A trip with Ms. Winnie

A trip with Ms. Winnie

It was around 1:30 on Thursday afternoon, and by that point I was completely immersed in my work—myself and John were sizing and cutting the wood for the swings we planned to make for the kids, and were entirely “in the zone”. That is, until Kaye and Thea came over to me and asked something of me: due to the fact that we were building the swings from scratch, we had to source chain to use, and there was one hardware store around 45 minutes away that had the kind we needed. Ms. Winnie, the owner of the hotel we were staying at and a close friend of Kaye’s, had asked if someone could accompany her to the store; and since I was involved in the designing of the swings, Thea and Kaye thought it would be a good idea for me to go for the ride. And although I initially thought to myself that I didn’t want to leave the work site so I could continue to build the swings, I figured it would be a good idea to go so not only was I there to keep Ms. Winnie company, but I could ensure that we bought the correct chain.  I agreed to go, and as I went to get in the car Thea pulled me over and said “This will be really good for you, be sure to ask her a lot of questions!” I nodded in agreement as I sat down in the car and shut the door, and as I waved goodbye to everyone at the school, I had an undeniable feeling that this wasn’t going to be your typical car ride.

Our trip began with the usual "awkward silence" as we both looked to the road ahead, trying not to make any noise to disrupt one another. However, being a person who loves to pick people's brains (along with the fact that Thea had hinted to me to ask her things), I couldn't help but break the ice and asked the simple question of how long she has had Taino Cove for.  I figured that she would either answer the question politely and return to keeping to herself, or the query would turn into a full-length conversation with no apparent direction (which we all know is the best type of conversation). She was quick to respond (as if she was waiting for me to say something) and told me that it'll be her 10th year with the Cove this December, and even gave me some insight on how she used Hurricane Ivan as a means to figure out what how she needed to reinforce the building's foundation and outer perimeter. After she finished her brief story I felt the air beginning to get stagnant again, and replied with a follow-up question, asking how long she has known Kaye for (Kaye was our guide and Service Expert for the week). Boy oh boy am I glad I asked her another question instead of allowing the car ride return to unbearable silence, because the next hour of conversation that ensued was some of most inspiring I've ever had.

She began explaining to me that she's known Kaye for just about the same amount of time that she's had the Cove, and that they first met while Kaye was on one of her countless service trips. It seemed almost as if she used that to segway into a different topic, as she delved into how she left Jamaica at the age of 18 in search of an education and overall better quality of life. It wasn’t until the early 2000’s that she returned to her home country, and along with her came a single purpose—to improve conditions in the place she formerly called home. After being away for so long and truly realizing the situation that Jamaica was in, she gained an undisputable yearning to do all she possibly can to help. She decided that she wanted her first site to be St. Mary’s Primary School, as it was a school she herself attended as a child and had caught word that Hurricane Ivan had done a number on it. However, being that she had just returned to the country, she essentially had no resources in order to implement her plan of action; that is, until she remembered Kaye’s work. She immediately emailed Kaye inquiring about an opportunity to do a build at St. Mary’s…and ladies and gentlemen it’s all history from there. Since then, she’s organized service trips to over 10 schools in her area, completing projects ranging from paint jobs to full playgrounds. She’s become an inspiration to an insurmountable number of people; whether they’re locals or members of one of her service trips—and I can happily say I too have become motivated by the works of this incredible woman. As if this trip hasn’t already encouraged me to become a global citizen enough, the selfless acts of Ms. Winnie simply made the fire inside of me burn that much brighter.

We wound up filling the rest of the car ride talking about our personal lives, from how cancer has affected our loved ones to our future aspirations, and everything in between. We shared the “Watershed moments” we’ve experienced while participating in service events, and connected on a level that can only be reached/understood by two people who have truly been touched by events like the ones I’ve had on this trip. Words can’t express how glad I was to be able to spend some time with Ms. Winnie, and hope to be given the opportunity to work hand-in-hand with her again to see our dreams come to fruition.

-Andrew

Departed with Departing Thoughts

I thought I would be more excited to see the New York skyline and the familiar views of Hoboken, but I thought wrong.

This trip was an assortment of different things. Of course, it was educational in many regards. I learned about Jamaican culture and history, I physically sat in a fourth grade classroom and learned like a student attending a Jamaican school, and I learned from Thea, Kaye, and my fellow GSI members. My time in Jamaica also gave me some time to reflect on myself as an individual. We learned about the steps towards being a "global citizen." Prior to Jamaica, I found myself to oscillate between "volunteer" and "conscientious citizen." Now that I've traveled, served, and made it back to the grand ole USA, I think I have achieved the level of global citizen. I've become more curious, more concerned about the root causes of things. I think I've grown over this past week, and I want to continue to nurture this maturation throughout my time here at Stevens and in my adult life.

