Jamaican pictures

Here are some pictures and stories from my trip.


This picture is of me, Dalton (a friend from Discovery Bay), and Holly (my cousin). Dalton was a friend of Holly's when she was in the Peace Corps in Discovery bay and was absolutely wonderful with helping me perfect my driving skills on the left-hand side of the road (quite challenging at times!), taking us to local parties and restaurants, and introducing me to new places we would have never known about otherwise. The last day I was there, Dalton and I hung out in a bar (made up of one counter and enough room for about five seats) up in the hills in his home town (Farm Town...a wonderful quaint area) and burned reggae CD's. A great way to end the trip in Jamaica!

My favorite picture...Kids from a local camp showing me baby hermit crabs:


Jackie, in the picture to the left, is an amazing lady. The day we met her she had 25 kids with her. Jackie takes in children--physically and mentally disabled, physically and sexually abused, and others whose parents decided to give them to Jackie. Currently, about five (or more) of these children live with her. In the summer she runs a five week camp. She teaches them basic survival skills since so many of them are on their own. She wants to teach them basic skills so that they succeed with whatever lot in life they have been given. Since Jamaica doesn't always have the conveniences of electricity and running water in all areas, Jackie teaches them things like how to make pudding over an open fire. She doesn't have many volunteers. Most times it is just her. And she doesn't receive much funding. Funders usually want to tell her specifically how to use the funds. She feels she knows the kids better than the funders and knows what they need. The last big grant she received was used to create a something she felt would benefit the kids longer term. I guess the funders didn't like that because it wasn't the way they had designated the funds. She said she hasn't received anything from them since. It doesn't stop Jackie. She is committed to the kids.

Arriving in Discovery Bay (Puerto Seco beach):





Puerto Seco Beach is the most beautiful beach. It has beautiful white sand and wonderful clear water. You can buy jerk chicken and rice and peas at the cook shack and then buy ice cream from the man on the motorcycle (picture to the left).

Columbus Park:



Discovery Bay is supposedly where Columbus first set foot. The locals don't seem too thrilled that Columbus came to "found" the area they had already established. They see Columbus as a rapist who took over, raping the land and the women and creating slaves out of the people already there. And we claim him as a "hero" in our history books.
(side note: Shouldn't we re-think who we claim as our historical heroes??? Our country claims to have such issues with "immorality" these days...yet we hold up historical "leaders" who raped and destroyed land and people and supported and contributed to slavery. What example do we set for our children when those are the "leaders" we hold up...and what do we say to our children when we brush aside their faults as "just a product of their time??)

Foods in the market:





The market is always a favorite place of mine. I love to see (and eat!) the native fruits and vegetables. The huge avocados are absolutely wonderful diced on a plate with lime squeezed on top and a little salt. So much more flavor than the avocados here! The lady who ran the Patiently Waiting Villa we stayed at made us Acchi and Saltfish--a breakfast dish. The acchi (the pinkish stuff with black seeds in the picture to the left) is something like scrambled eggs...combined with saltfish and sauteed onions...delicious!

Beautiful trees and flowers:



I'm so disappointed that I never did get to drink coconut water straight from the green coconuts (the tree in the picture above). We did crack and eat a fresh coconut, though. Jamaica was so lush and green. Just the greenery around was relaxing!

Natural Waterfall outside of Ocho Rios:

This was a beautiful place undisturbed by tourists. It's down from Dunn's Falls, the popular tourist waterfall. The interesting thing about this natural falls is that it is where the locals come and take baths...literally!!...as well as play and swim. What was even more intriguing to me was that they don't necessarily bathe there because they don't have running water at home. The lady that took us there has a wonderful home. Yet she went with the full intention of bathing...soap and all. She explained that they just love the clean and smooth feeling of the water. Though most bathe with their suits on, there was at least one man who took the task seriously using the waterfall as his own personal shower!

Outdoor bar:

Though a little difficult to see, the hut-looking structure on the water is an outdoor bar. We attended Dalton's friend's birthday party in the open-air with the water lapping right below us.



Those are a few of the pictures and the stories. If you know me well at all, you know I have many more pictures from this trip in my collection that I would be happy to share if you're interested in living vicariously and seeing someone else's "home movies."

Jamaican Vacation

I just returned from the North Coast of Jamaica this week. I've wanted to go to Jamaica for the longest time. The trip was absolutely wonderful! I will post the wonderful pictures in a day or so. However, there were some things that struck me as not so beautiful.

