Displace Me

Saturday afternoon I went up to Phoenix with some friends from church for "Displace Me". Displace Me events happened in major cities all over the country on April 28th; there were a total of 67,871 people across the country who participated, 1,700 of which were in Phoenix. The event was to spread awareness of what is going on in Northern Uganda. In 1996, many Ugandans were given 48 hours to seek refuge in displacement camps. They have now been there for over 10 years, living in horrible conditions and only getting little food and contaminated water. The conditions have been getting worse and worse and the rations smaller and smaller because of foreign aid being cut. "Displace Me" tried to simulate the experience of what it is like to live in a displacement camp. Participants were asked to bring enough cardboard to build themselves protection to sleep out over night, one box of saltines, and one 1.5 liter bottle of water. Upon checking in, I had to hand over my saltines and water, so that they could be later re-distributed during the night, and then I got to work building my shelter.

There was lots of creativity when it came to building shelters...


Our friends, Matt and Abby, building their home...Matt came with a plan of how he wanted to build it, but unfortunately didn't have as much cardboard as he had hoped for..


Throughout the night they would show a film clip of what is going on in Northern Uganda, and then they would direct us toward doing different things: writing a letter to our senator, writing a letter to the Ugandan President, taking 21 minutes of silence to represent the 21 years that this war has been going on, etc.
Here's the screen that they would show clips on..


In the morning, we woke up to African drummers and dancers...

Blue Skies

So, I've been home from Jamaica for 3 weeks now and I haven't been able to think of what to write to sum up my experience. I think the pictures probably do the best job of describing what it was like. I still don't how to reconcile the fact that I'm back in the united states living in our own house, with the opportunity to work and make money to buy food and other things that we need; While I now know so many in
Harmons, Jamaica that aren't given even those 'simple' opportunities. While I'm here in the U.S., I know that I can look around me and pour out that same kind of love to neighbors, friends, family, and strangers that live nearby and are needing in different ways.

My mom and dad were in Tucson visiting when I returned from Jamaica. Ryan picked me up from the airport and we drove home to eat my favorite meal by my mom on our back patio. Their visit was very relaxing and nice. We planted some produce in the garden (squash, zucchini, strawberries, cilantro and basil), we played card games, and we went out to some favorite restaurants. One afternoon, we drove up Mt. Lemon (it takes 45 minutes to get to the top from our house). It's a beautiful scenic drive and about 20 degrees cooler at the top (something you learn to love when you live in the dessert). We had a picnic along the way and then stopped at the famous pie shop at the top.





On Easter morning we participated in a sunrise service at our friend's ranch. It was a pretty magical way to start the day watching the sun rise over the mountains. Ryan played guitar for worship, and our friend Ben led the service. Afterwards, everyone joined in a potluck breakfast.

The Infirmary

The pace has picked up significantly since the rest of the team arrived in Harmons on Sunday evening. Just to back track a bit, Liz and I went to church on Sunday morning at the Baptist church down the road.


I would say there were about 70 people total (adults and kids). Many of the kids we knew from the school, so we were surrounded in the pews, which was really comforting for being in such a new environment. Church here is very formal…everyone was in their Sunday best topped with fancy hats. The first 1 hour 15 minutes, was singing led by two woman in the front of the church singing and others in the pews shaking tambourines. About 45 minutes into that singing, someone joined the musical efforts by getting on the old drum set that was on the ‘stage’. It was some of the loudest acapella singing I’ve ever experienced in church…and some of the most beautiful hand clapping rhythms I’ve ever heard (most of which I wasn’t coordinated enough to clap along to).

Sunday evening, 55 students from Mizzou University, Ryan Licoln (Liz’s husband), Charla and Elaine (2 nurses) joined us at the Harmony House. Each volunteer brought with them 2 – 50lb suitcasese of donations to be sold at the store.


Most of the students are spending the week building houses (13X15’) for families in Harmons. In order for a family to have a house built for them, they go through an application process. Applications are then considered based on need and the family’s contributions to the community. There are currently 600 families on the waiting list and they are able to build about 50 houses per year.

Here are what some of the houses look like in Harmons…


They have outdoor latrines…


Outdoor showers…


And, outdoor kitchens…


The house itself is mainly just enough room for sleeping. Some of these houses sleep anywhere from 3-14 people. One of the teams is currently building this house for a mother and her 2 teenage sons…it will allow them to move out from living in her father’s house of 14 people.


I have been spending everyday of this week with Liz, Ryan, Charla, and Elaine at the Clarenon May Pen Infirmary. The Infirmary is pretty much a ‘last stop’ kind of place. The people there are considered wards of the state and have been placed there because of mental illness, physical handicaps, cognitive delays, or a combination of all three. The age range is from 20-80+. Very few people (if any) get visitors, and the employees don’t seem to have much (again, if any) passion for their job or compassion for the residents of the infirmary. At first glance, it’s just a really sad place to be. At second and third glances, its still really sad, but you begin to see small glimpses of hope.

There are 136 residents at the infirmary, pretty equally split between male and female. Due to many of their physical needs, they go through a lot of laundry everyday. Elaine (one of the nurses on the trip who has been to Harmons twice before), applied and received a grant to buy the infirmary 2 washing machines! This will hopefully make the process of laundry that they currently do much easier. The only thing, is that it will take convincing the orderlies that work there, that putting bleach in the wash will kill off germs. They are currently under the assumption, that it is only by boiling the clothes, that germs will be killed.

Here is their current process for doing laundry….

HUGE laundry pile…


Boil clothes…


Bleach and then rinse clothes…


Hang clothes to dry…


The resources at the infirmary are few. There isn’t enough patient care, depends for patients to wear, medicines to make patients well, money to do anything about these things…etc… During the day, it is common to see multiple people sleeping in the same bed w/o any sheets on it…



Sitting with blank stares and nothing to stimulate their minds or show them love.



Medical needs that could’ve easily been addressed in the U.S., go unaddressed and leave many unable to walk, use their hands, or even speak.

17 years ago, Mary went to have a basic medical procedure done, and her spinal cord ended up getting snipped, leaving her in this position of lying in half. Her mind is completely sound, yet she has no one around her to have stimulating conversations.


Our goals this week were to go around to each of the six wards and spend quality time with each resident at least twice during the week, in addition to any activities that they participate in. For the first one and a half days, I went around and visited with the patients. Many of them wanted me to read to them from the Bible and pray for them. I was amazed by some having scripture memorized and wanting to either recite it or say it with me as I was reading.


Another goal of ours, was to do art projects with the residents. This goal had many sub-goals…stimulate their mind, inspire creativity, increase sense of productivity, create community, improve fine motor skills,… In just a day and a half of doing art (coloring, drawing, painting, and cardmaking) I’ve seen leaps and bounds of hope!

This is CarryAnn. She doesn’t talk, so I don’t know her story. All I know is that she can’t walk, talk, or use her hands. She gets around by dragging her body forward on her elbows; she has a beautiful smile and squeals for joy when she’s happy. I brought her up some paints an set up an area on the patio (where she normally lays) for her to paint. She squealed with joy when she saw her own marks on the paper, and then later on a wooden cross. It was a fun challenge for me that brought me back into Child Life mode—how do I get someone who can’t sit up nor has much use of her hands to paint? I loved it!


Millie, who usually spends the day walking around on the sides of her feet, unable to talk; spent the day painting approximately a page per minute.




We had some guys from Mizzou come with us to the infirmary for the full day today and they brought a guitar and djembe drum…the men were all outside on the benches facing the courtyard singing for most of the day today. It was incredible to see them come alive.

I go back and forth from feeling hopeless, realizing that we are leaving at the end of this week, to having hope that these people could have a very different life if they were given more attention and compassion. I’m still trying to make sense of all the injustice going on at the infirmary in my mind and know what I can do about it, and how something could be permanently put in place. Liz and Ryan having been wrestling with these thoughts and questions for years now. I invite you in on this journey to experience the infirmary, whether on a future trip or in prayer.

sewing and storms

Today was a bit low key since there is no school on Saturday. We spent the morning and early afternoon sewing burlap coffee bags.

This took many many hours, and the task still is not complete because the sewing machine (a.k.a. "The Mighty Mender") we used, wasn't quite the industrial level sewing machine that was needed for the job.

The Harmony House buys coffee beans from a local farmer, and sells them to people who come through as volunteers in these cute little burlap bags.

We spent part of the morning staring at the kittens that we named yesterday...Marley, Garvey, and Owen...all named after famous Jamaicans. (Owen being Owen Plant, of course.) The poor little things seem to be awfully weak, there mom isn't getting much food, and thus they aren't getting much either.

