Back in Jamaica for Phase 3: Construction

3:30 AM on Thursday, January 6, with snow on the ground and freezing temperatures, I made my way to the Boise airport to begin my journey to Jamaica. The airplane had to be defrosted and our flight was delayed 30 minutes. This caused me to have to run across the MSP airport in order to catch my next flight to Atlanta, but I made it onto the flight and managed to get some sleep. In the Atlanta airport, before boarding my flight to Jamaica, I saw a familiar face. My friend Paul, the former Country Director of Peace Corps Jamaica, happened to be on the same flight to Kingston. We talked as we were boarding onto the flight and he invited me to stay at his rental property in the hills of St. Andrew near Irish Town. That is where I am right now as I write this update to the website.

Waterfall Hike (From Left: Joel and Paul)

To be honest, there was a time that I thought the project would have been completed by now, or at least further along. But it seems like things only move along when I am physically in Jamaica. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing and in fact I love being in Jamaica, but this is my third time down here and I have bought three sets of round-trip tickets. I hope that the third time is the charm and we can finish the project this time. I will be in Jamaica from January 6 - February 8. I am really excited that my friends Justin and Tomas will be coming down on the 19th to help out with the project too!

So far, things are starting to come together. We have raised an outstanding $15,907 USD through our GoFundMe campaign and from other donations (like the BUS bake sale and the Boise Brewing fundraiser). I am so amazed at everyone coming together to contribute to the project and so very thankful that we reached this number. Our estimated money goal was between $15,000 on the low end and $20,000 on the high end, so we are right where we need to be. Additionally, we are working with Friends of Jamaica as well as Carib Cement to acquire additional donations from them. Here are some cool statistics: over the course of 11 weeks, we had donations coming from 84 different people or organizations. We raised $9,633 through our GoFundMe with an average donation of $116 per donation.

Fundraiser Update

I’ve learned to be flexible with schedules here in Jamaica. Things almost always don’t go to plan and the rain seems to always delay things. Rain check anyone? In fact, on Friday it was a rainy day for most of the day. It was strange to leave the snow behind for mid-70’s and rain. I had ambitious plans to go shopping, meet with Travis to talk about the finances, and then go into the Kingston office for the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Information. We are still waiting on permission from them to build at the school. Because of the rain, however, I was able to catch up on sleep. Traveling from Boise to Jamaica is an all-day trip. I started my trip early in the morning and didn’t arrive at Paul's house until just before midnight.

The Ministry of Education, Youth, and Information (MOE) has been working hard to get schools open and operating safely during the pandemic. Because of this, as well as the bureaucratic nature of the government, we are still waiting for their permission to build at the school. I worked with the principal, Ms. Ramocan-Stephens, at the Hayfield Primary and Infant School to gather the required documents needed and we turned them in to the MOE on 10/11/2021. The last that I heard was that the information was forwarded to the head office in Kingston.

My Banga Phone has a Jamaican SIM Card

Since the start of the new year, I have been calling the regional building officer every day without an answer. It wasn’t until Friday morning when I was physically in Jamaica that I was able to reach him, which is an example of what I was saying that nothing gets done until I come back to Jamaica. I should say that it’s more difficult to get things moving. Paul and I were talking about this phenomenon where, even though we are in the digital age of video calls and emails, things still move along faster when we are physically in Jamaica. Paul has even told me that he has gotten a response along the lines of, “let me know when you are back in Jamaica and we’ll talk.”

Maybe subconsciously the regional building officer for MOE knew I was in Jamaica and answered his phone when I called him. He told me that he would be meeting with the Kingston office about the project and that we should hear back on the 12th about the permission. This means, at the very least, we won’t be able to start building until Wednesday. There are some things out of my control on this project and this is one of them. I will focus my attention on other things while we wait to hear back from them.

Blueprints for the Project

In the meantime, I am working on the things that I can do. Today (Tuesday the 11th) I met up with Travis and Phil (who helped us with the ramp blueprints and design). Travis volunteers with the St. Thomas Renaissance Foundation (STTRF) which is the non-profit that we partnered with for the project. We are still working on getting an extra bank card so that it will be easier for me to draw the money out from an ATM or bank. He withdrew some money in Jamaican currency and gave it to me. This way, when I get back to Hayfield, I will meet with the contractor and start ordering supplies. When we get the permission, hopefully at the end of the week, we can hit the ground running. I guess in this case we wont just be hitting the ground but digging it up. First, we need to make the retaining wall. Second, we will lay the concrete ramp. Then in the beginning of February we will have a fence company install the chain-link fence.

I have been writing this blog over the span of a few days. Currently, I am at Ragamuffin Hostel and Coffee Bar. I highly recommend this place. It has been my base in Kingston whenever I pass through. When my friends Tomas and Justin come down to Jamaica on January 19, we will stay here. There is a wonderful coffee bar attached to the hostel. The hostel itself is clean and affordable with chill people working here. When I return to Kingston next week, I will be able to post another update on the project. For now, I am signing off. I have a long day of travel from Kingston to Hayfield, St. Thomas. I need to take 3 taxis and two busses to get to the community. Although it takes half a day it is rather affordable. It will cost a little under 2000 JMD (roughly $13 USD).

If you have read this far into the blog, I would like to thank you for following along with the project. We couldn’t do this without your support. Stay tuned for the next blog update!

Rain in Kingston

Side note: It just started pouring down rain in Kingston. This will make the traveling to St. Thomas very interesting...