APRIL & MAY 2011 EASTER IN JAMAICA
Easter in Jamaica is an important holiday. School was off from Holy (Maundy) Thursday and all of the following week. Most businesses were closed Good Friday and Easter Monday. Church on Easter was at the same/regular time, no sunrise services. Lovely tropical flowers though! No coloured eggs or candy (well, I did buy myself a Cadbury chocolate Easter egg). The big Easter tradition is bun and cheese. The bun is a spice bread loaf and the cheese is a soft sort of processed cheese sort of like Velveeta.
On Easter Monday there were a number of big concerts going on island wide, but in St Ann it was kite flying day. I went to a huge field near St. Ann’s Bay to see the kite flying that afternoon. Lots of homemade kites- made by gluing plastic sheeting and using small sticks and long tails of old materials like sheets. The breezes off the ocean were pretty strong so the long tails were essential. I watched the builders of this huge kite made with bamboo struts and probably 8 feet across and 14 feet long try to launch their kite. They had about 6 men on the heavy nylon line. It went up maybe 6 feet off the ground then crashed. They spent a few hours patching and reinforcing the bamboo, but again it just barely flew. I wandered around watching lots of families, kids, and teens all with kites. For $1000 JA (About $10 US) I could have bought an entrance ticket to the official kite festival- with food vendors, contests, music (of course) and games, but I saw my fill of kites in the free parking lot, so skipped that.
The Tuesday after Easter my son Christopher came for a 1 week visit, he got to visit my school (but no students since it was Easter vacation). It was great to show him around, and he shared his expertise by doing some computer repairs at school and for a friend. We spent 2 nights at a rustic eco lodge in Portland parish called Great Huts, visited the Green Groto caves and Reach Falls. And cooked and ate jerk chicken and pork.
Our PCV group 81 had our mid service conference at the Shaw Park Resort- lovely accommodations and fabulous buffet food! We had 2 days of a behaviour change workshop which hopefully will come in handy for my year 2. Then another 2 days of PC business, reviews and policies. It was really good to spend some down time with our PCV friends in other parishes, and compare stories, frustrations and successes. Sadly 3 more of our group have left Jamaica for different reasons; we miss them and wish them well.
Great news from Texas, James Caden Grace arrived at 8 pounds +; both my daughter and grandson #2 are doing great!
On Saturday, May 21st, I traveled across the island for a funeral. Myrtle Drummond was my Hellshire host mother and she was a pillar of the community and her church. Her funeral was quite elaborate. There was an outside tent for the overflow crowd with a closed circuit TV; many guests shared a song, a greeting, or condolences. There was also scripture, eulogy and sermon. Diane and I had to leave before the end since we had to travel at least 3 hours to get home before dark. Sad, but lots of assurance that Myrtle is in heaven with her Lord.


Monday, May 23 was Jamaica’s Labour Day. A national holiday which emphasizes doing labour for your community. I heard 2 themes: It takes a village to raise a child, and Labour for Literacy. On that theme, the NCB bank chose Breadnut Hill Primary School to share their labour. Over 100 NCB employees descended on the school ready to paint and plant. It was amazing and impressive- paint brushes were in high demand- so many wanted to paint! They painted the inside of the library, computer room, the staff room, and grades 1 and 2. Then they started in on the outside! They also planted hardy plants around the school. Most of the NCB crew left in the early afternoon after lunch (donated by Burger King), but then the Breadnut Hill Police Club showed up and took over the outside painting. Up in the library the NCB had donated the funds to have 2 walls of library shelves constructed, and they were installed and anchored to the wall after the paint dried. The eager NCB volunteers helped put our books on the shelves. It looks fabulous! A real library. This is something Jamaica should be really proud of- this tradition of labour on Labour Day!