Sargent Shriver - 1962 Peace Corps Director Video

I met R. Sargent Shriver in 1964. Here's a short clip from a 1962 TV game show; the Peace Corps was 1-year old. Even then he says that were some volunteers over '60 years old' - I guess I probably got them beat!

 

We'd enjoy seeing your questions about Jamaica and your comments posted below. Thanks, STEVE and IRENE

1. Help us fullfil Peace Corps' Third Goal; 2. JFK; 3. Frogs...Chinese

1. The Third Goal of the Peace Corps aims to help Americans understand the people and cultures of other countries. It is one of the three goals that support the mission of the Peace Corps to promote world peace and friendship. Help us reach others by signing up for emails from this blog - and by recommending our blog to others. Thank you!

2. In honour of his birthday, watch this video of President John F. Kennedy in the oval office talking about the importance of Peace Corps service.

3. A Chinese guy who eats frogs….As I spend time with each of the grades in my new school, I have a little time to introduce myself and answer questions. Somehow the topic turned to foods – what do I like about Jamaican cooking, and what have I eaten that Jamaicans typically don’t? Well, one of the Grade 6 students asked if I eat “Spring Chicken?” – and I, thinking they were asking about regular chicken said, “of course!” Well, that got quite a reaction – disgusted faces and laughs.

So…as my new students proceed to teach me, in Jamaica a FROG is sometime called a Spring chicken.  Well, I then said that some people in places in the world do eat frog’s legs, and I had eaten them also.

The next day, one of the students said, “Mr. Lawrence, are you Chinese?” I said, “why are you asking me?” and he said, “Because you’re WHITE and eat FROGS!”

Swearing In – Peace Corps Volunteers

 

We are now Peace Corps Volunteers! After 10 weeks as ‘trainees’, the oath of office was administered to 26 Americans by Chargé d'Affaires Elizabeth Martinez of the U.S. Embassy in Jamaica. It was a truly memorable event; our new school principals were there too. The Honourable Robert Pickersgill, MP, Minister of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change delivered the keynote address. We are now truly in our new HOME – a rural town in St. James Parish about 30 minutes from Montego Bay. We have been warmly welcomed by the community, and feel so lucky to have made it through the training and to begin our 2 years of service.

PC Jamaica Group 85 Education Volunteers and our instructors

 

Steve and Irene with our new School Principals



Chargé d'Affaires
 Elizabeth Martinez

The Honourable
Robert Pickersgill, MP,
Minister of Water, Land,
 Environment and Climate Change

The work we will do is multi-fold. The first priority is Literacy Education. In Primary Schools in Jamaica, the Grade 4 Literacy Test is critical – if students can’t pass this exam, they will not enter an academic high school after grade 6. We’ve learned a lot about teaching Standard Jamaican English (SJE) – not American English, and we will be doing ‘pull-out’ sessions (small group tutoring) with students who need extra help with reading, writing and comprehension.

We all are expected to find secondary projects. Irene probably already has found a role in helping to set up parenting education for families of kids in her school. My project might get me involved with technology supporting primary education for literacy and numeracy. Digicel, the local cellular company supports many schools with great tools; however, access to working computers, internet, and software is very limited in rural areas. More ‘lieta’ about my nerdy stuff.

Some friends have asked about our living arrangements. When we applied for PC, we were prepared for living in huts in Africa (or similar) – well, although some volunteers certainly still have that type of assignment, the ‘new PC’ is keeping up with the times. We do have a small apartment in the lower level of a wonderful house in this very rural community; we have electricity (although use oil lamps as backup), and Jamaica has 98% cellular coverage, so internet access is mostly by cellular. We do have a mosquito net over our bed -- it's one of the PC issued items that has been very useful.