As we drove into Discovery Bay, our first stop, I couldn't help but notice the eyesore of the rusted, domeshaped Bauxite plant on the hillside and the gigantic rusted ship the size of a cruise vessel jutting out from the bay of the beautiful water. The Bauxite plant mines the ore that makes aluminum. It provides people with jobs and injects money into the country...money is not available otherwise. However, the dust that the plant produces rises into the clean Jamaican air and, subsequently, settles in the Carribean Sea, suffocating the ocean life.

My cousin who was travelling with me was in the Peace Corps here 5 years ago. She explained that the number of fish had already decreased five years ago. Because there are so few fish to catch, people resort to catching smaller fish, thus preventing the fish from growing to maturity and breeding to create more.

As we snorkeled in the Bay, my cousin pointed out several different species in the coral reef, but was disappointed that there were even fewer fish now than when she was here before. We didn't see one Parrot Fish--which, evidently, used to be more common.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As we explored the country and sought out places to stay, we ended up at a beautiful villa (called Patiently Waiting) that was somewhat like a bed and breakfast located in a small area called Mammee Estates.

Mammee Estates is another place that has been taken over by a "necessary" evil.

In the back yard of Patiently Waiting is a billion dollar all-inclusive resort called Riu. At six to seven stories high, it spans maybe 1/8 of a mile from the beachfront to the highway. It is painted purple and has loud music and talking coming from it until late in the night. The lights from the resort keep the villa's back yard bright so that the stars are no longer visible. But worse than all of that, before the resort came along, she had a view of the sea and could hear the waves crashing on the shore--now a distant memory. Though you can still get to the beach from her house, the view and the sound of the waves are completely blocked off by the huge purple structure.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I understand that both of the facilities I've spoke of inject money into the country, provide people with jobs, and "help" the economy. But at the same time, those same structures and facilities hurt the environment and create eyesores.

I've noticed throughout my travels that our American desire for money creeps into and has begun to consume other countries and the people in those countries as well. It seems that our desires for the "luxuries" money brings cause us to accept a lower quality of life in a sense. The Jamaicans I talked to didn't question the Bauxite plant. Some people worked there. It was just a part of life.

Though I get to see the beauty of other countries and comment on the ills that I see, I am a contributor to the creation of these structures. The privileges I've been granted--by being a "rich" American--allow me to travel. Tourism is the driving force behind the purple building. Why shouldn't the Jamaicans capitalize on their opportunity??

We sacrifice the beauty of our surroundings to build bigger structures that will generate more money so that we can have more things...thus creating the need for more structures. I am not a big enough person to give up traveling and make a stand that tourists are ruining the other countries. But I do think it should cause us to think about and realize our desire (here in the U.S. and abroad) for "more" and "better" things doesn't always create the utopia we think we're looking for. Sometimes it just makes that utopia even more unreachable.

Quinceñera

I watched a great movie last night. Quinceañera presents several different issues--from gay culture to Latino culture to gentrification. The movie does a good job of presenting how gentrification affects the people (most often people who have little financial means and are people of color) who live in the communities that are being gentrified. I would highly recommend it. Below is a summary and a link. Check it out:

Quinceañera remarkably won both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and is directed by breakout filmmakers Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland. This profoundly moving drama depicts the uniqueness of Latino culture and follows Magdalena (Emily Rios), a fifteen year old girl getting ready for her big Quinceañera celebration. But when an unexpected pregnancy leads her to be banished from her parents’ home, she moves in with her grand-uncle and troubled cousin and becomes part of a makeshift family that must stand up to social stigmas and encroaching urban gentrification that threatens their neighborhood and their culture.

Click here to go to the Quinceñera website.

Click here to listen to Latino USA's report on the movie.

Back to the Basics

I had set my alarm for 5:30 this morning. It's always set for 5:30. Part of the reason is that I like to get up and enjoy my mornings.

But it's also because I always tell myself I have so much to do...so much to get done by the day's end.

After hitting snooze for about an hour, I realized there was nothing pressing I had to do today so why not sleep in?? I went back to sleep for another hour.

When I woke up again, I had a revelation.

I need to sit back and enjoy life sometimes. When people ask what I've been up to, all I ever say is, "Work, work, work." That's not always true, but I think working is supposed to mean something in our society. Those who work more than their share get the promotions...or simply keep their jobs. A 40-hour work week just isn't good enough anymore. How much we work seems to determine our value.

I grew up on a farm. My parents always chatted about pointless things with whoever happened across their path. Dad would stay for hours after church talking to his cousin about the price of hay, the weather, and whether or not hog prices would go up or down. Quality of life was more about talking with the people around you.

