In the
morning as I was walking with Jayden to the main house, I spotted three boys
down by the coconut trees. They had a ladder and were climbing up picking
coconuts. We watched them and listened as the spoke in their Jamaican language
to one another. I love to hear their native language even though I have no clue
what is being said. Potwai is the language they speak, a little Spanish, French,
and English. It is kind of lazy talk. For example,”What ya duhn” is What are
you doing?” The boys got coconuts, split them and drink the juice right from
them. On another day, one of the same boys,Sun picked Jayden a coconut, knowing
it was not ripe, he laughed as she drank it. He laughed all week about it. He
kept asking her if it was good. 
Today we had a
big breakfast with yummy scrambled eggs Jamaican style, pancakes, and fruit..
Daily, our team rotates who does meal preparations and who does dishes. This
was our first dishes duty and boy did we pick the wrong day. The cooks were thawing
chicken in the sink for the big staff party. 20 frozen chickens were sitting in
the water. We waited a long time for them to finish before we could start cleaning.
By this time, Mark had gone to help the men with a painting project. Jayden and
I had to conquer mass dishes. We had all 30 kids breakfast dishes, the staffs,
and the teams, along with cooking dishes and now dishes from raw chicken. The
sinks were prepared for us with one full of soapy water, and one full of clean
water for rinsing. Only one problem, the water was cold. I questioned it
several times because that was just not sanitary to me. The cooks reassured me
it would be just fine. As I washed dishes in the cold water, I was so grossed
out, it made me feel sick. I was washing porridge out of bowls and greasy egg.
The water got more discolored and full of food floating and I was washing baby
bottles in the same water. Nothing seemed clean enough to me. All I could think ,
we are all going to get sick. I asked about draining and getting new water, the
cook shook here head, it will be fine. Ugh, the chicken dishes. Yeah it was all
very unpleasant and I wanted to rinse everything in bleach. As we were
finishing, the lunch dishes were being stacked beside us. We finally had to
stop so we could eat lunch and let the lunch duty take over. During Dishes the
guys were painting the walls and ceiling of the new pre-school room that is
under construction. They were using roller brushes, so they had plenty of
splatters on them, mostly in the face. Painting ceilings is hard on the shoulders
and back, not a job I would have done to well at.
At the main house several of us bagged up rice and beans to distribute to the community and families at the dump. By lunch, everyone was pretty hungry. Peanut butter and jelly was the meal for lunch today. I know everyone ate their meal with appreciation but you couldn’t help but be hungry. After lunch, we were taking the packed bags to the John’s Hall community. In addition to the rice and beans we had bags with coloring books, small toys, candies, soaps and washcloths for families. We loaded up in the back of the “Tipper” truck. I had envisioned a bus ride. The “Tipper” was a small dump truck that the men had been fixing the brakes on the previous day. Imagine my thoughts as we would be flying down a mountain in this little tipper. It was the most unsafe thing I had ever seen. Not only were the brakes freshly repaired, it was very old and small. We were loading 25 adults and kids in the back. It was insane, but if the orphanage staff would allow the children to go, how could I not. We piled in, some sat, some stood. I wanted the safest place and something to hang on to, so I stood in the front hanging onto a bar along with about 8 others squeezed together. It was the wildest ride I have ever been on. It was fast, jerky, and crazy! It felt like a scene from a movie. We laughed, we screamed, and some may have even cried. Brittany thought she could ride without holding on, but after a couple seconds, I became her handle as she latched onto my shoulders. At one point she let go and went flying backwards on top of people. Once we stopped and parked, we unloaded and began handing out our supplies. Within 5 minutes we were out. It was really quite sad as some of the families showed up and we were out, while others had taken more than their share, 6 bags, for themselves. Something that I cannot wrap my mind around about Jamaican people was told to me by the directors, the people there are very materialistic and it is all about outward appearance. They are always dressed clean, neat, wealthy looking even though they live in a tin shack with no running water or even electricity. I cannot figure out how they keep so clean and wash their clothes in the creek and look so nice.
On the ride back in the tipper, we took a scenic route and visited an old abandoned resort nearby. Oh, it had to be so nice in its time, maybe 10 years ago. It was very big, open area, lots of hotel rooms, courtyard, and pool. It even had horse stables and trail rides. Now it was all falling down and neglected. Benji the tipper driver likes to have a little fun and drove us crazy, making circles around nearly making us fall out the back. Both Ryan and Lou held on to the bumper outside of the tipper and ran behind it. Their feet were going so fast, it scared me. Lou is the oldest boy, age 14. He is a very muscular strong young man that looks like an 18 year old. He has two siblings in the house, Sue and Sun. The story is, after being there for 7 years, they are finally being adopted together into one family in the US. Ryan is 12 and was running behind the truck in his bare feet. Those kids have feet tough as steel. He is a boy that had lived at the house for awhile until his father wanted him back home. He has since ran away and gone back to the house on several occasions and that is how he is here now. Back at the orphanage, they wanted to use all of us in the back of the tipper for weight to back the tipper up a hill. They needed to dump loads of rock into the back from the playground area. That was a scary experience as it took a good 4 or 5 times of spinning out and ramming the truck backwards before we got stopped. Later the men from the team shovel and dumped rock by the bucket load.
