rachelanna.com

Today I had a remarkable experience. I was on Duke Street in downtown Kingston around 5:00 pm, I had a warm can of juice and proceeded to the closest establishment (a bar) that could give me a cup with ice. I was standing on the sidewalk drinking my now cool drink when the barman and I saw a very elderly man trying to take a step in the street. He had one shoe on and the foot without a shoe was quite swollen. The barman said that he thought that the man was pretty ill. I asked the barman if he thought that the man would accept the rest of my juice. He said “Its possible. Go try.” I went to where the man was and held out my juice. The look on his face was priceless. He looked genuinely grateful that someone would offer him something but even more, that someone would take the time to recognize him as a human being and friend. I helped him to the sidewalk and we both went our separate ways, but I can say that I am very grateful that I was privledged to have that experience. The whole thing only lasted about two minutes or less, but I hope that I won’t forget that precious smile that he shared with me.

Drugs and homelessness are very challenging here in Jamaica, and every day I pass people that are dealing with those problems on my way to work. Often, the same men, women, and children beg people for money and it is very difficult to know what to do. Giving money supports their drug and begging habits, but not giving leaves a person feeling like they are stingy and lack compassion. Often, walking on the street I have prayed for opportunities to show kindness that will mean something and not just taken advantage of. I pray that my heart will be open to future opportunites where I can continue to bless others through wisdom, kindness and compassion. The key to navigating these waters is to fully understand the depth of Jesus’ statement in Matthew 10:16 “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmelss as doves.”

Today I read several articles from the Monitor World, the weekly international version of The Christian Science Monitor. One such article (from the week of January 29- February 4) spoke of the US tactics in Afghanistan to destroy the opium trade. I was upset to learn of the strategies being implemented by the US government—crop spraying. This sounds simple at first, but accomplishes very little and would actually cause much more harm than benefits for all involved, including the Americans who devised the plan. Readers learn that the poppy trade comprises about 60% of the legal trade market and 40% of the market overall.

Now, I understand that the US has interests in the safety, health, and well-being of its citizens, and that drug use is a problem, and of course I am not a supporter of drugs, but I do not believe this gives cause to destroy 60% of another country’s “legal” revenues. An alternative [and I believe much wiser] option, as the article points out, would be to provide cash for farmers that were willing to grow other crops. Yes, this will take a lot of money, work, and creativity, since poppy farming is much more lucrative than other crops, but the end result is worth it. The article succinctly states “Economic shrinkage is one of the surest predictors of instability and conflict”.

And if the plan had gone through, “economic shrinkage” is an understatement. We would have had an instant civil war on our hands, one that the US had caused.

When you consider what the US was planning to do—spend $152 million on a mission to invade a country and destroy the livelihoods of how many countless people, just like that (with no knowledge of the side effects, the article noted) and no concern whatsoever for the well-being of the citizens, bystanders, and children in the area—that sounds like one plan for disaster to me. There has to be better methods and stratagies that consider everyone’s interests, and the US government needs to have the willingness to find creative solutions. Above all, if Bush is a Christian as he claims to be, he should start acting like one and practice the Golden Rule—to do unto others (other countries) as he would have them do unto him (his country).

Side note: The Golden Rule is embedded in most all of the world religions, each with their own version, but with the same idea: be loving/don’t be nasty. Each individual’s job is to focus on his/her own actions, and make sure that they are in line with this simple and universal principle—not to judge other persons and complain about how the other is not living up to the standard.

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.

The picture above is of the Kingston Drummers at the Swearing in ceremony 2004. I had spoken about this ceremony last year and how I had hoped to post pictures. So, a year later, finally, here is a picture of the Kingston Drummers.

Dear Friends,

Lately, I am very busy with work–I have a whole lot of projects coming at me from every angle. At work, we are publishing a magazine and putting on a Community Expo, just like last year. Today at work, it feels as though I made about 50 calls–I was on the phone all day, but it was worth it. The number of advertisements has tripled in the past 3 days.