My neighborhood in Dallas is the same way. My neighbors may not make a lot of money, but they have time for each other. They may not work the big-paying, salaried jobs. But sticking to a 40-hour work week allows them to just hang out and talk. I never hear them complaining about being bored.


I think there's a lot to learn from that ability to relax and hang out with the people around us. I'm trying to move back toward that

...beginning today.

Empty Classrooms

I just spoke with a teenager this afternoon. I'll call her Isis. She's a Senior at our local public high school. Since school just started this week and she knows I want to make sure she's on the right track, she called to give me an update.

Isis is an A/B student. Isis and I talked last year about her education. As a junior, Isis was being encouraged by her school to go to Job Corps. I'm no expert, but my understanding is that Job Corps is geared more for those students who need alternative avenues to getting an education and a job. But Isis is an A/B student! She has family issues, as many kids do, but she is perfectly capable of finishing high school and getting a post-secondary education. The Job Corps recruiter encouraged her by letting her know that Job Corps pays a person to attend (whereas high school does not). As with almost any other kid from an impoverished background, Isis was lured by that offer. Right or wrong, I encouraged Isis to finish high school and discouraged Job Corps.

Today, she called to tell me about her senior year classes. The school told her she needed to sign up for Co-op. I remain skeptical over this ploy to put kids in our neighborhood in the service sector without providing them with adequate choices. The reason Isis said she signed up for co-op is because there are no other elective classes available except for gym, office assistant, and things like that. Granted, the other four classes she is taking are things like Economics, AP Biology, and a few others. But what about those other electives that help students prepare for college?

Although I have a hard time believing a school would only provide enough classes for students to complete 3 1/2 years of school, most of the students I know are opting out of a full day their senior year. Some of them are even taking a few summer classes their junior year so they don't have to attend a senior year.

This seems like a huge deficiency in our system. Our world is changing so fast today that four years of high school is too little...not too much! ...Especially for our kids and teenagers who don't have the access to the latest educational and technological devices in their homes or in their communities.

Check this out in your own community. I would be interested to hear if this is an issue in other areas as well. Whether it is or not, I think we should speak up and speak out for all students. It takes education and knowledge for our children to move forward. Everyone deserves the opportunity to obtain that knowledge.

Opportunities in the Communities

My job over the past couple of years has shifted in a way that has me structuring our education programs more and implementing them less. I actually have really enjoyed the shift; however, being in the office more doesn't allow me to be as connected with people.

Since our Children's Education Coordinator resigned, I have had the opportunity to restructure our programs and hopefully expand my opportunities to interact with people. In the gap between her leaving and our new coordinator coming aboard, I have gotten to talk to several returning parents and meet several new parents.

Talking to parents always reminds me of the capacity and the quality people who live in low-income neighborhoods.

The three new parents who enrolled their kids were eager to enroll their kids in an affordable, educational after-school program. Of the three parents, one is looking for a job, one is trying to go back to school, and one is a cancer patient. All of them are in situations where they need our affordable, $5/month program because of their own meager finances while in the process of working toward their goals. All of them voiced a care and concern for their children.

I am excited about the possibilities this year.

I hope during our parent meetings each of the parents will meet so we can begin pulling together the efforts of caring and concerned parents.

Central Dallas Ministries

As I have often mentioned, I have been at Central Dallas Ministries for a while now. Throughout the years funding has always been tight. Each year it seems we get a stronger plea to buckle down in our spending. Perhaps we wouldn't have to do that if we didn't keep growing. But growth is what is allowing us to become a holistic ministry that is filling the gaps in services that aren't readily available to the poor in Dallas. So, we keep growing and we keep stretching our resources.

Our newest attempt at expansion is to purchase a downtown high rise so that we can move our administrative offices from our much smaller building at Haskell as well as offer affordable housing (economy apartments) to low-income working people, many of whom work in that downtown sector. To gain more context and information about our Akard building process, click here: Akard building. Larry James (our CEO) has blogged several times about our attempt to acquire the run down facility in downtown Dallas.

His most recent post about the building (Larry's Blog: Help Me) explains our current need for funds to purchase the building. We would love to have your involvement in this project if you can.

Are African-American leaders embracing "victimhood"?

I just heard a radio interview with Juan Williams. He thinks African-American leaders are embracing "victimhood" instead of raising the expectations and speaking truth.

Click here to read the excerpt from Juan Williams' new book, Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America -- and What We Can Do About It.

I would be interested in your opinion.

