resources

As might be expected, access to resources is a major problem in many developing countries, and Jamaica is not any different. There are countless aid workers, community development organizations, community members, Peace Corps workers, etc. who have great and viable project ideas, but have been deadlocked because they have no funding and little resources to speak of.

We see this happen all the time in Jamaica, among non-profits, for-profits, and governmental organizations alike. The school system provides a perfect example of the a perpetual lack of resources. On a parental level, transportation is not provided for students, meaning they need to find and pay for their own way to school, even when their respective school is miles away. Of course, you must keep in mind that most Jamaicans do not own a vehicle. This often means that children have to take a taxi to school. We'll get more into transportation issues later, but for right now, let's focus on the fact that this can be very expensive for many families, and as a result, many children stay home from school regularly, simply because they are unable to pay for a ride to school. For teachers, they also struggle with lack of resources regularly. Schools are short on money, so how do you do find the money to buy poster-board or crayons or construction paper for the smallest class project or fun lesson idea? When you're constantly trying to find chalk for your classroom, how could you ever attempt to do an educational class field trip? Again, most parents struggle to pay transportation costs, much less cover school supplies. As a result, many Jamaican teachers and faculty are always trying to fund-raise. Primary school students get two breaks, including lunch every school day. You would think that this would also be a time for the teacher to plan, or rest, or regroup. Not so. Many Jamaican teachers end up spending breaks selling ice cream, cheese puffs, bag juice, and all sorts of things that the children will buy in order to raise some funds for the school.

For us, lack of resources affects us every day, and to be completely honest, what resources we do have available often dictates what projects we involve ourselves with. We're constantly trying to be creative with what we do have, and are searching for ways to provide the smallest amount of money to cover a project we're trying to launch (for example: $5US/week to cover the costs incurred to make the reading program successful.)

Okay, enough of our whining...and let's shift to some “beggin'” as they say here in Jamaica. Matt and I in the process of trying to get some books here in Accompong. Illiteracy is one of the social issues we're working on, and we have a few projects underway, but have hardly any books in our 'library' -a slight problem for our reading programs. There are almost no books for children 8 years old and younger, we literally have found 10 books for these emerging readers (and all of those adults, children, and teens who read at these levels). What we need are books that are appropriate for these young readers, picture books, primers, pre-primers, even old “Dick and Jane” type books would be fine... kindergarten through 3rd grade only.

So if you have any books, or know somebody who knows somebody, or whatever, please contact us, and we'll try to piece it together from there. Obviously shipping is the next step, and we have a few leads there, but first we need some books.

If you don't have any obvious connections or don't feel moved, please don't feel obligated to help us.... even if you're our closest friend or one of our mothers … This may be the first time we reach out, but it surely won't be our last. So maybe we'll catch you on our next 'beggin' call. Either way, thank you for any effort you may or may not make. :)

Here's some pictures of the school library and the community library. We were lucky enough to have Ashmael and Rianna model for us: