Away
From Home
From Nancy Fleming:
These are a few experiences I would like
to share with you from a trip my husband Jack and I had
in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica.
We traveled there with a group called
Global Volunteers. This organization sends volunteers to
communities around the world that request helpers. The
group of eleven we were with was sent to a village named
Woburn Lawn of about 300 people. We were a bit surprised
to find the men we would be working under were mainly
Rastafarians with their dread locks, gentle and quiet
manners. Some of our group helped in the school. A nurse
with us was asked to travel in the area with a local
care giver to take blood pressures. This was greatly
appreciated.
Jack and I and three other women were to
help Lennox and Prince set up a coffee nursery for a
community cooperative. The land chosen had long been
unused, as the ruins of a slave headquarters were there.
There were six small terraces with strong retaining
walls on a mountain slope. We cleared the land of brush
and trees, burned the cuttings, and cleared away stones
with the help of about 6 men.
There had been a slave uprising at this
site and many men were killed. To appease the spirits --
called duppies -- a ceremony was held. Prince sprayed
mouthfuls of rum in each corner of the largest terrace
-- 35 x 70 feet in size -- and said a few prayers asking
for their friendship.
We had had many helpers that day, as each
of them was given some rum. The site had no electricity,
no water, and no road into it. It was reached by
climbing down a steep, rocky path. Jack and Lennox drew
up a plan for getting water to the site and purchased
the PVC pipe from a neighboring town. The next step was
to break into the nearest water line, attach the PVC
pipe, and run all 800 feet of it through the brush and
rocks down to the site.
Coffee seeds for the nursery were to be
planted in small plastic bags made especially for coffee
seedlings. To get soil for these bags, dirt was sifted
from an area along the road, put into old gunny sacks
and carried down the rocky path to the nursery. Chicken
manure was carried down as well and broken up by hand.
Urea was also added to this mix.
By the last day of our two week stay we
had filled 1,048 bags. An old piece of shade mesh was
used to shade the seedlings. Later this summer another
group of Global Volunteers will come to help continue
this project. Part of the money each volunteer pays for
the trip is used to purchase whatever tools or materials
are needed.
The local church did not like the
Rastafarian men in the community and ridiculed them from
the pulpit. Prince asked me what reaction he would
receive if he walked into my church. I felt I could
safely say he would be made to feel welcome and people
would be interested in his beliefs.
Please wish the Woburn Lawn community
success in their long term effort to run a coffee
cooperative.
From
Charlene Snyder:
Dear All,
Please excuse the typos-spelling... on
this Spanish keyboard!
Greetings from Cayembe, nearest town to
where my brother lives in San Jose Chico (10,000 ft)
near Tabacundo... i.e., 8 miles away and a couple
miles from the equator. This is where we come for
groceries, and internet.
Having a wonderful time at the Hacienda
of Hope, the Orphanage my brother Jerry has designed and
built, with a great construction crew of local young
men. They can do anything! and built the orphanage from
the ground up -- all the doors, kids' bunk beds etc. --
are hand-made in a small temporary carpentry shop. They
even hand-crafted the metal light hangings! as well as
the tile work, and recently built a machine to make
concrete pavers which they will use to pave the main
entry.
My brother Larry and I met in Houston and
came down together. It was very late when we arrived,
and I had no problems getting through Customs, but Larry
had brought Jerry a couple of parts for his old Toyota
Land Rover that was totaled recently in the bus crash
(think I mentioned to most of you). Anyway, they
charged Larry $107 tax for the carburetor and air
filter!
We spent the first night in Quito, since
so late and we needed rest for the long two-hour drive
up the Pan American Highway. The hotel was very
modern, comfortable, safe and affordable.
Living with my two brothers again has
been great fun! Larry, the Oklahoma farmer, is
overseeing the farming aspect. This week he had
all of us, including Jerry and wife Pat and the 3 oldest
boys walking the two pastures, broadcasting fertilizer,
right with the cows and horse who followed us around.
Everyday is an adventure and, as Larry
says, we're just winging it on a daily basis!
The construction crew is currently
building a round brick Prayer Garden on a bluff
overlooking a valley of eucalyptus trees. It will be a
very impressive structure with arches etc., and it's
amazing to watch the workers creating it.
The children are so sweet! 15 now... i.e.., 5 boys and
5 girls... and 5 who belong to the 2 sets of
houseparents. They greet us every day with a sweet
greeting, a hug and kiss on the cheek.
The first child they took in -- Jorge --
is now 8 years, and what a sweet heart, very quiet with
such a gentle face. He was one of 15 siblings... with no
parental supervision, little food, clothes etc.
Now he lives with 15 sibs, but surrounded by love,
plenty of food, clean clothes, and very nurturing
parents.
The last child to arrive here is Dianna,
whose mother died last year ... she is 3 years and so
sweet. The youngest child is Gladis, also 3 years.
All the little ones want to sit in my lap at once and
chatter up a storm! ...in Spanish and are trying hard
to teach me!!
Houseparents Lorraina and Martin are from
Bolivia and have one son, age 6. They are so fun
... she's always teasing one of us and is a bundle of
energy! The other parents are Hugo and Jenny, who are
from Riobamba, south of Quito, and have 4 children of
their own. When we stopped by at noon today, the men
were cooking and the women were cleaning and spending
time with the kids.
Last weekend, Lorraina and Martin took the weekend off
... took a bus to Quito with their son and had a great
break!
This weekend we're going to a place near the jungle and
will be taking Hugo, Jenny and their 4 kids for a
break....