I wasn't concerned that I didn't know any of the students on this trip when I signed up... however, I didn't imagine that we'd become such a close bunch! We shared our watershed moments and our privileges, we laughed well into the night playing charades and Cards Against Humanity, we became an unbeatable team that could accomplish anything within a day's work. In just one week, I have made 10 more friends that I would only have the pleasure of serving with again and again. I thank Megan, John, Andrew (Matt), Kevin (James), Evan, Julia, Morgan, Alli, Jane, Elise, Thea, and Kaye for being such open, inspiring, fun, and energetic people. You made this experience much more than I anticipated, and I am so thankful.

It's strange to realize that I will go back to my research on Monday, thousands of miles away from James and Miss G at the Whistling Bird, Miss Winnie and Dr. Hilton at Taino Cove, Merit, and the beautiful children at both Gordon's primary school and Pedro Plains Primary School. Life continues on as it always does, but my trip to Jamaica with Stevens GSI will continue to resonate in my memory and impact my decisions as I proceed. 

I'll end my post with a quotation that Kaye shared with us on our last night at Taino Cove. It perfectly encapsulates the trip, and I hope it inspires future Stevens students to not help, not fix, but serve:

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these grounds. Broad wholesome charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired be vegetating in one little corner of the earth over one's lifetime."--Mark Twain

--Olivia

Traveling home

Our #StevensGSI crew has safely traveled home after a transformational experience serving in Jamaica #travel #globalservice #jamaica 

My Reaction to "Life and Debt"

One evening we watched part of a documentary called "Life and Debt". It can be found on Netflix and I encourage you to go and watch it! Take the time to educate yourself about global relations because I found my view of global politics and economics to be inaccurate after watching just a portion of this documentary. I am certainly planning to watch the whole thing when I get back home. It explained why Jamaica's economy has suffered since the 1900s and the reasons really surprised me. Growing up in an individualistic and capitalistic society, I had an underlying assumption that poverty was caused by poor people not working hard enough to achieve success. I guess there are certainly cases of that in the world as well, but I had never imagined that poverty can be the indirect result of other people's actions. For example, the documentary explained how the IMF and World Trade Organization would lend a Jamaican business money to increase their exports, decrease their imports, and improve their economy. This sounds great in theory, except for the fact that they also wrote many restrictions into the contract. This resulted in the larger and more powerful economies who control the IMF and WTO to benefit while Jamaican businesses could not compete. The sad part is they couldn't even manage to sell their products in their own communities because the larger economies were then allowed to import their products into Jamaica and sell them for cheaper than the Jamaican business could. The business that was supposed to thrive ends up bankrupt and abandoned while the larger economies continue to take advantage of now being able to sell their goods in Jamaica. The fact that the three largest and most powerful economies in the world, including the U.S. by the way, control the IMF and WTO while any smaller and weaker economy cannot. This is where the true problem lies. Dr. Hilton, one of the owners of the Taino Cove where we are staying, also talked about this topic with us. Hearing a first hand account of what this country has been through from a local Jamaican really impacted me. He emphasized how this documentary discusses a world problem, but just the case in Jamaica. It happens to many other countries as well. The system is broken and if developing countries were given the chance to actually develop without being taken advantage of, maybe there could be less poverty in this world. These are real issues in the world and being in Jamaica to see the poverty first hand is an experience unlike watching a sad commercial on TV. You all know what commercial I am talking about. Seeing it first hand and learning the causes behind it is compelling me to act and become a global citizen. I want to research into more of the causes of poverty and what I can change within my own lifestyle to make a difference, no matter how small. To make big change happen, small change must come first. Leading by example is one way to raise awareness of how the way people live and the choices we make can really affect global issues. This trip and the discussions within our group have educated me enough to understand that I was not educated about global issues initially. I encourage you to educate yourself because you might be surprised by the information you find and the feelings you have from it. Remember, nobody can ever take knowledge away from you.  

-Julia

To Be Is To Be Perceived

After staying at Whistling Bird and getting to experience the great area of Nigrel, we traveled south to a much more rural and remote setting around the Treasure Beach area. One of the first things I noticed about the area was that there were a lot more space around each property. The place we are staying at is different from anything I've stayed at before. Each room is spacious and looks out over the outdoor pool and the beautiful ocean. Here we are able to leave our windows and doors open because the resort is located at the end of dirt road that is basically deserted. It really feels like  am in my own little world and I never want to leave.

