Stevens Global Service Initiative to Jamaica 2017

Where do I even begin.. Honestly words can't even begin to explain how I felt this week. As soon as I got here, day 1, I already knew I wanted to be a part of this country. There was a strong sensation that filled me with sadness, happiness, and anxiety all at the same time. I was sad because I knew I only had a week here. I was happy because I was living my dream and I was going to make a difference in the lives of everyone that I met. I was anxious because I wanted to talk, hang out, and hug everyone that walked by me but I didn't know how I would have time within the short 7 days. Day 2, I praised the Lord at a Pentecostal church with some of the citizens of Jamaica and I thanked Him for giving me this amazing opportunity. Day 3, I met so many children with huge hearts that only desired one thing, my attention. I also met a super cool dude that goes by the name of Scratchy. We instantly connected and became best friends, I appreciated his existence so much. Day 4, I sat in o...

I never imagined what a group of 11 students (plus 3 adults and 3 Jamaican Day laborers) could get accomplished in just four days, in a whole different country. This climate is nothing we have ever experienced. Jamaican work culture is intense work until the sun goes down: hours of shoveling, hauling bricks, and mixing cement. That is not light work. It allowed us to appreciate how simple and quickly construction is done in America.  At the same time, it really allowed us to push ourselves and see what we can accomplish. Most of us had never made cement from scratch before. We shoveled and passed buckets after buckets in our staple assembly line. Each day we would set a goal and surpass it by a landslide. Yesterday was to lay down two layers of brick and we did two full and some. Today was to lay down a few more and move buckets of dirt, which we did getting as far as we could.  My greatest surprise for myself was my endurance through the heat. I knew I could challeng...

The week has come to an end and the Saturday when we first flew in seems so long ago. Thoroughout the week we not only did service and experienced the culture of Jamaica but we also bonded as a group. We talked about who gets ore out of service, the ones receiving the service or the ones providing it? I feel like I have gotten so much out of this experience that it is hard to say it affected the people we helped more. The children at the schools are receiving bleachers or an extension to their school, but i received an experience i will never forget. I formed close bonds with people who were strangers to me before this week. I got to see actual progress being made on these projects and know my sweat and hard work went into it. When we left the worksite today it looked like a building was taking form there and not just a few stacks of cinder blocks. I had so much fun on this trip and felt like I did a lot of good work. I'm going to miss Jamaica but who knows mayble I'll be back!...

As a returning member from last year's GSI trip to Jamaica, I must claim all biases and recognize that I knew a bit of what the transition would be like between the lovely Taino Cove resort, located in utterly peaceful and quiet Treasure Beach on Jamaica's south side, and the Whistling Bird resort, in tourist-centric yet staggeringly beautiful Negril on Jamaica's westernmost tip. I learned last year that Negril is much more densely populated with gift shops, restaurants, and hotels, but that the impeccable white sand beaches and so-crystal-clear-it's-scary ocean water make the trip and the louder environment all the more worth it.    Even this year however, I couldn't help but recognize how my perspective changed during this transition; in Treasure Beach, the secluded nature of Taino Cove meant that I found myself being a bit more reserved, and looking forward to quiet moments after a long day's work at St. Mary's, the first school we worked with. However...

Today was our first day at Higher Heights Academy. The kids are younger, the school is smaller, and the worksite is alot hotter. And by alot hotter i mean 105 degrees. I honestly do not think I've ever sweat more in my life, but the progress we made, made it all worth it. Our goal was to lay a meager 2 rows of blocks to make the foundation for an extension to the school, and we surpassed it. We laid 5 rows! That progress made the entire day of blistering heat, dripping sweat, and even a little nausea completely worthwhile. I would say that today was the most rewarding day solely in terms of work that we've had yet.  Something I have to note is everyone's concern for each other's well being, on and off of the worksite. I can honestly say that there was not more than 10 minutes that passed by without someone asking "Do you need someone to switch out for you?" on the worksite, or more generally, "Are you okay?", "Do you need water? bugspray? sunsc...

Once the group arrived in Negril, the whole environment changed. Negril is much more densely populated with better infrastructure and professionals. The school we are working on is Higher Heights Academy for young children. We started building an extension for the school by first, making cement by hand, laying the cement, and then placing the cinderblocks. We are accompanied by Paul, Shavon, and Richard. Working together with them is an extraordinary experience, I've learned many tricks of the trade while also connecting with these people. This offered a true glimpse into the life of these people which is truly what is benefitting me the most on this trip. To learn about their struggles and the daily hardships truly shifted my perspective and confirmed that I am here for the right reasons. The first work site at Saint Mary's held a similar experience. The work was similar but it was the relationships and connections formed that changed. Working with Scratchy, Patrick and Kirk a...

It's already Wednesday and it's unbelievable to think we'll be leaving this beautiful country in a few days. This trip has been everything I could have imagined and more. We found a little home at Taino Cove in Treasure Beach. On the southwest side of the island, the resort is deep in rural land overlooking the ocean. The houses nearby a large and colorful, with large gates and lots of land surrounding them. The site we were working on was nestled into the side of a mountain - it's safe to say that I wasn't expecting this landscape. To be completely honest, when I thought of Jamaica I thought of beaches, some more beaches, and a few more beaches. It was breathtaking to see so much greenery everywhere we went. Our new home for the next few days, Whistling Bird, is a little piece of the jungle - beautiful and green - right on the beach in Negril. The tree frogs sing their song and the ocean breeze eases the humidity. The landscape is totally different than Treasure B...

