The Abditory

The Jamaica trip went off without a hitch. Our group is exhausted from the work, yet invigorated by what we observed. The work performed by our group took place at three separate locations:

Copse Basic School

The Copse Basic School provides preschool/kindergarten education, daycare and child development. Mission Jamaica participants provided classroom ministry, puppet ministry, and labor support for site maintenance including external/internal painting and grounds beautification.

Westhaven Children’s Home

Westhaven Children’s Home is a legally established charitable organization in Jamaica. It was started in 1986 by a group of concerned citizens led by Mrs. Gloria Viera. Westhaven was started as a result of a survey, which documented the need for a residential facility in western Jamaica parishes to assist children with disabilities in reaching their full potential. The first cottage was opened in Dec. 17, 1991 and two more were opened during 1993. There are now four fully operational cottages, and 76 children on roll, ages 3 to 26 years old. A recent Jamaica Observer article (May 29, 2006) states:

The home, which started out with one cottage in 1986 under its founder, Gloria Viera who saw the need for a facility to house disabled children, is answerable to the Ministry of Health from which it receives a monthly stipend of $15,000. However, the mainstay of its support is the American group Mission Jamaica, which undertakes the bulk of the responsibility for maintaining the facility.

Our group assisted in the daily care of these youth as well as the construction of an additional cottage. During our time there, many of our youth grew quite attached to the children at the home, making our departure from the home an emotional time for our entire group.

Support a Westhaven Child Program

If you’ve heard any of the moving stories from our Mission Jamaica team and you’d like to support the Westhaven home, St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church has established the Westhaven “Support A Child” Program that will let you do just that. The program has been designed to provide funds for each of Westhaven’s orphans. Your monthly contribution will help to provide clothing, food, educational and recreational opportunities, and medical and dental care for a special child in need. 100% of your contribution will go the child you are sponsoring and be sent down every two months directly to Westhaven. I encourage everyone to take that leap of faith and support this effort.

Copse Place of Safety (POS)

Next to Westhaven Children’s Home, POS houses approximately 80 boys ages 7 to 17. A combination juvenile delinquent facility and orphanage, POS houses, feeds, and cares for boys from all walks of life. Many are troubled youth who have been placed at POS for legal reasons, while others simply have no other place to go. Education is a big concern at POS, as the boys cannot attend school. POS runs classes on a daily basis, but a lack of trained educational professionals, educational materials, and facilities makes education slow and difficult. A project is planned to convert a shipping container to another classroom facility, but that project will not begin until some time in the future. Conditions at Copse Place of Safety have been a concern to local Jamaican media for some time now. The Jamaica Observer has reported on problematic events occuring at the POS within the last year including the institution’s corporal punishment standards.

Derval Rowe, the newly-hired manager at Copse, is familiar with the complaints and made it clear that home employees who physically abuse the boys do so at the risk of being suspended once the charges are proven.

The problem, said the trained social worker, is a lack of training for staff members who are simply trying their best to cope. Including Rowe and the 11 caregivers (nine duty officers and two housemothers), there are 25 members of staff at Copse. These include an assistant manager, a clerical administrator, 1 teacher of general subjects, 1 woodwork instructor, 1 agriculture instructor; a cook, six maids and a handyman. “The staff has not been trained to deal with emotional problems,” Rowe told the Sunday Observer. “They are employed to do a particular job. They are not trained to deal with human emotions and so they would not be able to deal with these situations.”

Source: “They beat us here” Article – June 19, 2005

To follow this story through the last year, the worker was, in fact, suspended, but was later reinstated with little to no punishment issued.

Conditions at POS are dismal at best, but there is hope. Over the course of our week there, we interacted positively with POS boys, providing the nurturing and affirmation that is so desparately needed by the children stationed here. In addition, we assisted in the development of a fish hatchery that will serve POS as a food source and cash crop upon completion. This fish hatchery will provide up to 15,000 pounds of talapia per year, enabling POS to serve high-protein food to the boys on a regular basis. The sale of excess fish will provide income to POS, allowing for the purchase of required resources such as additional foodstuffs, educational materials, and manpower.

Additional photos and videos from the trip are forthcoming.

• More Copse-related stories from the Jamaica Observer
• More Westhaven-related stories from the Jamaica Observer

So, I went to Spain. At some point I’ll get around to actually writing a little blurb about it, but until then, there are pictures:

http://www.abditory.com/gallery2/v/TripsNStuff/spain/

The site is being incredibly slow lately for some reason, so go easy on it.

Some of the highlights include (in no particular order):

• Montserrat
• “bip bip bip bip bip…”
• Stairs. Lots and lots of stairs.
• Food:
  • Cafe con leche
  • Chocolate croissants
  • Chorizo
  • Tortilla Espanola
• “Pigeons?” (laughter ensues)
• “Where’s Kishan?”
• “Ummm… transformador de electricidat para Etats Unis y Espanya?” (Yes, that’s Franish … or is it Spench?)
• Ticket # 70.
• Dropping off and picking up suspect packages from strange foreign contacts.
• Genuine Spanish textiles (made in India)
• Hiding from nuns behind a wall with local Tarragonan youth.

So, Spain is a go.

In March, the Las Vegas crew (minus J.R.) will be heading off to Spain for sure, and possibly Andorra and southern France. We’ll fly into Barcelona and spend at least a few nights there before heading out to see more of the area.

Strangely enough, of all the places suggested, I think I’m more excited about Andorra than anywhere else.

Note to self: http://www.boriabcn.com/

Last Friday, we headed to Myrtle Beach to meet my parents. We had a good, relaxing trip with them… I really wish we could have stayed longer. On Saturday Wanda and I visited Myrtle Beach State Park and we had a few geocaches in mind. Unfortunately, the first one we tried for was overrun by mosquitoes, so we ran back out… defeated by insects. We went after another geocache closer to the beach with greater success. That night, we went out to eat at Pier 14, a restaurant situated directly on a pier over the ocean. We headed back home on Sunday.

Today I had the day off for Veteran’s Day (a welcome break from the hectic work week that just ended). We traveled to Covington to visit with Steven and Lisa and to congratulate them on the birth of our niece, Addison Yvonne Joyce! She was born on Wednesday and is a healthy, happy girl.

Thanks to Babu’s clever google hacking, I’m now second in a short list of honored sites listed while doing a Google search for “people who drink alcohol before noon”. At least Babu was the only one who made it on this list.