When I arrived at the next school their were many things that surprised me about the differences from the first school we worked at. This school was much bigger and looked much more kept after. It had two separate buildings, one was a basic school that had young kids about the same age as the first school we visited. The other building housed grades ages one through six. The school overall was very clean and like before had great kids that were very excited to have visitors. I was with the group that worked on painting the barriers of the fence around the school with oil paint. It sounds like a simple job but actually it was rather difficult and took a lot of time. One of the things that I was told was to prevent getting paint on any of the children's clothes because corporal punishment is still used here and it really surprised me to think that this still happens. I grew up living in certain conditions and sometimes things don't click for me until I experience them directly. While painting one of the neighbors of the school stopped by to say hello and thank us for the work being done. I don't know why but it always surprises me when people from the area come by and talk with us but the genuine interest they take in the community makes me realize how stuck in our own little world we are back in the states. When we broke for lunch, we were provided food from the school this time. It was delicious! I then got to spend some time with some of the kids and play a game of freeze tag and red rover. It was really cool to see that these elementary school games that I played growing up are universal at every school. 

When we got back from working at the school we had are nightly discussion focused on privilege. We stood in a line and took steps forward or backwards based on whether we had been discriminated against or if we had some form of privilege given to us while growing up. I thought it was a very cool activity that showed to never judge someone by what is seen on the surface because we don't know what they have experienced throughout life. No matter how much privilege we are born into or come to have in life it is important to be aware of where you stand and possibly use that privilege in some way that can give you more of a worldy view. When I am spending time with theses kids I know I am more privileged then them but it never really crosses my mind because I am just communicating with them on a basic human level that consists of kindness and understanding. When I reflect back on it at the end of the day it's very humbling to realize. It reminds me of a quote from the movie Cloud Atlas that says "To be is to perceived. And so to know thyself is only possible through the eyes of the other." I think that is very applicable to my situation at the moment. By meeting these different people through this trip I have learned more about myself by becoming aware and having more of an understanding of the world around me.

Morgan

Are You Smarter than a Third Grader?

After the few transformative days that we spent in Negril and Savanna-la-Mar, I didn't anticipate the southern coast of Jamaica to have anything that was too vastly different from everything that we had already seen. Of course, I was very wrong. As we moved further from the western coast of the island toward our next destination, the landscape became decidedly more rural, sparsely populated, and forested. Getting a chance to go through the hills and see so many farms, vegetation, and even a waterfall was incredible; we got a peek at some of the defining qualities of a large quantity of the Jamaican parishes that somehow never make it into the tourism ad campaigns, despite their beauty and the significant role that they play in the culture of the people. Arriving at the second school this morning was also very surprising. As we came upon a large, well-maintained, and colorful building on the bus ride, I figured that it must be another large home or business that we would simply pass. I was very confused as we pulled into the driveway. 

This second work site has a Basic School for children aged 3-5, and a Primary School for children in grades 1-6. The school building is massive in comparison to Gordon's Basic School, and it's evident that the school receives much more funding. The children, however, were just as thrilled to see us coming to work in their schoolyard and to play and talk with them. With the greater age range and student population, there were many more games and activities played outside in the yard, and a huge diversity of subjects and projects in the classroom.

After a couple of hours of painting the fence that encloses the school, I took lunch and played with a group of third graders during their break period. I had expected to go back to work when their break was over, but the group swindled me into the classroom where I proceeded to sit with them and engage in a conversation about the environment, pollution, and conservation efforts (for those of you who don't know me, this is stuff that I find downright enthralling). 

I would never have expected to learn so much in a room full of 8-year-olds, but the teacher went through explanations of how different Jamaican sewage, filtration, and garbage disposal systems operate, and offered up ways that the children can be more environmentally friendly. The teacher shocked me by asking me to talk to the class about how the US handles things like pollution and conservation, as he was a native Jamaican and had never left the country. Soon enough, my Reader's Digest version of American pollution sources and regulations, recycling plants, and waste-water treatment facilities turned into a Q & A session. The students were so curious about things that I simply take for granted in my everyday life and truly opened my eyes to aspects of the daily life of Jamaicans that I would never have even thought about. They asked me what my favorite fruit was, and what fruits we have in America, were enraptured by something so simple as me discussing how and where blueberries and strawberries grow, and responded by saying that bananas are a rare treat for most of the students, but are generally too expensive for families to afford; they asked me if it ever gets cold in America, if I had ever seen snow, what snow feels like, if you can actually make things out of it or hit people with it; they asked what Stevens, my family members, and my house are like, and continued to describe their own siblings and home life. The discussion eventually involved myself, every student, and the teacher, and I think that it's safe to say that everyone in the room learned so many new and incredible things about one another as individuals and about the cultural differences and similarities between areas of Jamaica and areas of the United States. When the dismissal bell rang, we were all sad to have to abandon our conversation, but as everyone (teacher included) gave me a hug good-bye for the day, we all made it very clear to one another that the side-track was more valuable than any class experience that we'd had in the past. Needless to say, I can't wait to go back tomorrow to continue the working and learning experiences that this school is sharing with us.

Alli

Kicking back and relaxing at our second location at Taino Cove