Friday, December 12, 2008

Pictures of my mission

HEre are a few pics from my trip...I didn't get nearl enough on there so I will try to do some more later!

A few team member built this wall on our first day--we had it completely finished and painted by the time friday came around!




This was my "bubble"...I bought a mosquito net tent..what a great investment!




This is a good picture of our work site.....but not only that of neil and Patty they were so cute in thsi picture..but such a joy to be with all week..Neil and I struggled together at every meal!



Cement mixing



The local stream to take showers and wash laundry




The showers



As groups we were assigned "home visits" ..the pastor in the village sent us to various homes so we could get a close up of their life and learn about indivisual people and discuss God with them ..if it came up....this was the home of the Grandma Mabel and Dodd...they were in their 80's loved the lord and very happy to see us! She took on a tour around her house and there were loose boards ..none of the appliances worked and she had various buckets and old bottles to catch rain water...she lived up the mountain side--and she said on sunday mornings..she has to start walking down the hill at 5 in the morning so the pastor can pick up her up where the road starts so she can go to church..that is amazing to me! Such dedication..we are tryingto find a church in our town --so we don't have to drive 20 minutes away--how horrible are we?




Where they performed for the health fair

The health fair was less than sterile conditions..I can't even imagine recieving healthcare in that place..it was dirty, no running water for sterility..they don't give pain meds.....it is really a site to see..compared to our healthcare industry!



Health fair




They bury their dead in their yards




After my hair was done...I was holding this sweet baby for his mom.




Worship Service on Tuesday night!





Our whole group at the welcome sign for our village.


The little kids--singing about Jesus!




Lizards are all over everything there--it is an infestation!




The guys after they fixed my hair.




ME and Tish after a hard day at the worksite!

Jamaica Mission

I finally went on my mission trip after months of fundraising and anticipation. I think I am still processing alot of things in my mind about it because as soon as I got back I went stright into finals and I haven't had time to breathe.

I was having anxiety each time we stopped at an airport for a lay-over because I have always been afraid to leave the country so going to this place was really out of my comfort zone ....so I had to talk myself into continueing to go on each leg of this trip....I knew if I balied I would not forgive myself...so I finally got to Jamiaca and wanted to puke.....but I got over that.

When we arrived in the airport--it was lined up with all these Jamaican men..holding Dolly's just waiting to help anyone who is willing...one of the first things I noticed was that Jamaican's are really hard to read they aren't as expressive as say someone like me..hehe...

We were picked up by world servants in a shuttle bus....apparently I wasn't even prepared for the 90 minute bus drive to our villiage..yikes--they go FAST and we were on what we (as americans) would consider a one lane road...but smaller and there is all kinds of traffic..they also drive on the opposite side of the road..which kind of throws me off..the cars come close together I was taking pictures out of the window and everyone kept yelling at me to put my hands in otherwise they would be taken off.

On our way to the villiage we stopped at a grocery store in Montego Bay for water..if I had known what I was getting for meals in the villiage I think I would have invested in some groceries at the time.

As soon as we got to the church that we were staying at we set up our beds and sleeping situation. We all stayed in one big classroom above the sanctuary..with a blue tarp inbetween the boys and the girls...SO you can imagine the snoring choir all of us heard all week! hehe

We were informed on our way to the villiage that there were showers that we could use but they would only be cold...(it is collected rain water)...and that we could only take 2 minute showers or we could go to the local stream and take long cold showers there and the locals do their bathing and laundry in that stream as well...the first day of walking to our worksite..we saw they don't even bath in the suits...well they do in their birthday suits.

We were also informed on the way to the villiage that we would be finishing the community center that a few groups ahead of us had started so we were the lucky ones to see the progress and reep the benfits of what we have all done...That was amazing! So we decided to host a health fair..which was very exciting to me since I want to be a NURSE....so I thought that God had really had a hand in everything that was happening ..and that re-assured me that I was in the place that I was supposed to be.

Before we left on our trip a friend of my family sent 50 soccer balls with us to take the to villiage for the kids--with everything it took to get those soccer balls there I was a little concerned with how it was all going to play out with the kids..and they loved them..it was worth everything that we all went through in customs and hauling them about! As soon as the kids saw us with them they would practically maul us to get one to play with...it was a sign the first day we were in the villiage because the soccer ball that all the kids were playing with was worn out--platic falling off--all basically fibers.....I don't even know how it was inflated enough to kick around!

The first morning there as we were eating breakfast the children were walking through heading to school..education is not free there...so it is kind of hit and miss if kids are able to attend school..sometimes parents have to choose certain kids to go to school...or they pay as they go so if they can't afford it oen day or something maybe only a few children go or nobody goes..the kids want to go to school because they get a free meal if they do...which is a benefit. Sometimes they don';t eat another meal because of the poverty. WHen the kids got to class...it was so beautiful to hear them singing songs about JESUS! They also sang ( what we would consider) christmas songs..but they are their everyday songs..they also sang about snow and sleighs and what not--they don't even know what that is--which was really cute. I can honestly tell you it was one of the sweetest things I had ever heard!

