‘Head-top’ Construction

After a month and a half of weekly meetings work has commenced on the Herbal Garden Hut out by the Kindah (One Family) Tree.

After 2 official workdays (lunch provided through the grant money, but all labor volunteered) and numerous additional hours and supplemental prep work, here’s what the community has accomplished…

*200 concrete blocks have been loaded into a truck, dropped off 150 yards from the building site, and then transported by wheel barrow and ‘head-top’ (yes, literally on top of the head) to the site


*6 cubic yards of marl (gravel fill) was delivered by truck and then transported again by wheel barrow and ‘head-top’ (in buckets this time)

*Over two tons of ‘rock-stones’ have been wrenched from the ground using pick-axes, ‘burst’ up (broken) with sledge hammers and then carried by hand and… yup, ‘head-top’, uphill to the building site, to be used in building the ‘cut-stone’ wall
  
*54 hardwood poles (12-22 feet long) have been cut in the bush, carried to the building site (some from over a mile away, yes, via the same ‘head-top’ method) and then ‘skinned’ (peeled) of their bark with machetes and standard kitchen knives

*The 25’ diameter old, sagging slab on top of the original foundation has been ‘burst-up’ with sledge hammers and leveled to make way for the new slab that will be poured (concrete) on top

*The 8 corner posts have been erected and cemented into place

*25 people came out for the first workday and 35 for the second. Three whole chickens, ten pounds of rice and 5 gallons of Kool-Aid, including seasonings is about what is required to feed a workforce of this size

The high level of community turn-out for this project has been heart-warming. To carry stones alongside 6 and 56 year-olds feels like a privilege and to know that all labor is volunteered strengthens our commitment to our work here. We don’t live in a perfect place, but projects like this truly strengthen community.

The Accompong Library and Internet Cafe

Okay, we’ve been putting off writing this blogpost because it’s one of the biggest projects we’ve been working on since we reached Accompong. There were so many different facets to it that it’s hard to summarize in one simple blogpost. But here goes:

The Accompong Library has been revamped, and has now become the Accompong Library & Internet Café. It now includes high-speed internet, 12 workstations each with its own new computer, 1 server/administrative computer with its own workdesk, a printer/copier/scanner, new children’s books!, new bookshelves, curtains, and overall, a whole new look.


There were three main players: Universal Access Fund provided the computers, JACOM provided the internet, and the Jr. Council provided the volunteer service to put in the finishing touches. Local carpenters and electricians made the needed structural changes to the building.

JC!

About 2 weeks ago, we held a grand opening ceremony which included the attendance of Jamaica’s major TV networks and newspapers. Although overseeing the ceremony was at times stressful, it all went very well –including the part where Matt had to give a speech :).


(P.S. The newly painted mural (Julie’s concept) consists of trees that can be found in Accompong, with community member handprints serving as ‘leaves’.)

Angela, Travis, and Moonlight Vigil

     We had some more visitors this month, which is always a blessing, especially when they’re good friends like Angela and Travis. Unfortunately we don’t have very may pictures to show from their trip. This might be due to the fact that they’re our third set of visitors, and maybe this carries with it the same effect of my mother having increasingly less baby pictures with each additional child. I’d like to think it has more to do with the fact that we were spending most of our time laughing and enjoying ourselves that we found little time to take pictures.

     While Angela and Travis were here a Moonlight Vigil was held in Accompong for the first time in many years. A Moonlight Vigil is a traditional Maroon ceremony that used to be kept every full moon in Accompong. It involves a full moon, a bonfire, traditional drumming and singing, the blowing of the abeng, traditional dancing, traditional food, and storytelling.

Like indigenous populations worldwide, cultural preservation and retention is a major issue in Accompong. Since we’ve reached, many people have lamented that the Moonlight Vigil was no longer being held, including our Jr. Council members. So, with only a little help, they held a Moonlight Vigil about a week ago for Black History Month….and it was spectacular. Maybe it was run-of-the-mill for everybody there, but to us it surely wasn’t. I think it might even have been one of those feel-good-PCV-moments everybody always talks about….