Unselfish giving

I took some teenagers to a Youth Empowerment Summit yesterday. A friend of mine was there with her 13-year old son. I have known them since her boy was about 4 or 5 attending our summer camp. Lately, every time I see her, she expresses her sadness and frustration with her son's bad decisions that have put him in juvenile and had him wearing a monitor on his leg.

She has talked to him. She has had me talk to him.

It's not enough.

Another friend of mine has tried to convince me for quite some time now that I, a White woman, cannot be everything to these Black boys. They need a male figure in their lives. They need a Black male figure in their lives.

I've had a hard time being convinced. For some reason I think that my relationship with them might be enough to convince them to change their ways. I'm beginning to realize, however, that though the kids may hear and respect me on one level, there is much more that they need that I, a White woman, can't offer them. No matter what I do, I have not been in their shoes. I cannot relate to the struggle and the peer pressure they face. There are things that young Black males in the United States deal with that people outside of that context will never understand. I don't know what it's like to be raised by a single parent. I can't imagine the frustrations of not having a dad in my life who is available and cares about me enough to discipline me and set guidelines for me.

I do believe that we all have something to offer--no matter what socioeconomic level, ethnicity, etc. And I do believe that my role is to offer the things that I can relentlessly. I can't give up and I can't go away. Too many people do.

However, I am beginning to recognize there are vital things that I can't offer. I have to listen and observe. If I am to be effective, I have to seek out the resources that go beyond my abilities. It may cause me to get out of my comfort zone.

I hear people all the time talking about "it is better to give than to receive." It's a concept I hear a lot from Christians. If that's true, then wouldn't the even better gift be to give, or seek out in order to give, what the person needs or wants more so than just giving what I think they need or giving them what I know I have to offer? Ever get a gift that you didn't really want? You know the ones...you appreciate the person's good intentions, but you have absolutely no use for it so you just say thank you and try to figure out a way to not offend the person?

Maybe the greater good is not just thinking we need to go to the inner city and offer people something, but figuring out how we can partner with people...get out of our comfort zone...meet new people...in order to seek out the resources that benefit people the most. And sometimes we will find the resource is not us. Isn't that the unselfish giving Jesus was talking about?

Ready or not...

I know there are good things that happen in the DISD (Dallas Independent School District). But when I see the outcomes of so many of the kids, I get frustrated. And when I hear stories like I talk about below, I understand that there are other contributing factors to their lack of education. We can't always blame the parents and the neighborhood environment.

A friend of mine just took a job with DISD. She was unofficially hired over a month ago to teach 6th grade Reading or Social Studies. After she was hired by the principal, she had to complete the paperwork in Human Resources to become official. Knowing they were on vacation during the week of July 10, she waited. The week they came back she called their office once a day, every day, to no avail. She never heard a human voice and never received a return phone call. She persevered. Hearing that DISD would be having a job fair and hearing that HR would be there in the flesh, she went. She finally was able to talk to them and set up an appointment to sign her paperwork. That was Saturday, July 22. New teacher orientation started Monday, July 24. Though she had finally broken through, she was still unable to attend the Monday orientation because her paperwork was not completed yet. She continued on this cycle and finally is now an official DISD teacher as of this week. When she was finally hired, she was told it actually wasn't Reading or Social Studies that she would be teaching, but Langauge Arts. Though her undergraduate degree focused on English, she was not prepared for their uncommunicated change of mind. However, she was already now on the path to teaching and she had already quite her job so she accepted the change of plans.

She received the text books for her class today...1 week and 1 day before 6th graders will be running into her classroom. She has yet to be given passwords, Scope and Sequence guidelines, a working computer in her classroom, etc.

I know another guy who was just hired to teach in Plano. He was hired back in the Spring. This summer parents (AND STUDENTS!) called him asking him when they could meet. The school had requested a reading list to send home with the kids for the summer vacation. Less than a month into the summer, the kids were calling him asking him if they could begin meeting and discussing the summer reading list. They had already completed the first book.

Do you ever wonder why our kids in the inner city (specifically, our kids in DISD) might not be able to read, write and comprehend well upon exiting high school? Ever wonder why so many in our South Dallas sector drop out or aren't prepared for college? My friend in DISD has not entered the easiest school to teach in. I have learned over the years that one of the easiest ways to win over kids is to let them know they mean enough to you to be prepared for them. The least DISD could've done is given her time and resources to prepare. Instead, she now has a week.

Maybe instead of trying to blame and then fix the kids, we should work harder on trying to fix the system and equip teachers with the resources, guidance, and time they need to make their classrooms work. Too often, the hope I experience comes from the individuals that persevere every day with no help from the systems around them.