I woke feeling
stiff, not well rested and sweaty dirty. Nobody showered last night or this
morning. It was not a pleasant feeling. It was hot and humid sleeping and after a day of traveling a hot
shower was needed. The water situation at the nest was to conserve. Military
style showers and flush toilets only when needed. A mission trip was not a place to worry about make-up, jewelry, and hair. Today I was sporting a pony tail.
I was not a pretty sight. As I walked out of the bunkhouse, the sun was bright
and the air was very warm. It felt wonderful to feel the sunshine. It was 7:30AM and it was already beaming warm. I figured if
it was that warm already it must get miserable hot, but it was never too hot,
just around 80. We made our way to the main house for breakfast of Jamaican style scrambled eggs and I ate
pb&J to help fill my stomach. They served juice, but I was afraid to drink anything but my water
bottles. It was more than I had
expected. The orphanage was very nice, much nicer than I had expected. The main house is pretty big an open. There are no windows because there is not a need. There is even a swimming pool. A big square pool that the kids use daily. When the water supply is low, the swimming pool becomes the bath tub. Our team met each morning on top of the roof for devotions
and prayer. It was awesome up there with a 360 degree view of the island. The view was amazing and the sunshine felt toasty. The sunshine, view, and prayers were enough to prepare you cheerfully for whatever God had in store for the day. We all played with the kids and got to know them. The young
kids ages 7 and under are on a very consistent schedule. At 8:30 in the morning
they have outside playground time. We were strangers to them and it took some
time for us to warm up to each other. There were 7 little girls ages 1 to3 that
are so adorable. They get their hair fixed and braided every other day or so. I
watched this process and thought it looked very painful!
These kids are tough all the way around. From getting their hair yanked to falling and not crying and running on rocks barefoot. The kids were so cute and sweet. They all looked healthy clean and in nice clothes. Not what I expected. Some of the kids just wanted a lap to sit in, others were on the go and didn’t want held. One little guy, Oshaine found his way in Mark’s lap and liked his hat. Soon he was wearing it. The playground was nice and a recent team had dug a big hole for the kids new trampoline. The trampoline needed to be level and the hole filled and remaining rock cleared out of the way. The 4 men on our team went right to work. The 4 of them made a good working team and could get a lot done in a short amount of time. One thing in Jamaica, nothing is a quick project. It takes longer to find tools and equipment to start anything than to get the job done. More time is wasted running around finding the right key to the right storage area and finding the right tools. The tools and equipment are primitive, old, and rickety. The guys worked in the hot sun moving and shoveling rock until the trampoline was ready. They had plenty of the older boys watching and coaching, but none of them offered a hand.
“Dummy”, sadly is the name a man goes by who works for the orphanage. He does mostly volunteer work, but gets paid through meals and hand me downs. He is not deaf, but cannot speak other than loud screaming squeals as he attempts to sign with gestures. He walks nearly 2 miles up the mountain each day to work there. He helped the guys with their projects too. Another strange sight is the helper named ”Cracker”. He is a sight in itself. He is a man with dreadlocks gathered up in his large hat on top of his head. This is fairly common of the natives in Jamaica. Either a shaved head or dreadlocks like Bob Marley. Cracker also has a long skinny beard that reaches to his waist. He is a very tall skinny man that does not speak much English or much of anything. His job is to either weed eat the lawn or chop it with a machete. Each day he brings his little Eeyore looking donkey with him and ties it to a tree. He too will take any leftovers he can find. i had finished a meal of chicken and was going to throw the bones away and he asked to take them for his Donkey. ?? There are other staff, Farmer and Benji.
In the kitchen there are cooks that prepare meals for all the children, the
staff, and the teams. Pod Mom’s are the caretakers for each group of kids. One
Pod Mom for 7 children. The are the mother figure to the kids and care for
their needs. Some are kind and caring, some seem to be there because it is a
job. Mid morning the kids play in their pod rooms along a porch. I played with a
group of toddlers. Like any child there is some who yank toys from the others
and do not share. There was also one little girl that just stood in the room
and cried. The Pod Mom acted as if that was normal and did nothing. I held her
for a while and she just cried. I sat with her and she cried. I put her down
and she cried begging to be held again. Nothing seemed to help. Jayden was wearing capri’s that were rolled at the bottom. One little boy was smiling and pointing at her pants. Jayden looked down to discover a gecko in her pant leg. That was funny! There are a lot of geckos.
We spent the afternoon cleaning the apartment. I found a giant cockroach and swept him out. It was all rather gross! We also started sorting out all our donations. We had so much! There was the Christmas gifts, tons of peanut butter, baby lotion, baggies, snacks, etc. It was so neat to see all that people have provided for these children. We the began wrapping gifts and preparing stockings.
After lunch the kids 7 and under take naps usually for two hours. It is a sight to see all the kids and babies sleeping. The babies lay down in their cribs, no blanket or lovey. In not time they are all sound asleep. I walked through and saw all the sleeping kids. The 5-7 year olds do the same and have no pillow.
The director Katie gave us a tour of the whole place and gave us some history. She told us a lot of facts that were very surprising. There are truly only 2 orphans at the home. The majority are kids that have been taken from home because of abuse, neglect, drugs, or children of teenage parents not ready to care for them. She explained that some kids have seen some serious neglect and abuse. They give the parents every opportunity to get the kids back. Adoption is really the very last resort. The adoption system is really complicated and Jamaica's system is pretty messed up. They are currently building a pre-shcool and also have a home school teacher for a couple older boys.
Since lunch was PB&J sandwiches, we were very excited for a good dinner. Everyone was hungry and the lo mein style noodles were so satisfying. I could have ate tons, but here you eat enough to sustain you. The men all went swimming in the little pool or in other words took a bath. The directors told us when the water is low a swim in the pool is a bath. I could not take it any longer, I could smell myself and I felt nasty. I took my first shower. I got wet, turned the water off, lathered, and rinsed. I used very little shampoo, but it felt good. I was amazed at how little water I used. I wanted to see so I had plugged the drain. It was probably a gallon of water. I was amazed and most of all I felt refreshed. It is amazing what a shower can do for you. By 8:00 PM, it felt like 11:00PM. We were all very tired. All is quiet around the home with little kids sleeping. Several of our team sat up at the house connecting to wifi to post a few pictures on facebook and check in at home. That was my only form of communication.
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