Kid's Treat

 

           Right after Christmas, our Jr. Council held a Kid’s Treat, and we’ve been meaning to share pictures from it since. We’re not exactly sure what the proper protocol is for a Kid’s Treat in Jamaica, but at our Kid’s Treat the Jr. Council had competitions such as a bulla eating contest, a ginger beer (non-alcoholic) guzzling contest, an apple bobbing contest, and dance competitions. These competitions were followed by the distribution of ice cream and cake, provided free of charge by the Jr. Council’s fundraising efforts, as well as free school supplies –courtesy of JACOM….Oh! And like any good Jamaican event, there was loud music playing from start to finish.

‘Isn’t it amazing?!’

      One of our good PCV friends recently went home, and in asking her what it was like to see her family and friends she said, “Great! Mostly great… I mean, sometimes, it’s weird.  Some people ask, ‘Isn’t it amazing?!’ and you think ‘What am I supposed to say to that? You really have no idea what it’s like to be a PCV? Because that’s what I feel like saying.’

JC member reading @ Book Club

     Let’s be clear here. Sometimes PC service is amazing… But let’s also be honest. Many times it’s not. Many times it’s hard. It’s frustrating. It’s stressful. You feel lonely. You feel underappreciated. You feel weird. You feel out of place. You feel like you want to go home where things were easier -not easy, but easier. You question why you’re here. You doubt the very beliefs that brought you here in the first place. You become cynical. You get depressed. You want to give in. You want to give up.


     PC is not this fanciful story in which you arrive to your community, everyone waiting for their hero to arrive –no Disney-true-story-movie here. We don’t regularly see the fruits of our labor, and often wonder if we’re going one step forward, two steps back -instead of the other way around. We’re not always liked, loved, or appreciated. Many times we work tirelessly on a project, and upon its completion, all anybody can do is complain. You hold meetings or workdays, and nobody shows up, even the very people who suggested the meeting or workday in the first place.

Julie with her fan club

    In Jamaica, we need to be constantly aware of violence –hearing of fellow PCVs being robbed, mugged, or harassed. We’re constantly dealing with trust issues, as stealing and lying don’t carry with them the level of immorality we’re used to. Locals are boisterous, and don’t hold back sharing any of their thoughts –even if those thoughts are misinformed or hurtful.

    It isn’t always bad. Jamaica and PC World can be a wonderful place. But it isn’t always amazing either. This is part of the PCV story, and volunteers struggle regularly in their service worldwide, as I’m reminded by a fellow PCV serving halfway across the world in Azerbaijan:


    ‘I guess the point is that there never really is a day or a month or a year where you do not question your choice of living overseas in such a situation as Peace Corps requires. Peace does not settle in your heart and every puzzle piece falls into place. I mean, if that were the case, what would be the point? This experience is not meant for the complacent, it is meant for the hearty. The ready. The willing.’

The Books Have Arrived!

Well, they arrived about 2 months ago, and we’ve been meaning to write this post ever since.

Grade 1 boys reading new books!

This won’t be news to our avid readers, but Accompong was in dire need of children’s books when we first arrived. So we did what any good PCV would do, and we called on our family and friends to make a book contribution….and contribute you did. We have received 7 boxes of books, including random books given here and there through visiting friends and family.

As many of you know, we keep a Children’s Book Club here in Accompong that has been relatively successful. On any given Tuesday we have between 30-50 kids come to the library to attend, and get a new book for the week. Overall we’ve had upwards of 70 kids from the community come and attend our weekly meetings.

Girls  vs.

Boys!

Accompong has a low level of literacy, and we’re trying our best to encourage kids to get excited about reading. And boy did they get excited when the new books arrived! They race to line up at the library door to be the first to pick their book, and we’ve had to break up our fair share of fights over kids pushing to get ahead in line. (They especially like the princess books, girls AND BOYS alike!)


Book Club can be draining for us; supervising 50 riled up kids isn’t exactly stress-free. But every week, when I see kids literally running barefoot to come to club -flip-flops in one hand and book in the other, when no matter what day it is I’m constantly asked ‘Miss Julie, is library keeping today?’, or when after club walking home I see the all the kids reading their new books –on their veranda, with their grandmother, on the sidewalk- it seems to be all worth it.

And of course, all of this wouldn’t be nearly as impactful if it wasn’t for the generous donations made by all of you. Thank you!