World’s Fastest Man

Bolt on left (100m world record holder) Powell on right (2nd fastest)

As I alluded to in last week’s post, we were hoping to catch a glimpse of the world’s fastest man Saturday at the track meet. Sure enough we got to see Usain Bolt and the world’s second fastest man Asafa Powell. The track meet was held at the national stadium in Kingston under pretty wet conditions. Rain fell in the area all day and only lightened a little bit during the races. The event included teams competing at the primary, high school, college, and club level (Powell and Bolt ran in separate clubs). It was fun to watch the runners and to experience the passion Jamaicans have for their athletes. Jamaica definitely churns out world class competitors for being a relatively small island nation.

Bolt (in lead) and Powell cruise to the finish in 400m relay

Usain Bolt: World's Fastest Man

Sunday morning was time for laundry, again. Linnae and I spent almost three hours scrubbing and scrubbing. I hate to do it, but I am going to have to start wearing more things multiple times, at least until we move to our permanent site and I have time to wash several times during the week. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing in the morning so we were confident our things would dry quickly. But, as it goes in the Blue Mountains, the clouds suddenly began to roll in over the peaks behind us and by early afternoon we had to move all the clothes to a line on the upstairs porch. The rest of the day was damp and rainy. We were sweating it a little bit since we had to leave early the next morning to travel to another parish to shadow a full-blown Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). Fortunately, enough clothes were dry in the morning and what wasn’t I quickly dried with Linnae’s hair dryer.

Monday morning we walked down the hill to the square in Woodford to start our all public transportation journey to a small community near St. Ann’s Bay in St. Ann parish. It was about 6:00 AM when we arrived at the square on foot; there were about half of our group already waiting. A few moments later one of the buses (passenger van) rolled up and we piled in. By the time the bus was done picking up passengers in Woodford, I think we hauled 18 people to north Kingston in a bus smaller than a Ford cargo van. Once we got to north Kingston (Papine to be specific), we found the large passenger bus that would take us on the next leg of the journey to southeast Kingston to a spot called the “country bus park”. Southeast Kingston is off limits to PCVs for any purposes except traveling through, but on a bright Monday morning there isn’t too much to worry about. We took the bus to the stop closest to the bus park and walked the remaining four or five blocks through the market area. At the bus park is where most of us parted ways. Each of us had to find another smallish van/bus to take us on the next leg into the countryside. Another trainee, Linnae, and I found the one for Ocho Rios (Ochi) without any trouble. The only problem is that you really never know when you will depart, because you have to wait until the van is adequately full (the more people crammed in the more the trip is worth to the driver). We sat in the van for about hour and a couple more trainees from another Peace Corps sector joined us too. Along the way we shared stories and training experiences. Once in Ochi, Linnae, the other trainee and I hailed a taxi to take us to the library in St. Ann’s Bay where we would meet our PCV for the shadowing. We linked up with her around 10:45 AM, chatted in the library, had lunch, and hailed one more taxi to go up into the countryside where she lives and works. Five vehicles and $710J ($8.20 USD) later we had made it to our destination near the island’s north coast.

Shadowing the PCV was a great experience because we got so see how she lives and interacts with folks like her host family, supervisor, project partners, and locals. Some PCVs like her need to be very self-directed and motivated. This is because some PCVs are placed with an agency or organization that can keep them very busy, whereas others are underemployed and have to take initiative to start education and/or community oriented projects on their own. Things didn’t work out at her previous site, so she had been moved to her new community three months ago. Therefore, she was still focusing mainly on integration and building relationships and trust with the people in the area. This might seem like a waste of time, but it is actually the single most effective way to ensure personal safety in Jamaica, not to mention it is necessary for identifying needs and assets for addressing issues.

On Tuesday we went with the PCVs supervisor to do a gardening lesson at a basic school (preschool) in the much more affluent Discovery Bay. The school was run by Canadian expats and may have been better equipped than the one I once attended; definitely an anomaly on the island. The kids were great though and it was really good practice for working with that age group.

Overall, we had a good time chatting and learning from the PCV we shadowed. She gave us tips for shopping, traveling, and working as a volunteer. We cooked a great meal of snapper, yam, and a curry-pumpkin rundown and ate off of plates we borrowed from the neighbor. The community is not plumbed, so we hauled jugs of collected rainwater into the house to flush the toilet. Everyone in the community collects rain and has to be conscious of how much they use to avoid running out.

Human-Knot Icebreaker

Friday we conducted our second Eco-Camp, this time at a local elementary school with sixth graders. The focus was on celebrating Earth Day and we did activities like weeding the garden, planting trees, a nature scavenger hunt, painting rocks for the garden, and more. I led one of the scavenger hunt teams, dug holes for trees and helped some students plant a Lignum Vitae tree. Linnae helped with registration, helped paint rocks, and helped out where needed. Once again, good training and experience for us before we go out and work with Jamaican youth on our own. 

Tree planting on hillside

Just two more weeks of training remain.

 Somewhere around May 7^th we will learn our site locations and Jamaican counterparts. Once that happens we will move into our new home and stay there for a few days to get to know our host-family and the organization we will be primarily working with. Then we will be back in Kingston for a little more training and the long awaited swearing in at the U.S. Embassy. After that, it’s back to our community for 24 months!