Liz and I walked around the Harmony House and checked out the new addition that they are building on to accomodate more volunteers. Unfortunately do to the storm we got shortly after they put the cement up on the walls, much of it got washed away and they'll have to redo it. But, I guess this keeps a job for them longer, which is a good thing!
At around 2pm, we got another hurricane-like rain storm!! I suppose this is good for filling up everyone's water run-off tanks.

So, Liz and I stayed in and played a couple of close games of scrabble...


goodnight!

Harmons, Jamaica-2nd day of school

Day3--Friday (however written on Saturday)

Yesterday, we got to the school at about 9am. Again, school starts at 8:30, but the teachers had yet to begin teaching and students hadn't really made their way to their classrooms yet (probably because the teachers hadn't either). I don't really quite get what is going on in the school here. Is it that they don't have hope of making something huge with their lives so they don't care about school? I don't entirely think this is true since when I ask the kids, they all know what they want to be....teachers, pediatricians, cooks, etc. Is it just a lack of resources that the teachers are just burnt out trying to do as much as they can with very little? Perhaps. at 10:30, the students have their break, so the teachers came into the computer lab with Liz and I to learn some of the software that we brought for their students to use. After about 45 minutes of us just working with the teachers, a couple of students figured out where we were, and they made their way into the computer lab.

Within just a couple of minutes, there were about 40 kids in the computer lab surrounding the computers and teachers...it was a priceless moment.

We then sent the teachers back to the rooms (in hopes of them teaching) and just kept a couple of students in the lab to work with individually on the computers.

As you can see, the teachers didn't really take the other students with them...so I ended up taking the extra students outside so Liz could work more closely on the computers with just a few of them. Outside, we played a lot of games...spider in the web, blob tag, hokey pokey, you name it...it was really fun...and also quite tiring.
Some kids just wanting to pose for the camera...

At the end of the school day, we walked home with the kids...many of them hanging off of us. It was about a 2 mile walk, and just as we were about home, it started pouring rain! Within minutes, it started looking like a hurricane minus the winds, and the power went out...for 8 hours! Actually, I think I was more surprised about it coming back on, than I was about it going out.
We decided to go out to dinner with Candy and Lloyd at a little place in Harmons.

The door on the left (with Candy peaking out) is the restaurant, the door on the right is the shop where you can buy bread and such. The restaurant was about 4X9' and had 4 stools in it that you could sit on to eat at the bar. They cooked the food in their house and would bring it in for you to eat. It was very very very good...fried chicken!


Well, I'm going to head out and see what needs to be done...the rest of the volunteers are coming tomorrow and there aren't enough beds, benches, or tables, so today is going to be a building day of sorts...

Jamaica Day 2--at the school

Day 2 (Thursday)


Liz all dressed and ready for the first day of school!

Today we went to the Harmons all-grade school. There were 134 kids in the school, 1st-6th grade, and only 4 teachers. Many kids stop going to school after 2nd grade, so by 6th grade the class size is much smaller than it had been in 1st grade. School costs $40/month, so many can’t attend because of the cost. Won By One has started a school sponsorship program though that allows many kids to go that otherwise couldn’t have. The kids all have to walk about 2 miles to get there, and then again 2 miles to get home.

When we got to the school, we met in the principal’s office for a few minutes before she announced that the 6th graders had to take an exam today and she need us to be the proctors. While the kids were taking the exam the principal gave me a copy of the exam and told me to try it. So, I went through and answered the 80 multiple choice language arts questions…not knowing if my answers were right…but just doing it because she suggested for me to, and I had nothing else to do in that moment. After the exam was finished, she collected the papers and then asked me to grade the papers using my answer key. What?!? I didn’t know I was creating the answer key! The exam that they were taking was a mock exam for what they will have to take next week to place them into high school. All kids get placed into a high school based on how well they do in school. There are no high schools in Harmons, so if they end up going to high school, they have to take a taxi to get there….yet another expense that I’m sure most cannot pay. Out of the 22 6th graders, only 10 were taking the exam. The other 12 will have to repeat the 6th grade. And of the 10 who will be moving on, 1 is illiterate and another cannot read past the 1st grade reading level, yet because of their age, they can no longer stay at the school.

During lunch period (which lasted over 2 hours), the kids brought food outside to eat and then ran around. I got to play “red light / green light”, a version of “mother may I?”, “duck duck goose”, and “brown (or for me “white”) girl in the ring”…not sure what to think about that game…they didn’t seem to think anything of it.


