I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing from the students the last few days. I’m sure it was nice to get things from their perspective. Well, today, I decided to write. It is probably best you hear it from me.
(Warning: mature content to follow)
Recently there has been some political unrest in Kingston. It largely stems from two groups; one which had been in power for 17 years and the second which just came to power. I do not remember the names of the two, but I know one is represented by the color green; the other by the color orange. At times, tempers have flared and people have resorted to violence. Communities have been ripped apart. One community in particular has earned a reputation for unrest.
The basic (elementary) school in the 100 Lane community was shut down 18 months ago due to these problems. The one room school house laid empty; its bathroom and kitchen area becoming targets of vandalism. Weeds filled the playground and trash was everywhere. The property, which only measures 100 x 200 ft, is flanked by two streets. Each street marks the line for each political party. The school lies in what you might call the neutral zone.
Can you guess where today’s post is going? The Jamaica Baptist Union wants to open the school again and saw the arrival of our group as a good time to launch the initiative. Mr. McIntyre pulled onto the property and dropped us off. We were met by Mrs. Galimore, Mr. Wood and several community members. Also greeting us were 6 or 7 men who were also from the community, but seemed to keep to themselves outside the school. I introduced myself to the group of men and learned that they are all fathers....and that they all feel quite comfortable smoking pot in broad daylight. The students unloaded and walked into the small building. I covered several ground rules for the project. Namely: Don’t draw attention to yourself, just work diligently.
Task #1 consisted of scraping, sanding and washing the inside of the school. It was hard to imagine that these filthy walls would ever host children. The paint had not arrived yet, so all the students started in on this task. Other than Mrs. Galimore, most of the people stayed outside while we worked. The group of fathers started painting a new basketball backboard.
Task #2: paint the walls. Once the paint and supplies all arrived, we were able to start. The delay was unfortunate, but we kept good attitudes. Matt and I used the two rollers...now we had to figure out how to keep 12 students busy with four brushes. Luckily, we had...
Task #3: Clean up outside. This was a four hour job. From trash, to branches and weeds...the task was a big one. Ben, Aliza, Carolyn and Jacob joined 2 or 3 of the men and started to get to work. Shovels, brooms, machete and a wheel barrow: everything you need to clean a playground. (the machete was used to trim trees)
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. Shortly after we arrived, so did the police. Two officers were assigned to the school while we worked. It was like having Chief Gibbs at your job site...well, I guess it would be, if Chief Gibbs was wearing a bullet proof vest and had an M-16 slung over his shoulder.
Task #4: Paint the concrete wall that surrounds the property. We started this after the first coat was applied inside. Carolyn, Aliza and I started the job about 11am. In fear that we would run out of paint, I decided to cut it with water. That planned worked just fine; we had just enough and finished the job by 1:30pm.
I’m sure that some of you are wondering about the decision to work at 100 Lane. I assured parents that the safety of the group was my first concern. Trust me; it WAS my first concern today. I remembered the prayer the pastor offered yesterday in church. “Lord, put a hedge of protection around this team.” I knew the team was not a target in anyway, because the issues were between the political parties. The police were there to remind the locals: today is not a day to disagree; it is a day to work together to open the school again for their children.
Before we left this morning I shared the story of Nehemiah. I told the students how Nehemiah had to deal with people who wanted his project to fail. He was able to build and finish the wall by delegating the work to families all around the city. I told them that today’s work was about one brick. We do this one project and perhaps it will motivate others to do more. Nehemiah was building a wall; we were helping to take one down.
The students worked very hard. They worked side by side with Jamaicans. All day people walked by and inquired whether the school was opening again. They all thanked us. What a great experience; one we will never forget.
The day ended with a dip in the pool. No, not at 100 Lane. We drove to Beverly Hills. That is a very wealthy area and happens to be the community that a member of Bethel Baptist church lives in. The Harrison’s graciously offered us their pool for the afternoon. As Wayne said, “that was so nice!”
The evening ended with dinner and Aliza, Kerry, Emily, Shannon, and Sam getting their hair corn rowed. Isacc passed on the opportunity.
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