What a busy, busy week I have had. This past week our PVI group teamed up with a group of college students to help run a summer camp for inner city kids in Kingston. This camp has existed for three years now and its goals are focused on introducing and teaching the kids about values and common respect within their community and the world. The camp has two different sites that are a few streets away from each other; Myrh Villa and Whitfield. I was originally signed up for Myrh Villa to work with the six year old and under kids but when we arrived Monday morning the Canadian group needed an extra person in Whitfield so I decided to go. My plan of working with the younger kids changed and I was assigned to work with the 12 year olds and up. I was so nervous!! Not having a lot of experience with this age group and being very intimidated with the group I was very unsure of what the week would bring. But I also knew that this could be a very good experience for me so I jumped into it! Our first morning started in a one room building and started with about 40-50 kids and by the end of our songs there were about 100 kids. It’s always more hot in downtown Kingston and the sun was beating down on the one room “club house.” The camp was set up with themes for each day of the week.
Monday: Game Show Day
Tuesday: Earth Day
Wednesday: Around the World Day
Thursday: Sports/Olympics Day
Friday: Field Trip to YS Falls
Saturday: Party!!!!
I think the overall theme that we all struggled with all week is the matter and concept of time. Nothing starts on time which can be a huge frustration when you have things that you would like to accomplish but also a blessing when you are enjoying the company around you and not feeling a rush to do the next thing. Our first activity Monday was to design name tags. Each person in the group was given a card to write their name and to draw something about themselves, something they like, don’t like, and something they would like to be. It was really interesting to see how long it took them. The kids in my group age 12+ just aren’t confident in themselves. They had a hard time coming up with things to describe themselves and even there likes and dislikes. I found that there was a need for consistent positive reinforcement. It was also really hard to get and keep their attention and I ran into this issue all week. It was frustrating feeling like I need to be tough and sometimes hard on the kids but if we didn’t say anything then we wouldn’t have been able to accomplish anything this week. By Wednesday I had almost had it with our group but Andrea our community leader came by and spoke to the group…Andrew (my co-counselor) and I gave them the responsibility of organizing Saturday’s party and all that it entailed from the set-up to the performances. We put them into two groups and sent them to work and by lunch time at 12:00 they had finalized stuff for the party on Saturday. It’s hard to describe the feeling I had to actually see them positively communicating with each other and taking the activity seriously. I did find some relief early in the week during lunchtime and free play after lunch when we interacted with all the kids. The Canadians brought soccer balls, skipping ropes, and a few other toys. We filled the intersection and streets with kids playing and spending time together. The girls loved my hair because it is so different from theirs and according to them my hair is “so soft.” They enjoyed taking out my hair tie and braiding/playing with my hair. I found that I constantly had one of the little ones in my lap just looking for attention. I learned a lot of things this week. The older kids are definitely products of their environments and act out because of what they see at home. It is completely acceptable to them to hit and talk down to each other. It seems as though many of the kids once they are done breast feeding and can walk on their own are expected to survive sometimes without the comfort of a parents hug. Many of the little ones just want to be held and have some attention fully put onto them. When looking back on the week overall I had an absolute blast and it reminded me of how much I love being a camp counselor. For the week though the kids all got a meal, some fun activities, and some positive role models which might be lacking in their everyday life. In Friday we went to YS Falls which is a natural waterfall about three hours from our home in Stony Hill. We loaded up the buses around 7:00am and headed off. The buses in Jamaica have two seats on one side with a fold down seat attached to the two and then a single seat on the other side. We fit about 6 people across, which is a lot but hey…it’s Jamaica. I had a little girl sleep on my lap all the way there and on the way home she curled up in my lap slept the whole way home. The day was a blast and probably the least chaotic day that we had during camp. There was a pool for the kids to play in with water from the natural waterfall and the kids played for a few hours while we as counselors played and swam with them. Matt, Tracy and I went up to falls and took turns swinging from a rope swing into the falls. They also have zip-lining there and I hope when I have guests to take them there. As I said before the week was quite chaotic and we played a much larger role then we were anticipating but I had a blast. I was completely exhausted at the end of the day but a good exhausted.
Today was my first day back into my mission in a week for mass. Its crazy how much I missed being there and being around the people in my mission. What started off as a small group grew and by the end of mass it was quite full. I while we were singing some opening hymns and looked around the room. For a community that has so little there was an immense amount of joy and love in the air. That moment brought to mind an experience I had in Honduras and shared about while in Pittsburgh which was when I felt God’s love around me. I had experienced a very powerful experience in Honduras but this was completely different. I felt God’s love in the voices of the people. In every voice, tambourine tap, and clapping to the rhythm in that church. “If the Lord is keeping you, what you have to worry about” is a line sung often by Aunt Daphe and in church. I find it so true and really speaks to the people of Devon Pen...they believe the Lord keeps them in his heart and looks out for them…as long as they have life everything is alright. I find it’s the simple things that I’m learning so much from and absolutely loving it.