Kids surrounding Liz as she tries to write lesson plans...the kids said this was their first time seeing a computer.

Liz met with the teachers to discuss the computer lab and find out their knowledge level of computers. Then, later in the afternoon we went around and met with the teachers to discuss ways in which they can implement computers into their lesson plans. Two teacher seem like they are willing to try it, another seems like she’s going to fight us on anything and everything we suggest, and the fourth we didn’t get to meet with today. It was pouring rain at the end of the school day, so we got a ride back to the Harmony House with the principal instead of walking. Tomorrow we are going to bring software to the school and show them how to use some programs and how they could enhance their teaching. The tricky part is making sure the teachers don’t let the computers do all the teaching/babysitting.


the school


the outhouses

Well, now it’s really time for bed…

Ja Ja Jammmaica!

Day 1 (Wednesday)



We have arrived in Harmons, Jamaica! In case anyone is curious, we are essentially on Central Time. Technically, Jamaica is EST, but they don’t observe day light savings, so time-wise, it’s CT.

Liz and I both just got done typing to our Ryans (her husband’s name is Ryan as well)…and we’re pretending we’re in an internet café (wifi of course), even though we are really on bunks in our dorm room…the wifi (via satellite) part is true though! ☺

My flight from Tucson to Newark, was pretty entertaining. I sat next to a 76 year old woman who was really engaged in the safety video. Anytime they said something like, “We at Contintental are the best in our business”, she’d chime in with a “wow…really!?”. Or, when they said, “Thank for choosing us and welcome aboard”, she gave them a firm “Thank You” back. She was very sweet and cute indeed.

I met up with Liz in Newark and we flew together to Montego Bay, Jamaica. The excitement of that flight was getting a hot roastbeef/swiss sandwich and a salad! And, the fact that twice the pilot had to comment on the intercom about people smoking in the bathroom and how that is illegal.

Arriving in Montego Bay…it’s very very humid here! I’m used to the heat, but the humidity is unreal. The airport was a lot like Nogales, Mexico in the sense that everyone was offering to carry bags, show you where to go, etc…all for a tip. That is always such a hard thing for me. Here they are trying to work and make money, yet we’re told to say “no” and be firm. And, once we say “no”, they pretty much back right off. Which, I think is the best thing to do…but is it? I don’t know…it’s a hard thing to know I suppose.

We got picked up at the airport by a couple (Lloyd and Candy) who live here for part of the year leading groups down to Harmons, Jamaica (Manchester County) to do service, building houses and relationships. I don’t usually get car sick, but I have to admit I was feeling quite nauseas part way through the drive because of all the winding roads up the mountains. It’s almost a 3 hour drive to Harmons from the airport…and the entire way is winding roads and cars almost hitting one another. (Mom, you’d love it! ☺)

Just before we reached Harmons, we stopped at the closest town and had dinner…Burger King. I don’t even like going to chains when we are in the states, let alone in another country, but who am I to complain…it’s probably fancy dining for a lot of people here…I have a lot to learn this week, I’m sure.

Our first interactions upon arriving in Harmons were very tear jerking. As we drove down the street the kids that were outside ran to the street waving because they recognized the Won By One van. Then, when we pulled into the driveway a woman came towards us with a small child (about 4 years old) and was very upset and told us that over the weekend her sister had died. She had gotten sick and went to drive her to the hospital, but she died on the way, and the little girl with her was the daughter of her sister who died. It was neat to see that she wanted to come and share this right away with us in a way of knowing that the people at Won By One really care about her.

Harmons is a village, with very jungle-like landscaping. It has a population of about 2,500 people, and an unemployment rate of 80%. There is no running water or telephone lines anywhere in the village, with the exception of the Harmony House. The reason that the Harmony House (where volunteers stay) has water, electricity, and even wi-fi is so that they are able to communicate with groups and bring down so many people to help, and be able to provide the resources that they can to the village. Normally people who come down, don’t bring computers like we did, but since Liz and I are going to be working in a school setting up a computer lab…it’s a bit different for us…and allows me to communicate with all of you! (although, please don’t expect emails returned) ☺

So, to tell you a little bit about the organization I’m down here with. It is called Won By One, and was started in 1996 when the current director's parents came down to Jamaica after Hurricane Gilbert. He felt like he was being led by God to Harmons, which really, he had to have been led by God, because there is no way he could've possibly found Harmons any other way...it is soo remote.
At that time he had come down with his wife and 2 children (one of those children being the now current director) and they slept on the floor of an ‘abandoned’ government medical clinic. During the day they would go out and build relationships with the people of Harmons and help people in any way that they could. They only stayed for a week or so and then went back to the states.
They came again the next year...and then the following year they came a couple of times, and friends of theirs had asked to join them...so it grew...and then those friends had friends they wanted to bring down...and those friends had youth groups and college groups to bring down...and it just kept growing and growing on its own...and the guy said he felt like he was being called to make a big difference in a little place, as opposed to a little difference in a lot of places...
so, they built the harmony house (where all the volunteers stay), and now they have about 600 "friends" come down every year to serve.
The Harmony House/Won by One is the largest employer in Harmons. They employ 40-55 Harmons residents to do cooking, cleaning, farming, etc...and it's considered one of the best job to have in Harmons. I’ve only been here a day, and already I have a lot of respect for the organization and what they are doing here. They are always looking to create new jobs so that they can begin employing more people of Harmons.

Since there is no running water and Harmons doesn’t have any lakes or rivers, people collect the rain from their roofs to use it for cooking, washing, etc.

Won By One encourages anyone who comes down to serve to bring 2 full suitcases of clothes to give away to the people of Harmons. The clothes that we bring down go in a store that is part of the Harmony House, and the residents of the village are on a waiting list to come and shop...their are currently over 1000 people on the waiting list and when it's their turn to shop they pay 75 cents and can fill 2 grocery bags worth of clothes. They charge a small amount just to help the people appreciate what they are getting even more. And because of the waiting list, people usually only get to shop every 2-3 years.

Well, I think I’m going to leave you with that for tonight…I’ll type more tomorrow.

blogging bonanza!

I've let much time get in between my last post and now...so so sorry about that! I'll do my best to get y'all caught up on what we've been up to for the past couple of weeks! :)


We picked up Rachel from school and spent the afternoon making soft pretzels...

Ryan was very creative in his shapes...

Then, we taught Rachel to 'gamble' by playing a game called "left right center" to get bites of the pretzels! :)

Friends of ours got married and had their wedding reception at the Reed Park Zoo.

They had an anteater that you could pet!! Who knew that the claws of an anteater are sharp enough to break flesh and bones?!?! That's pretty darn scary...but good for breaking bark off of trees to get to the ants I suppose. :)

We got to walk around the zoo...the peacocks were the best...this male was doing a mating dance and had his feathers completely spread out. You know on rap videos where girls shake their butts really really fast? That's exactly what this peacock was doing...it wasn't working out too well for him, as the ladies didn't seem too impressed...but it was entertaining to us nonetheless.


Last Tuesday night we took a red-eye flight to new england! Unfortunately, we didn't get any time in Boston...we flew in, had dinner with Kamisha and Rachel, and then drove to New Hampshire for their first show at Rivier College. Our friend, Mauryn, was able to join us for this part of the tour.

The next day we drove back down to Boston so that we could see some friends for lunch. Ryan and I went over to Liz's house to meet her new baby, Charlene!




RH's second show was in Lewiston, Maine at Bates College...it was so fun to be back touring and on college campuses with students!

After the show at Bates, we went out and played darts with the student activities staff and a couple of students. We played Bates vs. RH...and really embarrassed ourselves with our lack of dart throwing skills...although, I must give shout outs to Ryan and Cameron b/c I think they may have both gotten bulls eyes at some point in the night!


The show in Portland, ME was at the University of Southern Maine. While we were there, we got 13" of snow dumped on us! And of course since it was a rental car, we had no scrapers or anything. We made good use of our atlas though, and had a few people offer to help push us out of parking spot and then again up a hill...I can say with confidence that I really love living in Tucson where it is warm all the time!

One of the students at the University of Southern Maine, requested a song, "Intro to Human Psych", after the show was over, and offered to sing harmonies with the guys...so they pulled out their guitars and had a little jam session with John...


Well, there you have it...our life for the last couple of weeks! :)

Tomorrow night I'm flying to Jamaica with our friends Ryan and Liz Lincoln to work at the Clarendon May Penn Infirmary until April 1st! I may have my computer while I'm there, and if so I'll keep you posted on what we're up to! Please pray for our safety in traveling and while we're there...and for Ryan while he's here! :)