Happy Thanksgiving!

I have to be honest, I felt kind of weird wishing people who got in contact with me on Thursday a Happy Thanksgiving. To me it was just another Thursday. For the most part I didn't even think about it being Thanksgiving until someone called or emailed me and mentioned it! I will say there was a moment when I remembered it was Thanksgiving on my own. I went to get lunch on Thursday and as I approached the pavilion where they serve the staff lunch I realized it was closed up...no lunch for the day. I decided to go to the adoration chapel and pray instead and it wasn't until I looked up above the Tabernacle in the chapel and read the infamous Mustard Seed phrase "Thank You Lord" in big lettering across the wall when it hit me. Not only was it Thanksgiving, but I didn't get any lunch! I thought that was quite ironic. It made me thankful for the opportunity to sacrifice my meal for all the people who go without food on a regular basis and go to bed hungry every night. My week started off with retreat Sunday-Tuesday. MSC holds an annual retreat and several members of the staff are asked to attend along with any long-term volunteers currently serving. It's meant to serve as a couple days away from work in a peaceful, quieter part of the country. It was a really neat experience. There were only about 4 Catholics in attendance, myself, Chelsea (the other volunteer), and 2 priests. So, it was one of my first experiences being in a spiritual setting where the majority of the people were not Catholic, but aside from when it was time for people to recieve Communion at Mass and when everyone said "for thine is the kingdom..." following the Our Father you really would have no idea that everyone was not of the same faith. It seems in the States there is a thick divide between religions but here it's more like there is one God and several ways to worship Him, none of those ways being greater than the other. I will say, I would have loved to have been a spectator when everyone was singing, clapping, and dancing to worship songs while Chelsea and I tried our hardest to keep a beat with our clapping and sway in the right direction! But it was a lot of fun! And I definietly smiled and laughed quite a bit. On Wednesday and Thursday I returned to work. I would say my biggest feats this week as a nurse were giving our two psychotic residents at Jerusalem! their monthly injections successfully and removing some sutures from a another resident's chin without an actual suture removal kit. For the most part needles and stitches are not fun for anyone, but it all worked out! I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving and enjoyed the turkey and all the fixins! Mom and Dad, I am sorry I am not there to help with the leftovers!

Meal Time!

It's been a good week for the most part. It was exhausting, but good. I am starting to feel like I am getting somewhere in the medication room. I've been doing inventory of all our meds and organizing them in a way that seems to work best for me. As most of you know, I am somewhat of an "organized person" ok ok so that is an understatement. I am totally obsessed with things being in their place. So, organizing the medication room has kind of been a fun project for me! There were several moments this week that reminded me why I love being in a place like this and especially working with kids who are just happy to be alive and have no concept of the materialism and greed that takes place in so many parts of the world. The first of these moments occured earlier this week at Jerusalem! Most afternoons after I eat my lunch I head over to the childrens' home to help with feeding. Now, keep in mind there are hundreds of kids living in this home and a large number of them are unable to feed themselves. Not to mention it takes a decent amount of time to feed some of them because they have trouble swallowing, or because they have constant involuntary movements of their body, or (my favorite) they refuse to open their mouths for you...even though I know for a fact they are all hungry at meal time! So on top of all this the childrens' homes are seriosuly understaffed because it is not easy to find someone willing to do this kind of work everyday of the week. But to get back to my "moment." The other day I walked into the large area where all the children sit and looked around and saw so many of the higher functioning children feeding those who cannot feed themselves. It was so beautiful. Stuff like that happens all the time here. For instance, everyday I look out the clinic door after school gets out and I see the children who can walk pushing all the children in wheel chairs back to the childrens' home. Nearly all the higher functioning children and the children who can walk have their own disabilities, but in a place like this the kids just see each other as a huge family. It's really awesome to watch and even more awesome to be a part of! My second moment also involves feeding time! But it's a much shorter story. I promise! The other morning the kids were eating poridge for breakfast (what they eat almost every morning). One of the girls said "Auntie Sarah do you like poridge?" And I said yea! And about 5 minutes later a different girl was eating hers and I asked how it was and she said "Good! Do you want some?" I know that doesn't sound like much, but think about it this way...an orphan who gets just enough food to keep her healthy and probably not enough to keep her from being hungry offered me some of her breakfast! I of course said no that I wanted her to have all her breakfast. But it really reminded me how selfless these children are. Ok, and I think I will tell one more story! Only because it happened at yet another meal time! Yesterday I went to help feed the kids lunch. And after I started feeding the first child I realized it was chicken neck. Which is quite possible the most difficult meal to feed children because there is barely any meat on the bones and the bones are really weak and break easily and I am always afraid I am gonna cause a kid to choke on one! So, I got through two of the children without too much mishap. Then I got to Andrew. He is one of the kids who is in constant motion. He has the most amazing smile :) But he has little control over his head, arms or neck and they are constantly moving. As you can imagine this makes feeding difficult. So I gripped his head and started feeding him some of the rice and beans. I got to the chicken neck and stopped to try and pull some meat out and leave the bones in the bowl. Then I got side tracked by a couple other children trying to steal extra food from the cart and then there are others trying to steal the food in the bowl you are feeding from! Anyway...all the while Andrew is just sitting there quietly and patiently waiting. I decided in that moment that he is one of the most patient people I have ever met. He completely relies on another person to put food in his mouth and I know he was hungry because I could see it in his eyes as I fed the child sitting next to him first. But he never once cried out as I over and over again stopped putting food in his mouth to tend to something else! He just sat there and when I would apologize for stopping he would just smile :) Absolutely beautiful! So, as you can see I really love these kids. On the bus ride home from work yesterday I sat staring out the window thinking I could not imagine what it would be like if I had not come here and met every single one of them. My life would forever be missing something. I know this was a long one, but I wanted to blog all these stories in more throughout the week, but I am always exhausted onceI get home from work so I saved them all up! As always, I hope everyone is well. Peace!

