Day 1
Jamaica Bound
. 
We were up at 4am to start our travels to Jamaica. Our team of 17 members checked in totes full
of donations. I never heard a total count, but I would guess near 20. We all
wore matching yellow t-shirts custom made. Our team consisted of Mike a single
man, Carly a college girl, The D family- Alina, Ashton, Payton, and
Wyatt, and Brian. The F family- Aaron, Joy and Trey,and the three of us. First obstacle, security. Jayden set off the body scan alarms. She said the screen showed numerous red alerts all along her legs and feet. She had to have a pat down which I thought was crazy and made me upset. Turns out her blue jeans have metallic thread that set it off. We flew to Charlotte, N.C. before landing in Jamaica. You could feel the heat when we got off the airplane. Customs looked like a headache, but went fairly smooth considering all the stuff we had. Some of our group's totes were checked more thoroughly than others. I watched and picked which line went smoothest and our inspector checked a few totes then waved us on.
Out in the hot Jamaican sun, we waited
for our bus. The people around the airport had very hard looks on their faces,
never saw anyone smile. I did hear “Yah Mon” plenty of times. By the end of the
trip we were all saying it. That makes me smile. Our bus driver was very smiley
and friendly. We squeezed in every piece of luggage and barely had room for
ourselves. It was tight. We made a stop at the local market to buy waters for our team, and rice and beans to hand out. It took 3 times longer than it should have. The
currency difference is 105%, so the price for a bag of chips was $550. The bus
ride to the Robin’s Nest was interesting. It was a the top of a mountain. The
roads were somewhat paved, somewhat gravel with lots of pot holes, very
steep, and narrow. Oh, and they drive on the opposite side of the road. I never
could get used to that. They drive fast and and crazy. They accelerate and slam
on the brakes, they swerve to miss pot holes and fly by people in passing cars
with inches of room between. It is rather terrifying. It was interesting to see the scenery all the palm
trees and ---- trees. The farther up the mountain we got the smaller and
shabbier the homes got. The houses started looking like little shacks with tin
roofs. By the time we had arrived it was dark and there were just a few older
kids that greeted us. Sue, Ryan, and Jaheim were eager to say hi. We had our
first meal of rice and chicken. The chicken had been marinated and was very
good. The young children were all sleeping in their beds and cribs, so it was
very quiet. We had a meeting with the directors Katie and Vicki. They gave us
some guidelines and we all prayed together. Everyone was tired so we went to
the bunkhouses to get ready for bed. The men had a small bunkhouse without air
condition and an almost outdoors bathroom. The girls were fortunate to have
some A/C. As we claimed our beds and
began putting sheets on, I noticed on a top bunk bugs crawling. Upon closer
inspection I saw a lot of bug poop. That was really gross. We discovered not bed
bugs, but baby cockroaches. Joy was so freaked out by the bugs she could not
take it. The directors told us we were free to use the apartment bedrooms. The
apartment was sitting empty as the new directors were in the process
of moving in. Having the apartment was a huge unexpected luxury that we lucked
out in having. I even discovered in the apartment bathrooms their was a heated
shower. This was a secret we did not share. The other bathrooms were cold
showers. Joy and I ended up sleeping in a big bed in the apartment. I felt
spoiled having a fan that blew directly on us and the peace and quiet of a room
without giggly girls. Sure the bed was hard and plastic covered, we spread twin
sheets across it and covered with only a sheet, but it could have been worse
with baby roaches crawling on us. I did not sleep well the entire time, but
well enough. The first night Joy was so freaked out by the bugs she “mummified”
herself in her sheets. She took a fitted sheet and wrapped herself in it head
and all. It was a sight that made me laugh.
We were up at 4am to start our travels to Jamaica. Our team of 17 members checked in totes full
of donations. I never heard a total count, but I would guess near 20. We all
wore matching yellow t-shirts custom made. Our team consisted of Mike a single
man, Carly a college girl, The D family- Alina, Ashton, Payton, and
Wyatt, and Brian. The F family- Aaron, Joy and Trey,and the three of us. First obstacle, security. Jayden set off the body scan alarms. She said the screen showed numerous red alerts all along her legs and feet. She had to have a pat down which I thought was crazy and made me upset. Turns out her blue jeans have metallic thread that set it off. We flew to Charlotte, N.C. before landing in Jamaica. You could feel the heat when we got off the airplane. Customs looked like a headache, but went fairly smooth considering all the stuff we had. Some of our group's totes were checked more thoroughly than others. I watched and picked which line went smoothest and our inspector checked a few totes then waved us on. 