It is rare to have hot water, although piped water is common (with rooftop tanks as backup during drought and when power goes off) – but hot water is very rare…luckily the temps are tropical: we haven’t had hot showers since we left Miami in early March, 2014. We do our laundry by hand in an outdoor tub, and hang it on a line to dry. We cook on a stove fuelled from a 30 lb. propane tank in our own kitchen. We are at 175 metres above sea level (575 feet) so we are a likkle cooler than our home in St. Thomas - and we're up on a hill so we get a nice cooling breeze (the last 100 metres is a steep climb home after school each day).

We spent part of almost every day of our training learning Patwa, the Jamaican language, and also a lot about culture and norms. We understand a likkle bit, but our accent still sounds Jamerican for sure.

Painting Irene's new classroom and Parenting Center

Today is Labour Day in Jamaica – it is a national holiday, but the idea is to LABOUR for a good cause. We both went to Irene’s school where we painted the room which will be her classroom and Parenting Center – a warm yellow and she will paint a mural of big tree on one wall. I also worked pulling out old fence posts and wire to make room for a new outdoor reading area.

 

Labour Day at Irene's school

Our dietary focus has been on healthy foods. We’re quite used to Jamaican food – goat, Ackee and saltfish, fresh fish, fried chicken with rice & peas, and manish water (goat head soup) or chicken foot soup. However, with lots of exercise, my pants are now loose (had to punch a new hole in my belt), and my one blazer jacket hasn’t fit as well in years. Tonight, as a ‘reward’ for labours, I poured the first glass of Scotch Whiskey I’ve had since March.

 

We can receive mail through the Jamaican Post Office. If you want to send us a ‘care package’ please ask us for the mailing address. There is a process in place that allows us to receive most packages duty free – although you still have to fill out a customs form when you mail it from your local Post Office in the USA.

New Peace Corps Volunteers!

 

We enjoy seeing your comments on this site and on Facebook too. Thanks for following us on our 2-year adventure. Walk Good! Steve and Irene.

 

Official Pictures of the Swearing In Ceremony

Here are Official pictures from the Peace Corps Office in Jamaica.



PCVs, Honoured Guests, and PC Jamaica Director

Steve with Chargé d'affaires

Irene with Chargé d'affaires

PC Jamaica Staff

We have moved to St. James

We met our new School Principals last week and travelled with them to our new community [allow us to maintain PC rules and not publish its name right now] in St. James Parish. On the map you will see we are somewhat near Falmouth (where the mega-ship cruise liners visit) and Montego Bay, where we will shop, bank, and maybe even go to the beach.



Map of western Jamaica

Irene and I are working in two Primary Schools about 5 km from each other, and we have moved into a wonderful apartment unit nearby. We will tell more about our school programs later; but we did have a few days to spend with our new colleagues and all the students, and both of us got to teach a bit already.

Library at Irene's school

"Nerd" digging into computer stuff

In addition to our 1^st priority of doing small-group ‘pull-out’ literacy classes for selected students, Irene is planning to re-vitalize the school library and collaborate on a Parenting Program for her school; Steve’s school recently received some grant-funded (from Digicel, the local mobile phone company) high-tech equipment to support grades 1-3 literacy and numeracy teaching – but it’s still unpacked … so he’s in ‘nerd heaven’ planning on digging into it all, collaborating with his faculty counterpart on a teacher training program on how to use it once it’s set up, and then adding it to the curriculum.

Our home in St. James Parish

We are in love with our new home! It’s charming and airy. We have a small veranda (porch) with an amazing view of the sunrise/moonrise over the mountains. We talked to our landlord about starting a small herb (Irene already bought all the seeds) and vegetable garden; and of course, Steve wants to start composting (especially since we are getting so many fresh fruits and vegetables).

The view from our Veranda

Steve's Principal taking us on
community tour

Our community has been expecting us – we were introduced to many wonderful people – we visited the community center, the local health clinics, the small shops, the police station and the post office; we also called on neighbors to say hello; their welcome was heartwarming, and they are all eager to help us and to watch out for us as we integrate.

