Volunteers assisting with combing the hair of a few of the female indigents at the Manchester Infirmary.

The Projects Abroad Jamaica Dirty Day was taken a notch higher today, September 17, 2010. Volunteers and staff did more than just paint for joy. Today we extended the gesture and cared and helped for joy as well. The sun was a scorcher on this particular morning in Jamaica, the Manchester Infirmary to be exact; nevertheless the volunteers and staff re-worked the female ward and bathroom and gave it a superb face-lift.

The Projects Abroad Jamaica Dirty Day was taken a notch higher today, September 17, 2010. Volunteers and staff did more than just paint for joy. Today we extended the gesture and cared and helped for joy as well. The sun was a scorcher on this particular morning in Jamaica, the Manchester Infirmary to be exact; nevertheless the volunteers and staff re-worked the female ward and bathroom and gave it a superb face-lift.

A bottle of “Wata”(Jamaica’s bottled water) in one hand and a paint brush in the other hand, volunteers and staff painted the female block in off-white and clay red to give it a fresh new look. We worked in teams of four and pretty soon our team efforts paid off, as we all stepped back to behold the clean new look.  Before the makeover magic the walls were faded and stripping, not a very attractive sight, now the residents of the Infirmary have something extra to smile about.

After the painting was finished some of the volunteers and staff chatted a bit with the residents of the Manchester Infirmary, others assisted with washing and combing the hair of some of the women, while Christopher Flower a Medical volunteer from the United Kingdom assisted with giving some of the female residents massages. The females got the attention on this day; however plans are already being put in place to give the men a special day too.

The Manchester Infirmary is situated in Grey Ground, a small district approximately 10 minutes (driving) from the town of Mandeville. The Infirmary houses 50 indigent men and 47 women. The facility is government owned and operated. Various outreach groups have contributed to the infirmary on various occasions by giving of their time or simply helping to enhance their surroundings. The Projects Abroad Jamaica group has made numerous contributions to the Manchester Infirmary by providing volunteers or by executing various Dirty Day projects.

This is our first encounter with Projects Abroad and I must say we found the volunteers who came to our home very mature and business oriented; they fit very well into our family. From the beginning we welcomed them with open arms and treated them as if they were our biological children, as such we guide their every move-the safety of our newest family members is highly important to me and my husband.

Currently we have three young ladies living with us, they are; Caroline Daniel, Fraziska Moll and Anna-Sophie Hillenbrand, all three are from Germany. Most of the times we think they may enjoy the meals that we have together, especially my coffee recipes, I say most of the times because the ladies took a while adjusting to some of the local dishes.

We live very close to the town of Mandeville, Lot 17 Monticello to be exact; approximately 15 minutes driving time. The house offers modern amenities such as piped running water; a water heater is available for the optimum comfort of our extended family, modern architecture with modern yet comfortable decor. Franziska and Anna-Sophie have been with us since July and Caroline joined us later, arriving in August-so far there have been no complaints from either side of the fence.  We feel that mature students fit our lifestyle very well, as we are able to understand each other better, this trait also helps when we have our family gatherings- having dinner together.

Mr. Burrell and I would definitely do it over and over. Just tell us when and how many more ‘family’ we have waiting, and then we will do our very best to provide the best accommodations for you.

Today we may hold the hands of the lonely, the forgotten, and the orphaned. Tomorrow we may hold the hearts of the homeless, the hungry and the poor. Let us not limit ourselves, offer these gestures for a lifetime and then some-if we believe that existence never ends.

In our moments of selfless gestures let’s provide the security, comfort and love the world needs, as such we become guardians of the heart- a heart that sometimes goes still from the nothingness some face.

In this never-ending cycle of human suffering, we find poverty and despair and both have the ability to still the heart and numb the mind. So in this moment let’s reawaken the still hearts of our brothers and sisters, command- in your moment- their heart to beat.

As a volunteer you are gradually recognizing your moment, let’s continue this sacred covenant to extend selfless gestures world-wide, reawakening one heart at a time.  In holding out a hand let us build, teach, conserve and in handing out holds let us care, love and touch.

My experience in Jamaica was amazing, by far the best thing ive ever done. Met some amazing people, was great to hear other people from the UK, and spend some time with the crazy germans who by far outnumbered us English. The weekend experiences were incredible, from swimming dolphins and snorkeling with sting ray, to swimming in the sea at 3 in the morning at treasure beach, travelling down the black river seeing the crocodiles, photoshoot in the ys falls, swimming in the sea at montego bay during an awful storm, then partying it out at margaritaville after a lovely meal at the cool running restaurant ' bobsled cafe'.

Volunteers at September Reggae Dance Class.