At the main house several of us bagged up rice and beans to distribute to the community and families at the dump. By lunch, everyone was pretty hungry. Peanut butter and jelly was the meal for lunch today. I know everyone ate their meal with appreciation but you couldn’t help but be hungry. After lunch, we were taking the packed bags to the John’s Hall community. In addition to the rice and beans we had bags with coloring books, small toys, candies, soaps and washcloths for families. We loaded up in the back of the “Tipper” truck. I had envisioned a bus ride. The “Tipper” was a small dump truck that the men had been fixing the brakes on the previous day. Imagine my thoughts as we would be flying down a mountain in this little tipper. It was the most unsafe thing I had ever seen. Not only were the brakes freshly repaired, it was very old and small. We were loading 25 adults and kids in the back. It was insane, but if the orphanage staff would allow the children to go, how could I not. We piled in, some sat, some stood. I wanted the safest place and something to hang on to, so I stood in the front hanging onto a bar along with about 8 others squeezed together. It was the wildest ride I have ever been on. It was fast, jerky, and crazy! It felt like a scene from a movie. We laughed, we screamed, and some may have even cried. Brittany thought she could ride without holding on, but after a couple seconds, I became her handle as she latched onto my shoulders. At one point she let go and went flying backwards on top of people. Once we stopped and parked, we unloaded and began handing out our supplies. Within 5 minutes we were out. It was really quite sad as some of the families showed up and we were out, while others had taken more than their share, 6 bags, for themselves. Something that I cannot wrap my mind around about Jamaican people was told to me by the directors, the people there are very materialistic and it is all about outward appearance. They are always dressed clean, neat, wealthy looking even though they live in a tin shack with no running water or even electricity. I cannot figure out how they keep so clean and wash their clothes in the creek and look so nice.
On the ride back in the tipper, we took a scenic route and visited an old abandoned resort nearby. Oh, it had to be so nice in its time, maybe 10 years ago. It was very big, open area, lots of hotel rooms, courtyard, and pool. It even had horse stables and trail rides. Now it was all falling down and neglected. Benji the tipper driver likes to have a little fun and drove us crazy, making circles around nearly making us fall out the back. Both Ryan and Lou held on to the bumper outside of the tipper and ran behind it. Their feet were going so fast, it scared me. Lou is the oldest boy, age 14. He is a very muscular strong young man that looks like an 18 year old. He has two siblings in the house, Sue and Sun. The story is, after being there for 7 years, they are finally being adopted together into one family in the US. Ryan is 12 and was running behind the truck in his bare feet. Those kids have feet tough as steel. He is a boy that had lived at the house for awhile until his father wanted him back home. He has since ran away and gone back to the house on several occasions and that is how he is here now. Back at the orphanage, they wanted to use all of us in the back of the tipper for weight to back the tipper up a hill. They needed to dump loads of rock into the back from the playground area. That was a scary experience as it took a good 4 or 5 times of spinning out and ramming the truck backwards before we got stopped. Later the men from the team shovel and dumped rock by the bucket load.
Harmony is the
home school teacher for two boys at the orphanage. She lives on sight and helps
in many ways. Having told her that I homeschool, she asked if I would like to
see her classroom. She gave me a tour of her little apartment and classroom.
She showed me some curriculum and we talked about schooling. She is a very neat
person and teaches a very Christ centered class. She is a very hard working
driven person, always taking on the next job. We could barely keep up with some
of her demands.
Later I sat at
the main house with Joshua in my arms for 2 hours. Joshua is guessed to be
around 9 months old. He was abandoned as a baby. He has got to be the most
content little baby ever. He is so precious and sweet. He is soft, doesn’t have
a lot of muscle tone enough to sit on his own or crawl yet. He is huggable and
cuddly. He likes to lay back on your lap and look upside down. He also likes to
sing and coo. He smiles a lot and chews on everything. Mark, Jayden and I all got lot's of Joshua time during our stay. Everyone on the team wanted top wrap Joshua in their coat and sneak him on the plane home. 
By the end of the day, my back was killing me. The combination of doing dishes in a deep sink, riding in the jerky tipper, and holding a baby for so long about did me inTomorrow would be
a big day for us. We would be taking the kids to the beach, then returning for
a staff party. I helped make 48 peanut
butter and jelly sandwiches for our lunch the next day.
Some of the girls
were getting their hair braided by the pod Mom’s and Jayden just wanted a few
small braids. While she was getting her hair done, she was in the boys room age
3-7. The boys were all in bunk beds trying to fall asleep. Their room is next
to the baby room. Most nights there are 2 or 3 babies crying until they fall
asleep. I heard a boy quietly say, “Pray with me.” I gladly went over to him
just like I would my boys at home. It made me miss my boys at home and it made
me sad to know that there wasn’t a consistent parent tucking this little boy in
each night and how he longed for someone to be that for him. I asked his name,
Raymian. I said his name and thanked God for him and my time with him, that he
would be safe and healthy, that he would enjoy Christmas that is about Jesus
and how Jesus loves him and prayed he would grow to be a strong man and know
Jesus. He closed his eyes while I prayed and smiled when I said his name. I had
my hand on his back and patted him as I prayed. When I stood up, I heard
another boy say”Pray with me”. Soon I prayed that prayer as I put my
hand on each boys back and made my way around the room and prayed with each
boy, Dwight, Howard, Aldane, Omar, Kimarr, and Adrian. That was a very memorable moment of my trip.
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