PCJ 102

In light of our previous post (explaining that how things are done in Jamaica are not necessarily how they are done in all other PC countries), we're going to start calling these little information sessions PC 102.

Anyway, a little more info on things PC:

-The Peace Corps was first asked to serve in Jamaica with the arrival of group 1 on June 12, 1962. JFK started PC in 1961, and thus Jamaica was one of the first countries to receive volunteers. Also, Jamaica has had volunteers consistently ever since. Some countries have had gaps in time when they didn't receive PCVs due to political conditions, safety, etc.
-Peace Corps Jamaica currently serves in three specific areas: youth development, health infrastructure, and environmental education. We are working in the youth sector, which itself is divided into 2 areas, life skills and literacy. We have found out that we will be working mostly with life skills.
-What you've been told to do "on paper" and what you actually end up doing are quite often 2 completely different things. In fact we have heard of very few PCVs (in whom we have spoken with personally) who's community work was in line with what they were originally sent to do. A PCV might be sent to a community to help with agricultural work, but finds that HIV education seems to be more crucial, and thus goes that route. Maybe a PCV was assigned to work with an eco-tourism association but because of gender issues was never taken seriously by her local counterparts, and thus ended up working with children to improve literacy. Most often PCVs are placed in a community and do their best to see where they best fit in with what is most needed in accordance to the resources available. And as said, this might not line up with the original plan. The unofficial mantra of the PC is "be flexible, be flexible, be flexible". This is very true. As a PCV, you're asked to constantly bend and move where the current might take you, and in many PC community the flowing stream changes its direction constantly, and with little warning.

Many have asked us about the standard of living in Jamaica. It is hard to say how much of the socioeconomic status continuum we've been exposed to thus far. To our understanding, not much. There is no doubt about the fact that many Jamaicans live in utter poverty and squalor, however there are also many Jamaicans that would be considered very wealthy, even by US standards. One thing we do know: the distribution of wealth between rich and poor in Jamaica is almost exactly the same as the US. Yes, the US is a much richer country overall, but how that money is distributed, the gap between the rich and the poor, is very close to that of Jamaica. Just a little food for thought.