Monday: Game Show Day
Tuesday: Earth Day
Wednesday: Around the World Day
Thursday: Sports/Olympics Day
Friday: Field Trip to YS Falls
Saturday: Party!!!!
I think the overall theme that we all struggled with all week is the matter and concept of time. Nothing starts on time which can be a huge frustration when you have things that you would like to accomplish but also a blessing when you are enjoying the company around you and not feeling a rush to do the next thing. Our first activity Monday was to design name tags. Each person in the group was given a card to write their name and to draw something about themselves, something they like, don’t like, and something they would like to be. It was really interesting to see how long it took them. The kids in my group age 12+ just aren’t confident in themselves. They had a hard time coming up with things to describe themselves and even there likes and dislikes. I found that there was a need for consistent positive reinforcement. It was also really hard to get and keep their attention and I ran into this issue all week. It was frustrating feeling like I need to be tough and sometimes hard on the kids but if we didn’t say anything then we wouldn’t have been able to accomplish anything this week. By Wednesday I had almost had it with our group but Andrea our community leader came by and spoke to the group…Andrew (my co-counselor) and I gave them the responsibility of organizing Saturday’s party and all that it entailed from the set-up to the performances. We put them into two groups and sent them to work and by lunch time at 12:00 they had finalized stuff for the party on Saturday. It’s hard to describe the feeling I had to actually see them positively communicating with each other and taking the activity seriously. I did find some relief early in the week during lunchtime and free play after lunch when we interacted with all the kids. The Canadians brought soccer balls, skipping ropes, and a few other toys. We filled the intersection and streets with kids playing and spending time together. The girls loved my hair because it is so different from theirs and according to them my hair is “so soft.” They enjoyed taking out my hair tie and braiding/playing with my hair. I found that I constantly had one of the little ones in my lap just looking for attention. I learned a lot of things this week. The older kids are definitely products of their environments and act out because of what they see at home. It is completely acceptable to them to hit and talk down to each other. It seems as though many of the kids once they are done breast feeding and can walk on their own are expected to survive sometimes without the comfort of a parents hug. Many of the little ones just want to be held and have some attention fully put onto them. When looking back on the week overall I had an absolute blast and it reminded me of how much I love being a camp counselor. For the week though the kids all got a meal, some fun activities, and some positive role models which might be lacking in their everyday life. In Friday we went to YS Falls which is a natural waterfall about three hours from our home in Stony Hill. We loaded up the buses around 7:00am and headed off. The buses in Jamaica have two seats on one side with a fold down seat attached to the two and then a single seat on the other side. We fit about 6 people across, which is a lot but hey…it’s Jamaica. I had a little girl sleep on my lap all the way there and on the way home she curled up in my lap slept the whole way home. The day was a blast and probably the least chaotic day that we had during camp. There was a pool for the kids to play in with water from the natural waterfall and the kids played for a few hours while we as counselors played and swam with them. Matt, Tracy and I went up to falls and took turns swinging from a rope swing into the falls. They also have zip-lining there and I hope when I have guests to take them there. As I said before the week was quite chaotic and we played a much larger role then we were anticipating but I had a blast. I was completely exhausted at the end of the day but a good exhausted.
Today was my first day back into my mission in a week for mass. Its crazy how much I missed being there and being around the people in my mission. What started off as a small group grew and by the end of mass it was quite full. I while we were singing some opening hymns and looked around the room. For a community that has so little there was an immense amount of joy and love in the air. That moment brought to mind an experience I had in Honduras and shared about while in Pittsburgh which was when I felt God’s love around me. I had experienced a very powerful experience in Honduras but this was completely different. I felt God’s love in the voices of the people. In every voice, tambourine tap, and clapping to the rhythm in that church. “If the Lord is keeping you, what you have to worry about” is a line sung often by Aunt Daphe and in church. I find it so true and really speaks to the people of Devon Pen...they believe the Lord keeps them in his heart and looks out for them…as long as they have life everything is alright. I find it’s the simple things that I’m learning so much from and absolutely loving it.
hey Sar, I love reading your blogs, I feel like I'm getting to know the community that you are working with.Enjoy the day.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Mom