I go to several meetings a week in various different circles of groups and people. On Monday (Nov. 8), I was at a meeting with about 40-45 fishermen discussing issues pertaining to the beach and hurricane relief. Every fisherman on the beach (which is several hundred) is about to be given a roll or two of wire which they make their fish pots out of. Since my # 1 project is the development of the fishing beach, I was able to get a few minutes where the men told me their ideas of what they would like to see on the beach.

Thursday at 1:00 I was at a meeting with some other community members and we were supposed to meet with a UNICEF representative. As it turned out, the UNICEF rep couldn’t show and the group applying for the funds wasn’t quite ready anyway. We learned more of what the project needs to get the funding though, and that was good.

Next week Tuesday (Nov. 16) is our next Fishing Beach Management Committee meeting, where we should be electing an Executive body and confirming the Constitution. I hope that we will also have a chance to talk about development issues, or at least set up a committee that is willing to really dig in and commit thought and time for real progress. I say that because at so many meetings, the people come to chat but not to work.

Another project I am working on is applying for some funding to fix up the local Community Center–partly for hurricane relief and partly to make the center more user friendly (like connecting the bathroom and kitchen to the sewer system).

Anyway, this is just a snapshot of what I am up to these days. The job is really nice because it is pretty flexible and the demands are always changing, thus keeping me on my toes. I find that I love work, and it is when I don’t have work to do that I am in trouble–or when I procrastinate doing my work.

One of my favorite things to do for fun is to ride my bicycle around town and so forth. Not all the roads are paved, so sometimes the ride is very bumpy, but that is okay because my (mountain) bike has shock absorbers. When I ride, anywhere I go, several people always wave and say hello (being the only white girl in town makes me pretty popular) and I say hello, morning, afternoon, or evening, back.

Lovingly,
Rachel

“Tings go’wan down here mon!! Down in da beach here in a da Bay, tings a go’awn!!
The people dem came out for a meetin’, one meetin’ where dey learned dat deir voices need to be heard, must be heard, and dat dey mus’ get involve fo da beach to improve, to develop.”

This is what you might hear if you listened to some people talking on the beach—or at least I hope so, because believe me, THINGS ARE GOING ON! Things are happening. Once again the truth that “progress is God’s law” has proved true. Let me take a breath as I try to repeat, again, the ideas for the development of the Old Harbour Bay fishing beach…

FIRST, let me tell you what went on last Thursday evening (October 28). It became clear that an election meeting of sorts was needed, where the fishermen would nominate themselves or representatives, as well as other groups, like the fish venders, scrapers, market venders, shop owners. That meeting happened Thursday and went reasonably well. I now have several names of people who have agreed to come to Management Committee meetings and represent their fellow beach users.

This meeting was so necessary because at the last Beach Management Committee meeting, only SEVEN people came, and no one could say that they were representing the beach and its interests. That was very disappointing. Hopefully, now that I have some names of Beach representatives, we should have a stronger Beach Management Committee. With a stronger committee, where all the agencies are represented, we can draft up a proper development plan, hearing the issues from all the different angles, so that the project can work, both on the ground and in the offices.

So, some of the development plans as they stand right now:

Market ground
Tomarrow, a tractor and truck are supposed to come to the new market ground and continue clearing what was started some two weeks ago. One man living on that same market ground needs to move out and his house will have to come down. The ground needs to be cleared of the rest of the bush and the rubbish/landfill area in the corner. Marl needs to continue to be spread over the newly cleared areas. The spaces for each shop “pegged out” and numbered for each shop owner to draw shop numbers from a raffle. Shop owners need to move to this newly prepared market ground, according to specific building instructions. The road spaces between the rows of shops need to be paved. The fence between the roadside and the market need to fix up properly, and the hole in the concrete wall to be patched up, while one gate installed in the far corner near the new sanitation block.

Market Venders and Fish net repairers will switch places—right now, they are each occupying the other groups’ shed. The market venders will move out from the shed near the sea and to the market shed in the market area, while the fish net repair persons will transport their business to the shed near the boats and the sea.

