celebration the likes of which none of us have ever seen. The Jamaican's know how to party and find any reason in the world to do it, even if it's a strange old white woman's birth. I'll have more next week when we reach a computer that is able to handle photos of the event.

I've been struck by the degrees of economic affluence in Jamaica. For those who have traveled here for vacation, the interior is not the same as that narrow necklace around the perimeter. It's especially magnified in our Parish, Clarendon, and our town, Chapelton. Last week we met with other PC Volunteers from the area in the home of one of the countries wealthiest families. Maids, pool, cabana, big cars, the typical upscale setting. This morning on my run I crossed paths with Flabby, the fisherman, on his way to the river to catch fish in the river which he will sell on the street later today. He was on the back of a donkey with milk crates as saddle bags. Not much further along I came across a woman and her chrii likl pikni [three young children-pikni is not a derogatory term in JA]. She carried a large box of laundry on her head and a bottle of bleach. One of her pikni carried more clothes in a bag. She was headed to do her wash in the same river Flabby was fishing in, bleach and all. She'll spend the day at the riverside doing the laundry for her family [count your blessings-I hate laundry under the best of circumstances].

We met with the local high school Principal this morning and he told us one of his biggest problems is fighting off squatters and those who rob the schools vegetable gardens. They have a 128 acre campus with only six used for the school proper. On some of the outer property they grow fruits and vegetables for the cafeteria [I liked that resourceful use of assets]. But squatters come in, set up camp and help themselves. I'm left with the same feeling I had after seeing the latest Ben Affleck directed pic, Gone Baby Gone; whose the enemy here? The poor starving squatter or the educational institution?

Otherwise, mi be gud. Margaret

One week of on-site training

It's been one week today and we are falling into the Jamaican lifestyle in terms of work, travel, diet, etc. At the last posting Margaret mentioned the travel from here to May Pen for meetings and more meetings. I won't say anymore. As far as work we have had two meetings (attempts at meeting our supervisors and counterparts) in May Pen....both have been cancelled because all relevant parties were on vacation. We did however succeed on sitting in on a hospital staff meeting in Chapelton that had as it's headline a goodbye party for the PC volunteers that we are replacing. Just your typical "good-bye" party. The first 15 minutes consisted of a devotional with psalms, singing and prayers. Then two women from a Jamaican trust company spoke for 45-60 min (it was sooo long I can't remember) on the benefits of home mortgages, equity loans for fix-up, and in general how you could get money to build and or repair....or anything else. I zoned out in the first three minutes. Others were sleeping as well! This was the equivalent of Sargent College having an all-college meeting and having Bank of America come and talk for the first 45 minutes about all-inclusive loans. I kept asking myself if this was really happening! This was supposed to be a send off for two people that gave two years of their life helping the hospital community.

Well finally the bank people finished and I breathed a sigh of relief....now, I said we can get to the celebration....NOT....For the next two hours the "chairman" (sort of like the chairman of health sciences) directed the monthly hospital staff meeting. Each constituency reported on any problems...well...that just opened the doors for all kinds of complaints: nurses re maintenance, records re nurses, doctor re records, nurses, patients,....and on and on...Finally, with this meeting beginning at 10:30...it was 3:00 and the celebration began. Kind words were spoken about the departing PCVs...along with the introduction of Margaret and I. Everyone said we had big shoes to fill...except that we were unable to get started this week because of vacation schedules. Yesterday we had a regional meeting of Peace Corps volunteers in our parish...four of whom are leaving. It was the most informative meeting we've had since our arrival in Chapelton..(at least that's my impression - GSS). Well, it's Friday afternoon and we are going to help the departing PCVs before we head back to our digs...Lata, mon!

The "Real Jamaica"

We've been in Chapleton for four days and seen alot. There are so many things to tell, but we'll start with travel. Not much more can be said beyond the fact that Jamaica has the third highest death rate on the roads than any other country worldwide. Yikes!!

The country is so poor that travel time is money to them. Most Jamaican's rely on getting somewhere to make money whether it's a bus driver or a farmer. The faster they drive the sooner they get to their destination, the sooner they can make some money and turn around to go back. We've ridden to the nearest city, May Pen, twice; three bus rides and a taxi. They were like the wildest carnival ride you've ever experienced.

Roads are maintained by each very poor locality so you can imagine the size of the pot holes. Nonetheless, drivers are not deterred. Country roads are curvy and narrow so the rides are harrowing. There's a local song about the "Bum Bum Bus" that describes the bouncing of your bum as you speed along the road with the music blaring and passengers "smalled up" [crammed to the max-busses don't leave until full- more money to be made that way].

More the next time we're able to get to the local library. Waak gud!

We leave for our assignment site 7/18

Just got our assignment this afternoon, Chapleton in Clarendon Parish. It's dead center in the middle of the island in the sourtheastern Blue Mountain foothills. There appears to be NOTHING there; phone service, internet the whole lot. Even the hospital we're working out of doesn't seem to have any service. Jamaica reportedly is 95% wired and of course we got the 5% assignment. The great thing is that we're going to both be working on developing a Health and Fitness program. We're replacing a couple with Nutrition backgrounds who did the same on that topic. We're meeting our host family tomorrow and will have a clear picture of the living accomodations for the next posting.



It will be nice to get out of Kingston to meet and interact with Jamaicans. So far we've been quite sheltered during training. Once at our site I'm sure we'll have lots more to tell about the culture, our work and the life in general.



We'll be at the site for two weeks and then return to Kingston for another week of training. The training is very intense with long hours and little time to prepare for the next day. I can't fathom what it must be like at other PC posts where training is 13 weeks of being holed up in a compound. Thank goodness we hit Jamaica while they pilot this new MO of 8 weeks interspersed with with site based training. SSS



Attached are photos of a field trip the group took to a beach on the southeastern tip of the island. I was very sick and stayed home but Gary represented us. There's also a few shots of our training site, Shortwood Teachers' College [prounounced Shothud Tiichas Colej].



Kiip yu fingas crosd fi di nes leg ov wi adventur.

We're so tired

They are working us hard. Each day is filled with training in language [Patois], culture [when we have more time we'll share some of those aspects with you-they are very interesting], safety [gets the most attention], volunteer health issues, Jamaican history, the upcoming work sector assignment, etc. The training by the Jamaican's is well organized and interesting; there's just so much of it. Our brains are borderline blitzed.

Where we're located I manage to get in a daily run or walk [eksursais- patois for exercise]. Hope our site assignment will allow me to keep that up.

The weekend was very interesting. Saturday we spent the day on a "walk about" in Kingston. There were three volunteers to one Jamaican guide. We were taught how to safely use public transport [no cars or motor bikes for volunteers]. Kingston is a gritty city with a 24/7 electric energy. Riding in some taxis and buses was akin to "Mr Toad's Wild Ride" in Disney World/Land. Understandably, Jamaica has the third most frequent auto accidents in the world. At one point the police pulled our driver over for some undisclosed reason. We shopped in the frenetic city market and had our first real Jamaican food. Gary had curried goat and I had pigs' feet and red bean soup; both were tasty.

On Sunday we finally had time to get ourselves organized. Then we walked to a market [past a country club that made Gary yearn for a swing or two] and washed our clothes by hand and hung them out to dry [just before the showers began].

Otherwise, all is well. Stay tuned.

Day 1-2...Kingston

Well, we're here in Kingston....long day on the 3rd...left hotel in Miami at 6 am for an 11:10 flight and it was 45 minutes late...arrived in Kingston at one o'clock and then stood in customs for at least 1 1/2 hours. The island weather is hot and humid; and there's no air conditioning in the classes during long sit down meetings. But, the training staff works hard to keep it varied and stimulating. We're staying at a teacher's college that has no air conditioning in our dorm room or screens on windows, which we share with another couple from NH....no water after 8 pm...starts again at 5 am. We promise to have pics with out next posting.

The interesting group of 52 volunteers we're training with come from quite varied backgrounds, knowledge and ages. Some just graduated from college in June and the eldest is 67. They are from all over including Hawaii and Alaska; one's a former California District Attorney others are teachers, photographers, business men and women, etc.

Our schedule looks like this for the next eight weeks:

Week 1 and 2: here at Shortwood Teachers College
Week 3 and 4; we travel to our work site (stay with host family) which we won't know until probably a few days before we leave
Week 5: back here at STC
Week 6 and 7: back at our site
Week 8: Final preparations, testings, and swearing in ceremony

While we are here at STC we just found out that we can use the computer lab which we are now using.....from 6-9 pm. At our host site...who knows.

Otherwise, it be irie. Margaret and Gary