So, I know it has been awhile since I wrote my entries. Getting all my college information together has been hectic…but since I have been writing about Jamaica for many of my essays, it has helped me really reflect on my time there. I’ll try my best to get my entries up quickly. I kept a journal while I was there so I have a guide about what I want to write about. So…this is day 2… I woke up pretty early. It was Sunday morning…aka church day. I woke up and looked outside of my window. I stayed in Carolyn House. It was really bright out for being early; I forgot how much earlier it gets bright further down south compared to Ohio. I woke up and went out into the kitchen where the teacher and another girl were gathered. We had to make our own breakfast every morning but lunch and dinner were made for us. Some of the girls decided they were going to make pancakes. I went back in my room to do some more unpacking and to see if I had service yet so I could text my parents…because I knew they were panicked not hearing I got there. I went back into the kitchen to the girls cooking breakfast holding up what looked like a lump of dough…we tried to make pancakes without baking powder…which didn’t really work. Staying with the French teacher was a plus because she was able to improvise and make crepes. She made them, and they were very good…and I was assigned breakfast duty for the remainder of the week since I cook a lot. The teacher and other girls staying at James house came over for breakfast. While they were eating, I got ready to go to church. We met Sr. Mimi and Susan up at the convent (their home) to depart for church and to meet them because they were at a meeting the day we arrived. Sr. Susan left directly for church because she was a minister and had to be there early. In the meantime, we all boarded Sr. Mimi’s large van and took a quick tour of Mandeville. We drove around seeing the town hospital, college, girls school and houses that were either very large or very small. One of the girls asked Sr. Mimi about this…and she simply replied, drug money. After our quick tour of town, we arrived at church. It was a very small church. One unique thing about it though is that it didn’t have windows, it was all open. It was very unique…something I never experienced. A few other perceptions were that the priest was not Jamaican, he was actually white with a weird accent…it was a little uncomfortable at the end because Father announced that he would not be returning, not coming from that parish I was not really sure how to reach…there was also a large group there that took up a lot of the church, I believe they were on a choir trip…one other thing I noticed was how few instruments etc. there were, coming from where there are a few pianos, drums, and a huge choir it was quite a shock. Yet, there were 3 women singer that sang very beautifully. Church was a great experience. Afterward, we were greeted by what I am assuming was many of the regular parishioners. They asked us where we were from, what we were doing, if we liked Jamaica, and thanked us for making a difference in Jamaica. Although I had never met these people before, I felt like I had known them forever. This was one thing about Jamaica I LOVED everyone you met was friendly. In fact, the Jamaicans find it rude if you don’t say hi to someone while walking past them or talking to them, so you were always greeted. It was a big difference from the US. After church, we took a group picture and went to deliver something to a little children’s orphanage. It was a really sad sight. There were little kids ranging from maybe 4-7 behind iron bars. They were waving their hands out of the bars as the bus pulled up…I assumed they were hoping we were coming to adopt one of them. It was a rough site to see…it was a harsh reality of life I had never really been exposed to. We arrived back shortly. We went back to our home to get changed and we had to meet Sr. Susan in the dining hall for orientation. We all sat in the dining hall where we had dinner the night before. Sr. Susan walked in with folders and a knife. Sr. Mimi also joined us. I sat at the table. Sr. Susan sat down and held up the knife…I kind of figured she did this with every group just to scare them…but that was not the case. She goes look at this knife. This is what I came home from church to. While we were at church, there was a fight between two boys that ended up in a stabbing…it was over a ball. This is when I was truly scared. I knew the boys were there for a reason…but I didn’t expect something like that to actually happen while I was there. The one boy somehow got a hold of the knife and rolled it up in his sleeves. We went through orientation where Sr. Susan briefed us on the boys…what to expect…why there were there…what to do and what not to do…and much more. Orientation was over and it was time to have a 6 hour play/bonding time with the boys…I’ll add part 2 tomorrow. And, I’ll also put photos on a website and link it to this so people can see them.
So two things from the last entry that I forgot to mention were 1…the first time I experienced the discipline of a boy is when Sr. Mimi was sitting in orientation and saw a boy walk by the dining room. She went outside to yell at him because he was not supposed to be there…but it turned out that he was actually a new boy who was not sure where he was supposed to be. And, 2, when Sr. Susan said that we will want to fix and change the boys…but we can’t…and that although they have nothing, they will give more to us than we could ever give to him. The reason that I mention the statement above is because I believer that to be true. I went thinking when I left it would be prefer…that I would be the one that would fix the boys forever…yet, they were the ones that fixed me…more on this later…
So, after orientation, it was time to finally meet the boys. Speaking from all the members of our group, we were super scared. I was not sure what to expect really. After Sister’s orientation and the stabbing…I was very hesitant to walk out on that field and be a target…but I had no choice. I remember that we were walking past the fence up by the school…looking at the boys…while they were looking at us…knowing that we were going to come play with them. I remembered that I took a deep breath and crossed into the fenced area…now being prone for the boys to come up to me. I crossed over and immediately there was a huge group of boys holding my hand, tugging my shirt, pulling me in every direction wanting me to play with them. This was very overwhelming!!! I explained to the boys that I had 6 hours to play with them and that I would play with all of them sometime through the course of the day. I settled to play soccer with Meg, another girl on the trip. I was very quickly corrected that I was playing football…not soccer. I knew that the first few minutes were critical because it was when the boys would get their first impression of me, and I would get my first impression of them. I tried my best to be tough…but I realized that they were more respectful of me than I thought. They all called me Miss. All the boys that were playing soccer took a time out to come over and meet me. They asked me my name and told me their…then they quizzed me to see whose name I remembered…and that was very hard. They drilled me with questions about where I was from, my family, school, my life, what I do, and how I liked Jamaica so far. In return, I asked them some questions such as how they liked it there to try to relate to them. I think they were a little cautious about including me at first because I was a stranger and they were not sure what they could get away with with me there. The boys explained to me how they played football. They used ½ a field, one goalie, and every man was for his self. I was hesitant to take the ball away from the boys at first. I was not sure how they would react…I was afraid they would get mad and then who knows what. But, I was surprised to find they were getting mad at me for not taking the ball away from them. This is when I met my first Boy that I got close to…Mario…whose real name was Derek Miller…he was about my age. {more on him later}. He came up to me first and asked me if I had put on sun screen because I was very white and he was concerned that I would get burnt. Then he asked me why I was not playing. I told him I didn’t want to interrupt their game. He told me that I should play. He got the ball and passed it to me a few times and I eventually scored. I was congratulated by many of the boys which was cool. Andre (one of the now catering boys) was goalie. He accidently kicked the ball into Meg’s leg very hard…she had a huge bruise the rest of the trip…and shortly after fell into the mud…but surprisingly he apologized and made sure she was ok. Then…the boys got the idea that Meg and I should be goalie. This was pretty scary…those boys are GOOD! They kicked the ball really hard and after I let some shots in I decided to take a break. I went and read to a few boys for a little while. One of the girls, Shannon, brought down a lot of books to donate. The boys took a new love for reading while we were there because that was a pretty popular activity while we were there. After I cooled off, I decided that I was going to play basketball. This was when the fun really started. One of the boys asked me to play. I decided I would even though I have barely ever played basketball and was no good. I also got my friend Allison to play since she was good. Immediately there was a flock of boys on the basketball court wanting to play. This is when I met a few more boys…Millard (A. Millwood) who we called Chris Brown {explain later}, Mario…who became my new found friend for the week played, Fabian Bygrave, Jerome, Futik (I wasn’t sure of this boys name…it sounded like they were saying a bad word though lol), ONeil, DeShawn, and some others. My other friend, Lindsay came over to play too. They deiced that we should play boys versus girls….at one point I’m pretty sure it was about 15 on 5…only because two of the boys were nice and joined the girls side. Jamaican basketball was interesting…We “had to play tough because we were in Jamaica now!!” They took it very seriously. It was intense! They were very physical and didn’t give us any sympathy because we were girls…but it was more fun that way. We didn’t keep official score...but I’m pretty sure we won only because there were so many people on the boys team and a few on ours they never knew who was on whose team. Mario kept making excuses how he was going easy on us because we were ladies and he didn’t want us to get hurt…although he was definitely the one I can give thanks to for all of the bruised I acquired from basketball throughout the week. Mario was definitely one of the leader…all of the little kids looked up to him for what to do…he seemed like an ok kid. Things were going better than I thought. I was having a great time. I got kind of tired of basketball so I went over to one of the boys sitting on the hut by the basketball court watching us play. I asked him why he wasn’t playing…he just kinda looked at me. I noticed he was playing with some kittens…which surprised me because I knew he was much older than me. I asked him what his name was and he said Marlin. I asked him how he was and he said not good. He pointed down to his leg that was covered in blood. He said that he got stabbed earlier that day. I asked him what happened and he said that he wanted a ball, which is what Sr. told us. I asked him why he did it and he said he really didn’t know…it just kinda of happened. I told him that next time he should find a better way to solve his problems. I talked to him for a little bit. He also became one of the boys I got close to…although I was a little more afraid of him than some of the others at this point. Before I knew it, it was dinner time. The guard rang the bell. Many of the boys froze…the guard yelled at some of the boys that did not. Then he said some things I could not understand. Mario explained to me that it was dinner time and he wanted to know if I would come with him. I told him that I could not do that. He asked if I’d play with him tomorrow and I promised that I would. I watched as the boys lined up in straight lines with one hand on the shoulder of the boy in front of him. The day went really well. I had met many boys and felt good about the rest of the week. I then had dinner with Sr. Susan and Mimi. They asked us about how we thought it went. I think across the board everyone said it went well. We told them some of the boys that we met…and at orientation she predicted all the boys that would make an attempt to come and meet us…and she was right. I enjoyed one of the many delicious dinners I would have. We were also introduced to the catering boys…Nelson, Kenroy, Andre and a few others. They were very respectful to Sister replying “yes sister” every time she asked them to do something. That night, as a group, we went back to reflect on the day. I was so glad that I had the opportunity to be there. Earlier that afternoon when I finally got service, and cleared out the 100 texts from my parents and friends wondering if I got there and wondering if my parents phones weren’t working and if my friends were reaching me…I text my parents and told them that I wished it was Saturday (the day we were leaving). I don’t know why but at that point I wanted to go home…I think it was because I was scared of the boys. I was also scared that maybe I wasn’t the right person to be there…that there should be someone else, besides me there to make a difference in the boy’s lives. However, by that night…I knew it was going to be a week I never wanted to end.