Sanitation Block and Refuse Bay
It is proposed that one of the existing gear sheds be converted to a sanitation block consisting of about 15 stalls for the men and women. The building is perfect because a lot of the work of building the pits is already completed. The refuse is also a very needed and necessary aspect of providing some order and cleanliness on the beach. The refuse bay is supposed to fill with drums so that trash collection around the beach and emptying into the truck is easiest for everyone.

Gear Sheds and renovation of Fish Vending Stalls
More gear sheds need to be either found or built, so that all fishermen occupying the fish vending stalls can vacate the spaces for renovation (running water installed, concrete repairs, grill repairs painting). Fish venders will then move in and benefit from the stall’s fresh running water, instead of using the polluted ocean water to clean and scrape the fish.

Building a new wharf/jetty
A wharf must be built to replace the old one that was destroyed in the storm. This is necessary for the livelihood of several fishermen.

What you see here is just the beginning of project and development of ideas.
I am on the beach as often as possible, talking to people and trying to bring understanding and trust among all the different groups and agencies. I know that only God can really do that, but I do have hope that the whole project will come together. I think that the people are ready for these changes, ready for order to come to the beach.

I just hope that the committee can bind together with a spirit of co-operation, willingness, an open mind, and one vision.

IN THIS SPIRIT, THOUGH DIVERSE WE ARE, WE CAN DO ANYTHING!!

One Father, One Love, One Vision, One Beach!

Maybe something like that could be our motto…

With much love,
Rachel

“How did Ivan treat you?” Is a question that I am getting lately, and I know that many of you were praying for me and Jamaica and others, so I wanted to thank each of you and share my experience and lessons that I learned while Hurricane Ivan was breezing below Jamaica.

When I wrote this in Word, it was just over three pages, so either skim or bear with me 🙂 and all the little details …

On Wednesday evening, September 8, I got a call from my warden saying that Peace Corps was consolidating and I needed to be in Mandeville by noon the next day because of the coming storm. I told her that it would be much easier and faster for me to get to Kingston. Ann, our Safety and Security Coordinator (SSC), called me at 10:00 pm later that evening to say that it was official that I could come into Kingston instead of Mandeville. Anyway, I packed my bag that night and was at the Medallion Hotel the next day. When I arrived, not one of the staff was there and nobody really knew what was going on. The hotel that we were at was a change from the one that we were originally supposed to be at, and so many people were wondering why the change. At the seven o’clock meeting that night, I was able to share with the group that one of the reasons for the change was that PC staff thought that this was a more structurally sound building that could withstand a hurricane better than the former hotel. The other reason was that some staff that lived on the grounds who would be there through the storm. So there we were, at the Medallion Hotel, 43 of us from the Kingston area. We found out that there was another hotel, the Four Seasons, which was also housing some Kingston area PCVs. The other two hotels were in Mandeville and Montego Bay.

Light rain started Thursday night, and continued through Friday. Friday night is when the heavy rains really picked up, and you could see branches flying through the air, but not very much because it was dark. If the winds were really strong, then you could see the tree trunks and large branches under the light bending in different directions.

Waiting, being at the hotel was a lot of waiting. Some people filled the time trying to catch a bit of news, but they found themselves frustrated because different sources were all giving very different stories and information. Some volunteers filled their time playing cards, or games like Taboo and Cranium. For me, after meals I would make the rounds and see what people were doing, but there wasn’t much going on, so I often retreated to my room to pray, read the lesson, the Sentinel, or listen to hymns. I found this much more sustaining, comforting, and fulfilling than anything else going on at the hotel. I discovered how to make Concord play all three verses and show the words to each song, which was fun.

On Thursday night, the power went and the hotel switched to its generator. This meant that most lights and other things worked, but TVs did not. While the rest of the Island (without a generator) had no power, no water in the pipe, we still were able to charge our phones and had 3 catered meals a day.

