Report on the Service Trip 2010 to Jamaica!
Between July 25, 2010 and August 1, 2010 nine Junior Friends (high school aged Quakers) and two adults participated in a service project in Petersfield Jamaica.
This trip had been in planning for two years. The Junior Friends picked the location and scheduled the trip, including transportation, with only minimal oversight by the adult advisers.
When we arrived at the airport in Montego Bay, there was a contingent of people from the Association of Clubs (the camp sponsors) to meet us, including the program director Matthias Brown, and a group from Indiana University, Indiana Pennsylvania who had already been at the summer camp for two weeks. The university group were already well integrated into the camp program, and were a help to getting us started quickly.
We stayed with host families. All four girls and the female adviser stayed at one home while the five boys and the male adviser were split between two homes. In spite of a busy schedule, the kids were able to get together a bit for some evening recreation, consisting mostly of playing cards.
We spent our days with local kids in a day camp sponsored by a local community organization, the Association of Clubs. There were about 150 kids in the program and they ranged in age from six to seventeen. Our kids ranged in age from 15 to 17. The campers began the day with singing and a talk by the camp director, then younger camp kids went to their own program. A lot of time was spent getting to know each other and for us to learn something about the local culture, including food.
A highlight of the camp was sports, including capture the flag and basketball. The US kids taught the Jamaican kids our form of basketball. Football (soccer in the US) was a favorite of both groups. We had planned to teach the Jamaicans baseball, but there just wasn't time.
Camp ended at 2:00 in the afternoon, so one afternoon we traveled to a nearby town named Savanna-la-Mar for some shopping and local color. Another afternoon we visited the Roaring River and explored the Roaring River Cave. On Thursday, the final day of camp, there were closing ceremonies with competitions and prizes and awards. In the evening we had a party with local people who were associated with the camp or the Association of Clubs. The party was held in a small community park and included good food and lots of dancing.
On Friday we visited the beach at Negril. It was a real tourist experience. The local shops had all of their prices in American dollars, and had to do a quick calculation if you wanted to pay with Jamaican dollars. We visited Margaritaville for its great sandy beach, and Rick's Cafe for cliff diving.
On Saturday we visited the Denbigh Industrial & Agricultural Show 2010 in May Pen. This is equivalent to a US state fair, complete with 4H competitions and food stands. The eleven of us were most of the white folks in attendance. There were to be cultural events and entertainment in the evening, but unfortunately we couldn't stay late enough.
The next day we were bussed back to Montego Bay to catch a flight home. The flight to SeaTac Airport was uneventful, except for the endless layers of "security" in both Montego Bay and Phoenix. I must have had to show my passport at least a dozen times. All of our checked luggage made the trip without incident, and the trip was over, except for long drives back home for some of the families.
Conrad Muller, Junior Friends Adviser
Information about volunteering with Amizade in Petersfield Jamaica