Typical day. PLAN: meet with the Gender and Development subcommittee in Kingston. REALITY: stay home to clean up the mess from a leak in the ceiling and wait for it to be patched up. The best laid plans…

It’s been a good few weeks though. The week before last we had our five day Peer Support Network (PSN) training. It was a really useful. We’re hoping to put a condensed version with just the basics of peer counseling into a session at the next Pre-Service Training (PST) so that everyone knows a little bit and can help out their group. I’m really not sure how much the PSN has been utilized in the past or will be used during our tenure, but I think it’s a really wonderful alternative support system.

After PSN training we had a beach weekend for Raz’s birthday in Longbay. Really laid back, sleepy coast town (except, as we saw, on 6 August). Ate some good food, drank some coconut rum, relaxed. Good weekend.

Things have been going well with the paper ladies. Interest seems to be growing from all different kinds of places. It’s still a little strange to me that none of these paths have been tested by them in the last twenty years…they’ve been around for a while! How have they stayed afloat? Maybe there’s more to the story that I have yet to hear. But I do think we will find success in supplying a combination of shops and hotels in and around Port Antonio. We may even expand their product line. Suggestions so far have included masks, stationary, personalized embossing/stamps and biodegradable food containers (styrofoam is the current addiction here, making its presence known in all the neighborhood gullies and streams). Any other ideas for the paper ladies?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about remittances and community organizing. Jamaica has a huge diaspora. I’m pretty sure that it is larger in number than the current population of Jamaica. As is true with many developing nations, families or individuals who leave their homes to seek better work or education abroad often send money back to Jamaica to support those they left. This happens for many reasons. Maybe the family helped pay for their ticket out or their education abroad. Maybe they know they will be back in the future. Maybe they just love their family and want to support them. Regardless of the motivation, remittances makeup a sizeable chunk of the Jamaican economy. This is a fragile existence subject to the whims of the job markets in the US, Canada, UK and elsewhere for those who depend on it to supplement their income.

There are a lot of problems plaguing many communities in Jamaica. Unstable access to water, no piped water, infrequent or nonexistent solid waste pickup, no recycling, treacherous roads that are sometimes even impassable for cars. While living in Ewarton and after moving to Fairy Hill I’ve talked with many people about these issues and how communities are dealing with or not dealing with them. For whatever reason (and maybe it’s been tried and proven not to work), coming together over an issue as a community seems rarely to be the solution. Instead, people wait. Or patch up temporary fixes. There are a lot of theories out there about the “why” behind the water shortages and things, but it’s the “now what” that I’m interested in. There just doesn’t seem to be a grassroots initiative for the next steps.

So I wonder what the connection is between remittances and organizing, or if there is one. Are people getting so used to just “getting by,” or relying on someone else to help that initiative just isn’t something they’re willing or able to spark? Do they trust that someone else will take care of it? Or does it have more to do with lack of group problem solving and team work focus in school? Our kids at camp really had trouble doing group work where we picked the group, or thinking about abstract questions relating to activities they did. Maybe it’s something else entirely. What’s weird is that communities do come together for some things, like the Best Community Competitions, but not for others. Does anyone have thoughts on this?

This country is so culturally complex. Another interesting thing is the relationship between everyday Jamaicans and the West, or global North.

On the one hand, many people do leave the country and get jobs elsewhere. Many come back and tell about it, live comfortably in nice houses as a result of it. That is one frame. Another is media; TV shows, movies, music, news. Then there are the tourists, development workers, researchers, and volunteers, expats – here live and in person (though this last grouping only really reaches certain parts of the country in a noticeable way). On the other hand, many many people don’t have the means or interest in leaving their parish, much less the country. There are places they know, and know them well. Have spent almost their whole lives in one valley or small town.

Hmm. I don’t remember exactly where I was going with this, but it’s interesting to think about.

I think it’s getting slightly cooler here. At night I actually feel chilly sometimes. Maybe this just means I’m finally getting acclimated! Either way, I’m fine with it.