Paul is one of our EVS volunteers in Jamaica. He left England in June to volunteer in a Primary School. Every week he is sending us up to date project news and writes his own blog: http://nogsjah.blogspot.com/ . Here is the one published on our last newsletter:
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| Paul in his project. |
The Mighty Gully yard is still and serene as the late afternoon sun filters through the thick canopy of fruit trees, with most of the wood carvers taking their one day off of the week. For once the children are quiet, too – I’ve set them a task of colouring pictures and writing Happy Birthday messages to send to my daughter, and they are all busy beavering away on one of the verandas. In all, five families live in the yard, with children aged from one through to mid-teens. There is also a sizeable collection of dogs, cats, goats and chickens milling about.
Last night I went to a Nine Night, the Jamaican equivalent of a Wake but held the night before a funeral, which was up at a beautiful big house on the road up to Marlie Mount Infant and Primary School. I was amazed at how many people were there, young and old, dancing to the live Gospel-cum- Reggae band and drinking the free bar dry. My friends told me it wasn’t huge for a Nine Night by any means.
Tomorrow I will be up at 5.30am again, boiling porridge and drinking tea under the ackee tree in the morning cool, getting ready for another week at Marlie Mount School. It promises to be busy – I have four PE classes a day to teach, a Cub Scout meeting to plan for on Friday, cricket training to organize and work to do on helping the school set up an adult learning programme for unemployed parents. There’s no sign of the searing summer temperatures easing off just yet despite it being mid-September and I reckon I’m going to need my rest while I can get it.
Coming here to volunteer is no holiday. Nor is it like any other trip I’ve ever been on - while tourists pass travel for entertainment, I will take something much more important from my time here – rather than just passing through, I feel like I’ve really lived here, I’ve adapted, I’ve learned, I’ve made friends, I’ve given my all, and will return home the better for it.
Paul, Volunteer in Jamaica
Project part of CREATIVE INCLUSION
and supported by EACEA
and the Youth in Action Programme
of the European Commission.
For more info about Creative Inclusion, visit the special webpage, clicking here.
This testimony is an extract from Everything is Possible Newsletter ''Journey''. For more news about Everything is Possible and testimonies click on the following banner:
