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Dear Friends,

Last week I moved to Kingston, both to live and work. I had hoped that I would still be able to carry the cause of Old Harbour Bay from Kingston (which would have been easy to do, since there are many agencies here that have an interest/stake in the betterment of that seaside town) but I was reassigned to a totally different agency as well. You are probably wondering why the change since I only have two more months in Jamaica, and the answer is kind of complicated, but I will try.

Way back in early January, I was informed that there was a man in the community that was allegedly in the US armed forces and then tortured in prison and later deported. So he has been here in Old Harbour Bay for some years now, daily (according to his neighbors) cursing America and Americans. Rumours were going around that he was saying that if he ever saw me, he would inflict harm (in not so many words).

When this information came to me, the person asked me to tell the Peace Corps office, which I did that day. I was already planning a 6-day trip home to the States for later that week. The Safety and Security Officer asked me to pack my things that day and I would be spending the week in Kingston (until my departure).

Upon questioning the man, he told the police that if he had ever wanted to do anything to me, he would’ve done it a long time ago, since it is a small town and he saw me all the while (so he allegedly said). This is all so ironic to me because apparently he feared that I was a CIA agent and he felt that Bush had sent me to spy on him!— I don’t even know what he looks like! I guess some would be afraid in that situation, but I never felt the least bit fearful—I instinctively felt that I was protected.

Anyway, I did as I was told and packed my things that day (January 3rd), filed the required police report, and was whisked away in the large Peace Corps SUV. I came back to the community (as planned) on January 12 because I had a very important meeting that I wanted to attend and the PCO permitted me to go.

A few weeks later however, the Peace Corps Office asked/encouraged me to consider moving. They left it open to me where I would like to live. Kingston was a natural choice for me because that would enable me to attend Wednesday evening church service and make getting to church on Sundays much easier. Currently, it is only a 10 minute drive/20 minute bus ride instead of 1 ½ -2 hour ride of two buses and two taxis. It is great—I love my new place and this is only one of many benefits.

On the whole, my living situation is much easier to deal with—much quieter neighbors, a quieter household, no reggae/dancehall music shaking the walls, and I LOVE being so close to everything in town. The employment situation was not as smooth a transition, but I need to trust God, that He is in control and has a plan.

I am actually supposed to be leaving in August, but I have decided that I want to attend two events in June in Boston and CA, so I am applying to leave Jamaica on June 1st.

I always love questions, so please submit them and I will address them in the most appropriate way—either an entry or a personal email.

Take care and may each of you have a blessed day!

Dear Friends and family,

I hope that all of you out there are having God-filled and productive days. My very best wishes in all of your endevaours. Lately, I have been working a lot with different groups, joyously helping families build their houses.

One project is called Yard Project, and was started by people from Old Harbour Bay that currently live abroad. They were concerned about the effects of the hurricane on Old Harbour Bay, and so they started this organization so that they could support the community’s development. In January, Yard Project volunteers (from OHB but living in NY and Washington state and in between and regular OHB residents) constructed 10 houses on family land for people that experienced total destruction. The expatriates were here for two weeks and did what they could, but those first ten were all taken to a point. They left though, and the volunteers still in OHB continued the work. That is where my friend Russ and I came in.

If any of read comments that people post, well one such comment was from Russ Smith on December 11. Russ said that he would like to come to Jamaica to volunteer and “give back,” and did I have any suggestions for where he could use his skills of constructuion. My immediate thought was Habitat for Humanity, since I know they love volunteers and even more, skilled volunteers! After a few weeks of emails back and forth, he announced that he bought his ticket so there was no turning back.

Russ arrived on January 17, stayed in Spring Village, and worked with myself and another volunteer’s projects, in addition to Habitat work. So Russ and I helped work on Yard Project houses, but our specialty was installing the slat windows, while the Jamaicans put on the zinc roofs.

For a Habitat house, Russ and I were part of the bucket brigade to mix and pour cement roof. Here in Jamaica, the mix includes sand, stone (gravel), cement, and water. I was the person right next to the mason filling the buckets. Because the buckets were heavy and I wanted the nexxt person to be ready for them, I was calling “Bucket!” just about every 3-5 seconds. In this chain, the masons filled the buckets faster than the buckets could come back. There were three persons (including me) in the chain on the ground, one on a platform, and Russ was on the roof, pouring buckets into a wheelborrow, and the mason dumped the borrow it when it got full. That was quite a day. I hadn’t worked so hard in a long time.

The next Habitat house (in a community called Polyground) I helped with is a pre-fabricated house made out of plastic columns and peices that connect together. Steel (rebar) runs through the middle of every other peice and when the house is ready, cement is poured down through the columns. I helped out there yesturday for the second time. The first time I was there, about 2 weeks ago, we set up the house with the interlocking columns. Yesturday, we poured the cement for about half of the house. We probably would have gotton farther if we didn’t have water problems. See, water wasn’t running in the pipe, and we were going to need a couple hundred gallons. Many Jamaicans have large black plastic tanks of 400 and 680 gallons (sometimes even more). About five of us carried water, bucket by bucket, from the neighbor’s black tank to the one on the site. It was very slow though because of the tap at the bottom of the tank.

Carrying water like this reminded me of another house that the same Polyground group worked on. After our work day two weeks ago, we found ourselves heading to another site, just as dusk was coming upon us. One of the same volunteers, named “Locks” (for his dreadlocks) was to be recieving a house from Red Cross the next day, but the foundation still needed to be mixed and poured. We made our way down, and up the very steep dirt path (quarter mile) to the spot where his new house was to be built. He showed us what he had done and what needed to be done. Our task was to carry bags of stone from the entrance of the dirt road up to the site. Seven of us worked for about two hours, right up until we could barely see the road. That was a humbling labour of love. Apparently, Locks finished pouring the cement the next morning because yesturday he told me that the house was up.

Much love to all of you!

Yesterday was a National holiday (Ash Wednesday) and I woke up (don’t ask what time) and called the owners of the house where I am staying (the owners are in the States) and asked about taking down the destroyed chicken coop.

They said go ahead and take it down so I did. I completed the job so much that the backyard looks so much better than even before I started. In the middle of the day however, I wasn’t so sure that I would get it all done. In fact, I really wondered how I would be able to finish it as it was getting late and there was still a lot to do to make the backyard usable again.

What was holding me back was trying to decide what to do with the scrap wood. In the end though, I relented and made a big fire–and thanks to my growing up years, I knew how to make a really nice minature bonfire . I justified it saying that no one else would want this rotten wood and I knew that I wasn’t burning any plastic. When the fire was at its tallest, I bet it was maybe 8 or 9 feet tall. I finally left the coals last night at 12:30 am.

The next day, this morning, there was a small pile of ashes. After coming home from my all day meeting (5 pm), I pushed the pile with a fire tender to find out that the small pile of ashes was really a fairly big pile of coals. They were still very hot! Anyway, it was a very long work day and I have a long clean up day tomorrow so take care and as always, I hope to write more soon.