Out in the hot Jamaican sun, we waited
for our bus. The people around the airport had very hard looks on their faces,
never saw anyone smile. I did hear “Yah Mon” plenty of times. By the end of the
trip we were all saying it. That makes me smile. Our bus driver was very smiley
and friendly. We squeezed in every piece of luggage and barely had room for
ourselves. It was tight. We made a stop at the local market to buy waters for our team, and rice and beans to hand out. It took 3 times longer than it should have. The
currency difference is 105%, so the price for a bag of chips was $550. The bus
ride to the Robin’s Nest was interesting. It was a the top of a mountain. The
roads were somewhat paved, somewhat gravel with lots of pot holes, very
steep, and narrow. Oh, and they drive on the opposite side of the road. I never
could get used to that. They drive fast and and crazy. They accelerate and slam
on the brakes, they swerve to miss pot holes and fly by people in passing cars
with inches of room between. It is rather terrifying. It was interesting to see the scenery all the palm
trees and ---- trees. The farther up the mountain we got the smaller and
shabbier the homes got. The houses started looking like little shacks with tin
roofs. By the time we had arrived it was dark and there were just a few older
kids that greeted us. Sue, Ryan, and Jaheim were eager to say hi. We had our
first meal of rice and chicken. The chicken had been marinated and was very
good. The young children were all sleeping in their beds and cribs, so it was
very quiet. We had a meeting with the directors Katie and Vicki. They gave us
some guidelines and we all prayed together. Everyone was tired so we went to
the bunkhouses to get ready for bed. The men had a small bunkhouse without air
condition and an almost outdoors bathroom. The girls were fortunate to have
some A/C. As we claimed our beds and
began putting sheets on, I noticed on a top bunk bugs crawling. Upon closer
inspection I saw a lot of bug poop. That was really gross. We discovered not bed
bugs, but baby cockroaches. Joy was so freaked out by the bugs she could not
take it. The directors told us we were free to use the apartment bedrooms. The
apartment was sitting empty as the new directors were in the process
of moving in. Having the apartment was a huge unexpected luxury that we lucked
out in having. I even discovered in the apartment bathrooms their was a heated
shower. This was a secret we did not share. The other bathrooms were cold
showers. Joy and I ended up sleeping in a big bed in the apartment. I felt
spoiled having a fan that blew directly on us and the peace and quiet of a room
without giggly girls. Sure the bed was hard and plastic covered, we spread twin
sheets across it and covered with only a sheet, but it could have been worse
with baby roaches crawling on us. I did not sleep well the entire time, but
well enough. The first night Joy was so freaked out by the bugs she “mummified”
herself in her sheets. She took a fitted sheet and wrapped herself in it head
and all. It was a sight that made me laugh. 
In Jayden's Words:
We had been staying at a hotel by the airport and woke up at 4:00 AM to get ready and eat breakfast. A shuttle brought us to the airport and we hat to get 8 bags off the shuttle and to baggage check, that was hard! We waited in line for about an hour to check our bags. We went through security and i had to have a pat down because i had Shiny threading and sparkles on my jeans.
We got off the plane and it was hot and humid. We saw huge mountains in the distance and palm trees all around. There were crazy drivers and honking everywhere. There were people all over outside the airport. The bus was little and we packed it with all the stuff so we barely had room to move. We drove down windy roads and hills with cliffs on both sides. It was scary driving. We went to Mega Mart and bought water, beans, and rice. It was crazy to see Oreos for $300 because Jamaican money is $100 per $1 of american money. We packed all the stuff in the bus and we barely had room to sit. I had water bottle packages on my lap. Driving up the big mountain was the scariest. People sat outside their houses and watch cars go by for entertainment. We were driving up the mountain in the dark. When Audley the driver slowed down you knew there were big holes or curves ahead but he would gun it and speed up you knew it was smooth for a while. We got to meet all the little kids. Only a few came down to greet us. Most were shy at first and wanted to watch us from a distance. We ate a really good meal of saucy chicken and rice stir fry. Joy, Mom, and I went all over to find sheets and pillows for everybody. Everybody was tired sweaty and wanted a shower but there was little water and it was ice cold. When we were getting into bed someone saw cockroaches above mom's bed.We changed the mattress. The men came in and helped move out the mattress. Everyone was exhausted, scared of the bugs, and about ready to go home. We decided that tomorrow we would clean the whole apartment very thoroughly.
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