JULY: a month of rain.

That’s the quick version. Given my lack of posting recently though, I’ll elaborate!

Extreme times call for extreme measures...

Despite the weather, July hosted many events, projects, celebrations, and adventures. Here are a couple of pictures from Jerk Fest (courtesy of Jerry).

Muddy day at Jerk Fest, small crowd.

Wrong shoes, clearly.

This day, perhaps a blessing in disguise, really clinched the idea that we as an organization need to move beyond really big, risky fund-raising ventures that happen only once per year to several smaller fundraisers that are less dependent on forces we can’t control (read: rain and politics). So, sadly Cool Shades bar (and its Red Stripe t-shirt sporting bar ladies) may be no more come next year.

After Jerk Fest my counterpart and I finally had uninterrupted time to focus on camp organizing and fund-raising. I tell you, one can learn a lot about a culture (and self) from begging money from people and businesses. I think the last time I begged money in the US was for softball in the third grade? A few times in college for one cause or another or metro fare, but never in a serious all day every day for weeks kind of way.  One thing I learned: Jamaicans love fi chat. You may have to go back several times and wait an hour to see the person, but if you get some gossip and small talk going once you’re there, chances are you’ll not come away empty handed. Winded, maybe. With thirty or so donors targeted, the process was a long and tedious one. However, we did manage to raise enough AND have some left over to put towards buying books for our library!

Camp, finished last week, was QUITE an experience. I’ll save details for a post dedicated to it when I get pictures. (Suspense, I know).

I will say though that one of the things I was most looking forward to about camp was the opportunity for collaboration with other volunteers from across the island. In this I was very gratified. During the first week alone I had the help of seven different PCVs (two who traveled from other parishes). Having friends from my training group come out to help was wonderful not only for camp and di pickney dem, but also for idea sharing and general comparison of sites, partner organizations, and projects. While camp was draining, discussing their ideas and feedback on my site as well as the initiatives they have and difficulties they are dealing with at their sites really recharged me when I didn’t even know I needed it. (Note: Despite how nice it was personally to have all of these helpful people, next year I’m going to try to phase Peace Corps out of being an integral part of camp. One thing that seems to be hard to stick in Jamaica for PC is sustainability. So many great projects or organizations are started with good intentions, but left without a flag bearer. Fingers crossed that this won’t happen in Fairy Hill!)

Unrelated to this post, but a cool pic of the beach off of the fishing village in Port Antonio.

The Peace Corps family is an interesting one. With groups phasing in and out each year and length of service being just two years, relationships are deep but fleeting. In training alone we all met one another for the first time and quickly became dependent on each other’s support. People I’m sure I wouldn’t be friends with back in the states for lack of common interests or personality differences I am very close with here.  What’s really strange is that while we know one another in a very real way in our Jamaican Peace Corps context, we don’t actually know one another very well at all in our own, usual context (whatever that is, I guess). No one knows my family, friends, RJ, background, or Rainbow Lakes, UMD, Geneva – even the Jersey Shore! We’re all self-contained little units with stories of another life.

But anyway, I realized how quickly the rug can be pulled as the group 79 volunteers slowly begin to exit the island. There were four of them here in Portland, and while I didn’t know them terribly well, they were the ones who showed us newbies the ropes, introduced us to their sites and some cool places in the parish. It feels like they’ve always been here. Weird!

What I’m getting at with this somewhat rambly account I guess is that relationships here are really key to sanity and outlook. I know that I’ve gleaned a lot of strength from them in the last few weeks.

On this note, one true blessing with PCJ is the CUG (closed user group) that we all have free access to with our phones. Texting abounds at all hours of the day. During a dull 8 hour graduation ceremony (yes, this happened, and for little basic school kids!!!), it is very easy to commiserate or joke about it with other volunteers. You can amuse friends with how many animals and people are squished in your taxi, or gripe about the lack of piped water despite the torrents of rain falling outside. The grapevine is unbelievably fast, and for better or worse you hear the triumphs and tragedies as they happen island wide.  Here, the littlest things can make or break your day. Someone smiling to you on the street, giving fruit unsolicited, coming to a meeting on time and with ideas that you can tell they will follow through. A dog following at your ankles, a glare, getting ripped off by a taxi man. Sometimes it’s ridiculous how such small things can turn your mood so dramatically. Without friends here and perspective from home, I think a lot of us would think about packing it in!

Over the weekend I started brainstorming for my one year plan that’s due at our Early Service Conference in September. Some fun things that I’ll keep you updated on as they happen: mango wine making, solar dryer for fruit (maybe herbs/flowers too?), collaboration with a fabric printing group in Bluefields (Patrick’s site), and with another women’s paper making group in Elim (Sammi’s site).

Here are a few more pictures of how our ladies make their paper:

Pressing the paper pulp

Shaping the paper

Paper and pulp

More lata.