The teachers let us into their classes to do short bible study lessons and crafts with them and then we would go to the work site....( well their were different groups assigned each day b/c they didn't need so many people there), then after the older kids got out of school..we would work with them..THIS WAS MY FAVORITE GROUP! I bonded with so many of these kids one boy in particular that I call Jamacian BRyce--he was so much like BRyce I fell in love with him...and he gave me the low down on everything..if you want the truth about things just ask the kids--they will tell you!
HE would explain to me how the Black women hate white women..because basically white women have alot of power in Jamiaca....it is so poor there that men just want to marry a white women and come to America..so they will do anything to get a white women..and you know that the minute you get off the plane --it is crazy--( more like scary..they don't even look at you in the right way!)..so J. Bryce would tell me how he is going to marry a white women when he got older..but he was worried because he had heard that white girls don't brush their teeth, they eat slugs and lizards???? He would say that and then look at me ---and say you don't do you? He needed me to re-assure him that we don't...haha!

The other funny thing was that the kids are so honest and pure....alot of them had never seen a white person (in real-life) so alot of them would just come and touch your skin to see what it felt like..and I was so hot in that climate that my skin was red....they kept trying to wipe it off....hehe--they kept saying your so RED..what is wrong..they had never seen that. They also loved playing with my hair..they kept saying it wasn't soft--haha..because their's is really soft and a different texture than mine. My blonde streaks were quite the discussion some days.

When the health fair day came--People came from the whole parish (state)..police officers..with machine guns and huge weapons...then we heard that most police officers were corrupt--that made me feel safe.....We also learned that 98% of the people we tested were HIV positive..that is an epidemic..... It was like a big festival....they had drama and skits to talk about drugs and HIV, they played Music and had a school band from a nearby village....it was quite an ordeal ...but what came with that was a crowd-----and some of them didn't want us there-- I knew right away I was asked for my phone number from a guy..after that I decided not to talk to any men, I was offered drugs by another...and a girl threw her shoulder at me and told me " you be the enemy" ..I really wanted to just sit her down and say--NO I am not..I am married with six children..I don't want your men..thank you. Instead I got scared didn't spend anytime in the health fair ..I went outside and waited at the edge of the crowd and prayed until we could leave ..if something broke out I could be at the edge so I could get to our church if need be...in that crowd I didn't know who was friend or foe which made me a little scared. Teh other thing I noticed was that they don't talk about abstinence at all...they just throw out condoms and talk about safe needles and what not ---so I don't see how that is going to help alot with the siuation.

I also noticed all of the violence in that place...Teachers obviously practice corporal punishment...they just slap a kid in the face when they don't listen....a representative from the Parish that talked to me for quite some time had explained that gangs were getting stronger and stronger where we staying...and even in the village you could see where any adult in the villiage would just haul off and hit a kid... and the kids beat eachother--I have 4 boys that get rough sometimes but it is nothing like this...Even Jamaican Bryce had talked to me during the week and asked me if I beat my kids..I told him "No--NOt really" ..he said "why, it is ok--we do it here"..I told him "well we take away privledges instead"....and right after I said it--I realized---they don't have privledges..that is why they get beat--there is no other alternative...I immediatly was sad because of that realization and because I had said that to him..I wish I had told him that I beat my kids. It is hard to think about all of these things all the time.

Just being in the village you smell marijuana all of the time..the rustafarians smoke non-stop..we were told which ones we could talk to and which ones we couldn't--you learn very quickly the jamaican ways of communicating..you can't ever pass someone and not say hi or they think you have a beef with them..so you have to talk to everyone..and there are certain hand signals that show respect--so we shared those many times a day....there was also prostitution in our village--not like here in the streets--it is just a normal thing..which is disturbing on many levels- At the beginning of the week I though all of this was legal and found out from the representative that it is not--but he said to me " DO you see any police officers near by?" I said "No" ..he said "exactly--there is no way to enforce the law up in the hills"... basically they have their own laws. SO it seemed liek a pretty dismal place from my description.....
I will write a blog about my day off on another blog because this is so lengthy.....but what I have to say is that this was an awesome experience for me ..there are things that I could have never learned anywhere else..I bonded with someone very special to me ..so I am glad she and I had that time together...I am glad to have met the children that I met and learned so much from them during the process ..they were so thankful for a little treat or the meals I would sneak to them...Jamaicans are also very thrifty and they use every part of everything..and they are able to make something out of nothing which is something I am not very good at ..they use everything whether it be an old paint can or a little frayed rag--they don't throw anything away. I learned how to open your heart fully , knowing that it was just going to be hurt again by people coming in and out of your life...which was the hardest part about leaving..they gave themselves to us knowing we were only there a short time...and I am thankful for that. I will never feel a love like that again....I got to see a different culture, way of life, and yet I know we are just one kind of people....God's people.
It is such a hard thing to explain.....I was a balling mess when we arrived and when we left.....I adapted to teh way of life (not the food)...I know there will be a day when these people will be able to teach us how to survive... because they do it everyday. I will post a bunch of pictures on my next post....So I dont have to keep copying and pasting.....and I will finish this up another day