June- July 2011 School Summer Holiday began noon, July 1!

Monday, June 27th the Breadnut Hill Primary Grade 6 students had their school leaving exercise at a nearby church. In other words; graduation. Unfortunately 9 students were asked not to attend due to behaviour issues. It was an elaborate affair, the students were in school uniforms, but the staff and most all the parents were very well dressed- more like wedding attire than church attire! Luckily, I have my one dressy dress (I wore it to the US Embassy for our swearing in ceremony). There were speeches by various persons, a guest speaker, and one by the top student. Trophies were awarded to those who scored the highest on the GSAT exam. A very nice event.
The last week of school was crazy- teachers were busy correcting tests and completing student reports. The students who did come to school pretty much had free time the whole day. Thanks to my daughter, I had brought back some Disney DVDs so the library became a movie house. The teachers loved that there was somewhere for the kids to go. I was busy all week! I was able to complete a report for the principal about the progress the students I had been tutoring made for the year. Out of the 36 students I worked with, 10 showed no improvement, 13 went up 1 grade level, 8 went up 2 grade levels and 3 went up 3 grade levels. The staff was pleased with this progress. I’m not sure that I’m that pleased, although when I look at the 10 who showed no progress, I found that they had the worst school attendance. They came to tutoring barely 50% of the time if that.
4th of July! Wow was I ever fortunate! The US Ambassador invited a few Peace Corps volunteers and staff to the US Embassy for the big American 4th of July Celebration. I was invited but wasn’t notified until that Saturday, and I was in the middle of the island helping at an eco-fest and spending the night at Baboo’s Garden, a fun little eco lodge (no electricity) in Accompong a Maroon village. Maroons are descendents of runaway slaves who hid out in the mountains and harassed the British for years until they finally signed a treaty and were given autonomy and their own land, sort of like a reservation. Very interesting history and they have their own unique culture. I then was heading to Juanita’s place for Sunday night so I had to borrow a skirt from her so I could be at least somewhat appropriately attired! There were all kinds of dignitaries there- from Jamaican business CEO’s, government ministers and directors, representatives from other embassies, etc. The US Marines presented the colors, the ambassador gave a short speech, and then we enjoyed an all American buffet! Hotdogs and hamburgers, ribs and wings, potato salad and baked beans, ice cream and cake... The 6 of us volunteers were in 7th heaven! And trying to fit in a little bit of everything! The Peace Corps put us up for the night at a little hotel near the PC office, and we came in to help out the next morning for a few hours. The office was really busy because the newest group of PC Volunteers had just arrived on island a few days before, and had just started their training. I haven’t met any of them yet, but will be hosting 2 the end of July when they do what is called “shadowing”. They visit a current volunteer to see and hear what life is really like as a PCV in Jamaica. I remember my shadowing experience was really, really helpful.
Monday, July 11 was the start of my 3 week Adventures in Learning Summer Camp for boys! Supply items were purchased- quite a process- first I had to go get an invoice with everything itemized, then go to the principal to have her write out the check, then she had to find a second person to co sign the check, then I could take the check and go get the items. But everything worked out fine. Schedules had been set, then rearranged, and reset. All 12 boys were confirmed and registered; actually 13 boys as 1 boy was going to miss the first week, so we asked another boy to come. I will share all about camp on my next blog, when camp is over. But the first week went GREAT!