The clouds were seemingly touching the volunteers as they hovered and rolled by to the sounds of the Reggae/Dancehall music pumping out through the speakers of a very compact Projects Abroad Stereo.  September 7, witnessed yet another interesting display of volunteers learning to boogie the Jamaican way. The Volunteers were shown three moves from the local “Jus Buss” dance routine. Secondly the volunteers were shown the Clarkes Dance, a dance made popular after “Vybz Kartel” a Jamaican artiste sang about his Clarkes. So the volunteers catched on pretty quickly and was soon learning the “In my cup” Dance another dance made popular after the song soared to number one in Jamaica and other parts of the world.

A new addition to the Reggae Dance Class was asking the volunteers to form two groups and make up a dance for themselves -Jamaican style- and name it. So the first group named their dance the Anouschka, I guess as a tribute to Anouschka, a volunteer from the Netherlands who organized their dance. The second was called the Mango Dance and showcased a series of lively mango picking and drinking actions. Later we all formed a circle and everyone had their moment to freestyle. I tell you words are not enough to explain what took place, all I have to say is wish you were there, you should have been there and by there, I mean here- Jamaica Projects Abroad Office was the place to be on yet another warm and lovely day in JA.   

Kate Pitney at Craft Market in Ocho Rios

From the moment I arrived in Jamaica, it was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. My host familily was perhaps the nicest people I have ever met – they were always willing to go above and beyond to provide me with everything I could possibly need, and their friendliness and desire to include me in all their activities made me truly feel like a member of the family. I even joined them at a family wedding!

The doctors and nurses at my placement, Mandeville Regional Hospital, were always happy to teach me and I was able to learn many new and worthwhile skills. I spent a lot of time on the labour ward, and although it was frustrating and slightly horrifying at times, I really did appreciate being able to witness how the doctors and nurses interact with the patients in a different culture. The most eye-opening experience for me was definitely working a Saturday night in accident and emergency. I was really overwhelmed by the amount of domestic violence patients, and the number of stabbings patients, that seems to be the norm in Jamaica. What struck me most was the calmness and accepting nature of the women who had been abused. It was heart wrenching.

I had an absolutely fantastic time in Jamaica. I really enjoyed being able to travel on the weekends, and visited beaches, waterfalls and other cultural sites. The people I met will be my friends forever, and my experiences are memories that will last a lifetime.

Andrea Lott- to the left in picture with hair down.

My time spent on the Children’s Advocacy Project was a truly invaluable experience. Though definitely not what I expected from the website description (due to school being out.) I experienced a wide variety of psychological activities. Working for a week at a Restorative Justice Camp for children with behavioural issues was extremely rewarding yet exhausting, and at the end the children didn’t want to let us go.

Working as a research assistant for Dr. Kelly at the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) was very eye-opening; during this time I learned a lot about myself professionally in regards to the direction I’d like to go in for graduate school. The most rewarding experience for me in my opinion comes from time spent observing the psychologists and psychiatrists at the mental health clinic. Being allowed to observe them at work gave us insight into the profession and what it entails.

I felt truly privileged to be allowed to access to these sessions with the patients/clients. The doctors and staff were very kind and accommodating and I only wish we could have spent more time learning there.

My name is Malou Strebus and I am from Holland. Holland is sometimes really cold and sometimes really hot, similar to Jamaica, we don’t have mountains, my country has so many things to mention but that sort of sums it up. I heard about Projects Abroad by searching on the internet for doing voluntary work, I read up about them and then contacted them in Holland.

I did two projects the first project I worked in an orphanage, that was the literacy project and then I did a second project, teaching math to the children.  The first project was a two weeks special to organize the arts and craft, as I am an art student in Holland, so that was really nice and to see the difference between the younger people and the older people, that was also nice to see the difference sometimes you can’t see it but they joined so that was good. After the two weeks I did some activities by myself with the children in groups, because if you do it with too many children it will be too difficult for them. Second project was teaching math to the children that was really nice to do since they really needed it, as they were behind in math. They were all really happy that I was there to teach them and it was a really good experience.

It was altogether for two months-volunteering it was really good I did two different things it was not just about teaching but caring as well. I really enjoyed it. It was really a peaceful experience.

My host family was lovely- I live on my own in ?Holland so, I am not use to having parents around me anymore because I live three years alone, but they were really caring and loving and the children were also nice, especially the little boy-he’s really funny and nice to talk with.

The Projects Abroad Office offered Reggae dance class, reggae yoga, dinner and games, day trip to Ocho Rios. The day trip to Ocho Rios was a little bit sad because the rain fell, but nobody can do anything about that. I liked the activities from Projects Abroad, although I would prefer more sporting activities, because after two months I can feel the pains because I don’t sport that much. What I did by myself was travelling every weekend and to see Jamaica beautiful places I know there is a lot more. I went to the beach, to the falls, Blue Mountains. That was good, yes it was really good! Jamaica is really nice country. It was perfect two months; was good to explore the island, to do your work and get to know the children.