So, it's my second weekend here in Jamaica and I am getting used to life here. I spent three days this week at Jerusalem!, two of those without Maggie. I have started trying to determine the best way to organize the clinic and the medication room. There is a lot of equipment that can't really be used by any of the apostalates here so I am trying to sort through it and hopefully find a place that can use some of the stuff. Below are some before pictures of the clinic before I started going through everything. Hopefully in a few weeks I can post some "after shots!"

So, I think my biggest feat this week was traveling to and from work the first time by myself! The volunteers use the public transportation system to get around mostly. So, a typical morning for me to go to Jerusalem! goes something like this: wake up a little before 6 to be out the door by 6:30, catch a cab outside the house to bring me down the hill to the closest major town (Papine), if we can get a cab without too long a wait we are able to catch the "express" bus which brings me the bus stop in 3 Mile (Downtown Kingston) near My Father's House, then I walk to My Father's House and hop in the Mustard Seed van that drives to Jerusualem! every morning. It takes a total of about two hours. If I miss the express bus than I have a few other options. All of which will add a good amount of time onto the already lengthy commute! So, I try to get out the door on time and pray there is a taxi driving by within 5 or 10 minutes of getting out there! The afternoon commute is a little different: I take 2 buses and a taxi usually, but it takes about the same amount of time. Taxi rides cost on average J$50 which is less than US$1. And the express bus costs J$70, about US$1. Being out and about is sort of stressful just because there are usually a million other people trying to catch cabs and buses and not to mention I sort of "stand out" here...so pretty much everyone stares at me. But I try and not think about it too much because when you do it can drive you kind of crazy.

So, I guess thats good for now. We all slept in this morning which was really nice and we found our missing mop so we have spent most of the morning mopping our rooms and the common areas. Eventually I will take some pictures of the house and post them. This afternoon my roomate Chelsea and I are going to a "staff appreciation" dinner and there is a short term group coming in this afternoon as well.

Hope everyone is well. Any snow up there in the States?! God Bless everyone!

Goats and Taxis!

So, there are a few interesting things about Jamaica that have made me laugh since I arrived or have caught me off guard here and there. The first of these things is goats...yes...goats. Goats run around all over this island like stray dogs. They are EVERYWHERE. I am personally a fan of the baby goats outside one of the apostalates where I work. They just scavage around looking for food and "baaaahhh" when I walk by on my way to the bus stop. Last week at the bus stop I watched a huge goat jump onto his hind legs and then into a trash can searching for some dinner. Even in some of the busier parts of the city there are goats just trotting around! Anyway, it just makes me laugh that of all animals to roam around it is goats!! The next interesting concept is the method of taxi riding. Personally, I never understood why it doesn't work this way in the States, but anyway...here in Jamaica they fill every taxi with as many people as possible who are headed in the same direction. So none of that "one person per taxi" stuff you see in cities in the States. Granted, I am sure people in the States might not be too fond of stuffing 6 passengers plus a driver in a small car, but at least filling it to its legal limit just seems much more practicle to me! Then, unless you yell out "one stop driver" you get dropped off in a general location where all the cabs pick up and drop off passengers. Well, thats about it for tonight. I hope everyone who lives in the northern part of the States is enjoying the cool weather! Every now and again when I am profusely sweating I think about how some people in the world are wearing winter coats right now. It's in the mid 80s here and REALLY humid! God Bless Everyone!

Greetings All, I really can't believe I have only been here for 6 days. I feel like it's been so much longer than that, which affirms the fact that I know I am meant to be here, although there are certainly moments when I just stop and ask God how on earth I ended up here! But I feel like I definitely will have a role to play once I get into the swing of things and hopefully I can at least accomplish some of the goals I am setting. Over the past few days I have, for the most part, just been getting oriented to some of the apostalates I will be working at and meeting the caregivers and the staff. And of course spending time with the kids, who after only a few days I have fallen in love with. I already have a few "favorites," but I think over time I will have a reason to make each one my "favorite." This week I was able to spend time at My Father's House, Jerusalem!, and Jacob's Ladder. I will say I was entirely overwhelmed the first time I walked into Jerusalem! It took all my might not to burst into tears. The reality of it is beyond words and the only decription I can give is "complete and utter chaos." Over 200 children live there, some of whom are psychotic and most who are severely mentally and physically handicapped. When it comes down to it though, they all desire the same treatment...love and attention. Thankfully, I was there two days in a row. So, the first day I spent getting over the initial shock of walking into tons of kids running at me, hitting me, and screaming at me. The second day I was able to walk around to some of them and hold their hands and just say hi and look them in the eyes, and essentially give them a tiny amount of the attention they long for. I even got to take one, Amanda, out of her chair for maybe 20 minutes and just hold her. As soon as I pulled her out of her chair she immediately stopped crying and I even got some smiles out of her in that short amount of time! So, yes, I have definitely learned that there is no amount of preperation that can truly prepare you for coming and working at a place like this. I know, I am still not over the initial shock, but I don't think I ever really will be. Because I think if you do get over it you become jaded, which is the last thing I want to happen. All in all, I can say that my first week has gone really well. My roomates are all really great and we all get along really well. Last night we went out to Port Royal, which is the very tip of the teeny tiny narrow peninsula south of Kingston. We all got lobster that was absolutely delicious. Oh, and in case anyone is worried Hurricane Paloma did not hit Jamaica. We had some heavy rains last night, but thats about it. Today is sunny and gorgeous and humid, of course! Okay well, I have so much more I could talk about, but I think this should suffice for now. Please keep me in your prayers as I start work this week without Maggie, the other nurse, who is headed back to the States Thursday. Peace!

Finally!

I am here! Today was my first full day here in Jamaica and it was a really good one! Yesterday I arrived and moved into Sophie's Place, my home for the next year or so, as well as the home of the other volunteers. My room is small and simple, but all my stuff fit just fine and I have a comfy bed and wireless internet (so not typical for a developing country). Today I went with Chelsea, another volunteer, to My Father's House (MFH). MFH was where Mustard Seed started and is home to probably about 30 or so kids as well as all the MSC administative offices. The morning started off with Morning Prayer with the rest of the staff and then Sr. Cathy, one of the staff members involved with the volunteers showed me around. At the end of the tour she just sort of left me in the middle of a big group of kids (nearly all of whom are in wheel chairs and non-verbal). I also had two new best friends, Keemar and Brittania, as soon as I walked into the children's home. Neither of them are in wheel chairs and do a lot of roaming but are always up for a free "ug" (thats hug for you non-Jamaicans!) Anytime I walked out into the open area of the home Keemar would come running at me out of no where and hold onto me for dear life. So, yea most of the day I spent with the kids. In the morning we wheeled all of them out to the open-air chapel and one of the care-takers just sang songs and prayed with them. It was so fun to see all their faces when she would start singing a new song that they liked...they would get these HUGE smiles on their faces and start clapping. It made me so joyful to see those smiles and their eyes lighting up. Chelsea and I also took a couple of the kids out to a garden they have and worked on stretching out their joints and just giving them some time out of their wheelchairs. Some of the kids are severely crippled and so stretching out their arms and legs as much as possible makes them feel really good. Tomorrow, I will go with Maggie to Jerusalem! (another of the apostalates) and I will see what I will actually be doing everyday for the next year. Unfortunately, as the nurse I am expected to do more than just roam around and hang out with the kids. So, hopefully it goes well and I fall in love with some more beautiful smiling children. I hope all is well in the States! If anyone is interested in getting in touch with me, my email is sebegin@comcast.net, I also have googlechat and skype and my name for both those is sebegin. God Bless!