Yes, the hotel leaked—a lot. There was one entire hall that had to move to other parts of the hotel because one section of the roof came off and flooded every room. One of the rooms on this particular hall had about three inches of water to wade through. In my room, water came down the inside wall and my roommate and I mopped it up once, while I did the job later the same day. Saturday morning, the dining room was also flooded, so for lunch we relocated to the main hall. Even though this room had a second story above it, in certain spots, you had to be careful where you sat and be wary of the drops coming from above.

The storm ended sometime on Saturday, and most of us went home on Sunday morning or afternoon. Three days and three nights of prayers and waiting, anxiety for most, wondering what our communities would be like when we got back.

Sunday morning, driving around Kingston, the most damage was fallen trees. One historic place called Devon House, with a lot of big trees, some museums, and the famous Devon House Icecream and tourist shops had a lot of trees that fell with all their roots exposed. This was sad to see since if they had only limbed some of the trees, most of them wouldn’t have fallen.

On the road back to Old Harbour Bay, several power poles were down. Talking to my Mom Thursday night, the big question that she had for me was, did you bring your quilt? (She had made a quilt for me before I left for Jamaica.) I had not thought of the possibility of my roof coming off, and I tried to tell her that my roof was sturdy, but I wasn’t totally sure myself. When I got to my house, the first thing that I looked for was any leaking and if my quilt was okay. Yes, thankfully, no part of the ceiling leaked and everything, the quilt, books and all were dry.

The hallway outside my room leaked (as it did before the storm) and the kitchen had leaked because part of a zinc lifted up. New holes were in the ceiling where Clive and Brenda, my housemates had drilled holes to let out the water—right over one of the working stove burners and cabinets. The dishes on the second shelf all filled with dirty water and I threw out the soaked box of tea as well as two containers of Quaker Oats. Most of the other food items were in cans or otherwise protected containers.

Water from the hallway overflowed from its container into the bathroom, so I had an inch or two to mop up there, but thankfully Clive had mopped up the kitchen overflows. Outside, the yard (about 15’ by 35’) was full of branches. Brenda explained that Clive had limbed our ackee and mango trees, which explained why there were more leaves on the ground than up on the branches. One nearly dead coconut tree (full of insect holes) and only a few feet from the roof of my room fell the other way onto the other coconut tree.

Yesturday afternoon, there were a lot of flies in the yard, and I thought many of them must be attracted to this “rubbish heap.” For a while now, after my begging, Clive had stopped burning this pile of mostly yard and food waste. I had objected because I didn’t want him to burn any plastic or household waste. I knew that neither Brenda or Clive wanted to burn the pile but wanted the flies gone, and so I decided that I wanted to have my own campfire. I did a really good job of burning all of the “trash” from the tree head and containing the fire.

The sections of the tree trunk are right now being used as a makeshift bench, but one has to be careful sitting there because the 5 sections are stacked lengthwise.

Projects:
In my last entry from August, I had told you that I was building a toilet with a family and a mason. Things were going alright on the toilet, the pit was completed, and the house required some finishing touches. A week before the storm, I had put up the mosquito netting. After the storm though, the zinc house was in pieces on the ground and we were set back a few work days. Money for the labour finished long ago, and the mason hasn’t returned since. That and the fact that the future caretaker was out of town is why a few weeks ago I was the only one working.

Work has not yet started back on rebuilding the toilet and I don’t know when it will start back up. Right now, goats are using it the steps going up and the pit below as their personal area for toileting. Very funny J!

Ivan did some of the work that needed to be done, namely clearing some of the shacks on the beach. However, New shacks have replaced the old ones, one of them (with new zinc) is only about 12 feet from the water’s edge. This is not good at all because the boats don’t have proper space to pull up and anchor. Several boats were smashed and damaged because of this.

This just shows the crazy selfishness that I have to deal with and see through. A large group of people tries to sell and make a living on the beach every day, but people need to see that as a fishing beach, without fishing, the beach area has no business.

Parish Council is heading the development and progress of the beach project. As the new shacks were going up, the key people were occupied in other parts of the Parish dealing with the aftermath of the hurricane. After a visit to the beach with my supervisor, Mr. Graham, we decided that it was time to take a much stronger action to show that we mean business about the shacks not being there. When I talked with one Parish Council counterpart, he said that a truck and tractor would be visiting the beach soon. He didn’t know when, but soon. He said that a letter to the police is also in the works asking them to please patrol the area to stop/prevent the building/rebuilding of shacks. This was good to hear, but I will believe it when I see it.

This past week, visiting the office, I was able to finish off two Sentinels with time to rest in between. I hope as life settles back down, that the reading club gets off the ground (again) this year. Reading desparately needs to improve in this town, but finding dedicated volunteers to assist with guiding the participants in learning to read is worse than pulling teeth. It shouldn’t be, but here in Old Harbour Bay, it is.

OHDAC (my second appointed agency) is having another expo. I would love to have Science and Health there, but I don’t know if it will actually happen. What an idea though!! I think I am going to have to write to the Mother Church and see what I can do as far as cases of Science and Health and poster advertisements. I don’t have any idea if there is anyone in my church body that would volunteer to come, but who knows??

Let me sign off from this very long update… until another day… Take care of yourselves and be a blessing. Love God, love yourself, and love humanity!

Dear Friends,

I know that I have been very quiet, but I do have an excuse! I went home for vacation for a month. I was my sister’s Maid of Honor for her wedding on July 24, 2004. Check out kronman.com for pictures. The whole wedding was really beautiful!

Now that I am back here in Jamaica, things are going fine. I am enjoying my time more than I did before. I am taking things less seriously, and having a good time.

As far as my projects are going, things are moving along smoothly, despite the fact that I was gone for a month. The fishing beach project is progressing. Some key agencies, Ministry of Health (thats my boss), and I met on the beach last week to decide where the new “refuse bay” and toilet facilities would go. That meeting went well and everyone liked a kind of crazy idea that I had. That idea was to use already existing stalls (that currently hold boat engines) into the pits for the toilets. This will be a lot less work and we will have a lot more toilets in the end. It will also be one of the most creative looking restrooms I’ve ever seen. People will wash their hands on the floor level, but to use a toilet, one will climb about three stairs (or up a ramp) to a three feet high platform where some wh. ch. accessible stalls will be. The rest will be up another six or seven steps. The guy organizing this is hoping to tile all the walls and flooring, so it should be (hopefully) really nice.

On a different project, in the end of April, my boss and I both attended a week-long Peace Corps training conference. At that time, we both were inspired to try to build a very special kind of toilet as a model for Old Harbour Bay. Before I left for vacation, we wrote letters seeking funding, and after I got back, it was just coming through. The labour costs were looking like they would be a lot, and the new set of Peace Corps Trainees were in the area, so I had the brilliant idea to use them as the labour for the project. I knew that this would be perfect because putting a VIDP together as a trainee is a great project. Anyway, I saw that the timing was perfect for everyone involved. The check was delivered to my house on Thursday, August 5th. That day, I went shopping and bought all of the necessary items to have a work day on Saturday, August 7th, to pour the foundation. This was also useful because Friday was a Jamaican holiday and all the stores would be closed.

Well, last Saturday’s work day turned out really well. We have a good mason and helper, the Peace Corps Trainees are all very helpful, willing and hard workers, and the lunch and cold water provided by the owner was very nice!

Our next work day is Saturday coming, August 14th, where we will lay the blocks and dress them up. (Picture two cubes, side by side with trap doors to clean the pits. Actually, check out the photo gallery for a better idea of what these special toilets look like.)

Some time later, We will put on the pre-prepared slabs and risers, and make the house around it. These toilets are called Ventilated Improved Double Pit Latrines (VIDP). They are useful when the water table is very, very high and a regular pit latrine doesn’t work because it would contaminate the water systems (both the ocean and aquifers).

So that is what I am up to these days. I love you all and take care! I would really love to hear from anyone of you!

Rachel