Police station

We travelled back to St. Thomas on Saturday; the trip involves a taxi ride to Montego Bay, then 4 hours on a bus to Kingston, then 1 ½ hours on a small bus (remember – ‘small up’ … 5- people sitting across seats made for 3 people) to Morant Bay, then a taxi to our smaller town in St. Thomas.  

Hospitality Job Readiness Training at the Community Center

Sunday evening, the Port Morant Community Development Committee hosted an appreciation party for the PC Volunteers who have been living in the community for 8 weeks. There were speeches, including a representative of the Member of Parliament and many other dignitaries, and wonderful performances by students from the schools in which we did our practicum teaching. Here are some pictures the CDC posted.

PC Education Volunteers with 3 of our teachers

The appreciation and farewell function for the
 US Peace Corps group 85 Volunteers. Sunday May 18,
 at the Port Morant Primary & Junior High School.

This week we will have our final “Readiness Interviews” before our swearing-in ceremony. Our school principals will be there too – we’ll post some pictures next time.

Thanks for following our story – and thanks for posting comments!

Our Final Training Week: Site Assignments NEXT WEEK

We wrapped up our last full week of training – and next Monday we will be told about site assignments for the next 2 years. For Irene and I as a couple, this means we will have housing that is ‘convenient’ to both of our school sites (although maybe 1 one of us will need to use public transportation). Our fantasies keep running – “Will we be in the mountains (cooler)?” or “nearer to the sea?” We meet our local supervisors on Tuesday, and we will spend most of next week in our new communities before returning for our swearing-in ceremony and final move.

Irene's hand-drawn map of Jamaica

It was difficult to say goodbye to all the students we worked with during our practicum training. We had a “Fun Day” for them (39 kids + some teachers) at our training site – there was face-painting, dance, mask making, games, and Irene made a piñata full of “sweeties” (candy) which was a great event.

 

 

Our group got together with the local Community Development Committee to build a concrete sign for the new park. The lettering is made from plastic bottles – they will later be painted and some trees planted around the concrete.

PC Education Volunteers - the concrete and plastic bottle sign we built for our community's park.

All PC volunteers are trained in some HIV/AIDS education processes. Here is Steve using blown-up condoms (with questions about condom use inside) – the “Condom Game” is like musical chairs – when then music stops, the person with the condom has to break it open (that’s difficult…proving that condoms are strong) and then answer the question.

The "Condom Game"

So…we hope you are enjoying our story; we love to read your comments too – thanks, and “Walk Good!”

...and a beautiful morning rainbow!

...a well earned 1/2 day off -- in Jamaica that means BEACH

We completed writing our lesson plans for next week, so...an afternoon at the beach was the reward; Jamaica is a beautiful place! And a gorgeous sunset before heading home.

Irene and Steve at Lyssons Beach, St. Thomas, Jamaica

...a beautiful sunset: a perfect Saturday

My Family, My Home

In only a few more weeks we will swear in as Peace Corps Education Sector Literacy Volunteers. This last week we were back in classrooms with primary school (Grade 3 and 5) students. We decided to teach a day about family and home. There are 4 of us PCTs (trainees) in our school – we each brought a few pictures of our own families and home towns to share with the students.

My Family, my home: Jamaica and U.S.

Then they drew us pictures of their families and presented them to the entire class. [Our PC privacy rules mean that we can’t show a lot of pictures right now – but the kids were so engrossed.] We even included some rhythm instruments in our classes, and all the kids played a short concert for our PC Supervisor when he visited the classroom.

Sights on the road to Kingston

 

We also made a field trip to Kingston (about 2 hours from St. Thomas Parish) to visit the Institute of Jamaica where we learned about the history of Jamaican music genres, and then to Devon House, the family home (and now National Trust site) of Jamaica’s “First Black Millionaire” George Stiebel. His father was a German Jewish immigrant from Frankfurt (same background as my father), so I am trying to find out if I’m related to the Stiebels (more later).

Irene and Dewy at the Institute of Jamaica



Devon House, Kingston

 ...and of course, one more picture of the sea: