Saturday night in Hellshire was filled with bittersweet goodbyes as we all celebrated together with our host families. The community hosted a cook out in the local park to wish us luck on our future endeavors. I cant believe how fast the time is flying.
After heading to the beach one last time on Sunday morning, Group 82 gathered at the church, boarded its sector specific busses and headed off in three different directions.
The Jamaican landscape is as dichotomous as the culture itself. After about an hour of driving, we (the Green Initiative) went from the white sandy beaches of Hellshire to the luscious peaks and valleys of the Blue Mountain range. It’s like we transported to an entirely different world.
Da bush is nice. Other than its breathtaking beauty, its cooler, quiter, cleaner, smaller, and the communities seem to have a real genuine “down to earth-ness” about them. After about a 3000 foot trek up the Blue Mountain, we unloaded from the van to meet our new host families. Each family had a representative meet us at the community center which will act as our training location for the next 5 weeks. The community center provides a place for youth to do homework and for other community members to access the web, use the library etc... The center was actually a part of a previous PC volunteers efforts. Nice to see that his work is still standing and being used today.
Everton, my new host dad, was there to pick me up and take me to my new home. As we continued up the mountain to his house he loved explaining to me how excited he was to have a host son from America. He emphasized how much he was looking forward to teaching me and learning from me about our respective cultures. He said, “Maak, I wan you to feel so comfortable at mi ome dat when you move on and do your work in Jamaica, an you eventually go bak to ya ome in da United States dat you can tell people dat you also ave a ome here. And wen yeh come bak to visit us, you can just tell people, ‘mi a go ome’ (I’m going home)”.
When we got to the house I was introduced to my new mom Maureen and my THREE little brothers, Shawayne, Shadayne, and Rashayne. Ages 14, 11, and 6 respectively. There are also countless cousins, uncles, aunts etc... that are always coming in and out of the house They are awesome and have taught me more in the last three days then I’ve learned in my entire time here. I look forward to coming home and playing dominoes with them, or throwing the football around. They are all musically gifted and could probably score a recording contract in the states. I recorded a video of them and it is currently uploading to facebook so check it out. Hopefully it works.
Believe it or not the Richardson’s are devout Seventh Day Adventists. Every morning begins with a 530-6am devotion where the family gets together to sing and pray. This morning, uncle shorty (Everton) asked for volunteers for the closing devotion prayer and of course, everyone looked at me. So I gave it my best shot, I don’t think it was a complete disaster. I do enjoy the musical outlet that religion brings to the family, but I definitely need to brush up on some hymns. My little brother Shawayne warned me that uncle shorty was going to ask me to lead an entire devotional next week... time to get my bible out and study.
Something else that the blue mountains have provided is a great place to run. There are roads and trails everywhere and because we are out in the country, I am allowed to roam farther by myself than I was able to in Hellshire. I got a lot of funny looks and heckles on my Monday evening run, jogging is something that Jamaicans don’t really do. Most of them, especially in the country, get enough exercise in their daily routines so they stay pretty fit. However, some of my extended family members took note of my running interests and woke me up on tuesday morning at 4:30am to join them for their routine... Why so early? well we couldn’t miss the morning devotional. The 4:30 wake up time and jog has become a part of my routine. Its definitely a little brutal but I’m already getting used to it and I’m making some great Jamaican friends in the process.
As always, thanks for reading and thanks for your patience. Is there anything you all want to hear about? If you are curious about anything, don’t hesitate to post a question.
Much Love
there are pictures on facebook
Mi a tek way miself
Have you seen these guys on your morning run? Heck, maybe one of 'em is Uncle Shorty! http://tiny.saymedia.com/aj60
ReplyDelete(This is a SAY Media ad I worked on for Puma, let me know if it doesn't work)
Mark, I expect you to come back and run a marathon now... maybe sneak back for wildflower??
ReplyDeleteb money, the link isn't working! And yes the altitude is getting me in decent shape. Theres a half marathon on december that I think I might sign up for... This is the first time ive had internet for a while, sorry ive been disconnected.
ReplyDeleteRight now I'm shaddowing an ag/env volunteer. I took a 6 hour trip across the island to meet up with him yesterday. He has projects running at an organic farm and a fish sanctuary which are both minutes from his house. He's getting some good work done and having a great PC experience. Its been nice to get out of training for a few days and out on my own. This was the first time ive been allowed to take public transportation by myself. Will try to get a real blog post up soon.
Looking forward to pictures of your Jamaican family. How are those devotionals going? How are you doing without meat? Do you know the religious thinking behind this practice? Mitch was asking at TRX class. I guessed it had something to do with caring for the temple ~ your body or not killing other living things...or neither. Speaking of TRX I got a package that I think you ordered? When can we send care packages and what would you like sent? Please provide translations...Don't remember what tek means. They have marathons there? Love you. Mom
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