Throughout my time here in Jamaica I've been able to experience all kinds of different areas of the country. Treasure beach, where we've been staying for the past four days, I recently learned is an area where many Jamaicans come to visit and vacation. During our travels outside of Treasure Beach and on the way to St. Mary's school, we passed by poorer areas where the houses were more spread out and farm land was very prevalent. When we did pass a nice house, they looked nothing like mansions in America. They're still huge, but the windows and doorways are covered with iron gating and a lot of them had some oddly paired color palettes (green+orange, pink+yellow). We are currently staying at the Whistling Bird in Nagril, which is a more tourist-y area. When I was actually awake on the bus (not for very long), I could immediately tell the difference in the standard of living - the fact that I could easily sleep signaled the significant decrease in potholes, there were act...

Hi again!    This trip has been one of the greatest experiences of my life! I am so happy that I got the chance to do service in a beautiful country and meet so many amazing people.   But one of the greatest things that I got to see on this trip were cultures and landscapes that are complete 180's from what I am used to. I grew up in a fairly upper class suburban neighborhood in Rockland County, New York and now go to college in the vibrant little city of Hoboken. So when I came to Jamaica, I definitely felt a culture shock here.    It took a while to get used to the way things go in Jamaica. Smaller portions of food (meaning I'd only get one scrambled egg at first instead of my usual three because I love eggs), spotty power outages, a lack of AC. It took a lot of getting used to, since it was just normal to wake up to make a breakfast of a three-egg omelette with bacon, in a house powered by a generator, with very regulated temperatures.    B...

In the short two day span, I've formed connections and changed the lives of multiple people. The immediate impact was fulfilling as you could imagine, and it truly warms my heart to be apart of an amazing group of individuals who are service-orientated and driven to the greater good for people. The team's work in the Saint Mary community will stretch further than the two days spent there as the work done there will have an everlasting impact on the whole community both physically and spiritually. Since attending this trip my perspective has completely changed on how I view people, developing countries, and service. The positive and upbeat attitudes of the group and team leaders has inspired me to make my short time here as personal as possible. Not only has the community benefited from the work, but I have grown as a person because of this and only hope to keep this going. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to be here, my team, and the individuals involved at the Saint Mar...

The main question that I keep thinking about on this trip is: Why am I here? My usual answer to this is that I want to experience a culture and country different from my own for the first time. However, I could have just taken a normal vacation to a different country to experience this, so why did I choose to come on a trip that has me waking up at 8 am to do manual labor in the hot sun? Every school I see in the US has a play area and seating for the children at recess, but that is not the case here. This simple luxury that we have is something we take for granted and that is why our group is here, to provide the students with something they deserve. In our specific case it is the seating for their play area. The day started with shoveling piles of rocks for hours and when everyone was sore and tired we were reminded of why we are here. The children came out to play for recess and everyone in the group quickly became involved. They were excited to play soccer, frisbee, and jump rope w...

Today was one of the most tiring and rewarding days of my life.  It was our first day of work today! Woo hoo! It was intense, especially for someone like me who can't handle the sun and heavy objects. But it was so rewarding and we made a lot of progress. We did our work today at St. Mary's Primary School near Treasure Beach. The school has kids from grades 1-6, and is located in a mountain range forty minutes from Taino Cove. They have been constructing a netball court for the kids to play in, since they were in need of a playground.  It was quite a long day, and the work was tough. I went in thinking we were putting up a fence for the netball court, but that had been finished already by the previous GSI group. We ended up starting to fill more of the stadium seating for the court. It involved moving (presumably) two tons of rocks into a structure made of cinderblocks.  Yep. It was rough. It was monotonous. It was tedious. IT. WAS. ROUGH.  But all that roughnes...

A ton and a half of rocks, gallons and gallons of water, 13 buckets, and 11 sweaty shirts later, we completed or first day of work. Preparing for the day, of course we were told to go to bed early, drink plenty of water, the whole nine yards. Of course, none of us really listened to the implied bedtime, and we definitely are paying for it after a long days work, running off to bed at 9 pm. We were told that we would be filling a row of stadium seats. We had no idea that it would take five hours to haul close to one thousand buckets of shoveled rocks into a hole. I came into the workday knowing that my tiny arms would give out, but I couldn't have been more surprised with how much I personally was able to accomplish, and how much we were able to accomplish when we worked together. We couldn't have done it without the help of one of our day laborers, especially Scratchy who was the biggest help with shoveling. The physical work was the most rewarding experience, and I have never ...

After only one day here at Jamaica, a couple of things have become very clear to me - this trip will not at all be what I had in mind. and I really had no idea what Jamaican culture is truly like.   Knowing I was assigned to reflect and write about Jamaican culture forced me to be more observant than I usually am - I tend to get caught up in what's going on in the present, but taking a step back and really looking at what we've experienced today allowed me to really appreciate the environment I am in.   From first impressions and the short amount of time I've been here so far, I've noticed many Jamaican people we've come in contact with are fairly relaxed. I'm hesitant to say slow, but there has never really been any kind of rush in anyone's behavior or in anything we've done - from the owners of the resort were staying at, to our driver, to the employees at the places we've eaten.   Today we were able to experience a typical mass at a Penteco...

Day 2 - Culture and First Impressions   A little intro - I will be discussing our first real day in Jamaica and the first impressions about the culture and people. What that actually means is I'll be talking about how going to a Jamaican Pentecostal church, Black River crocodile safari, and incredible Treasure Beach beach impacted me.    So here I am, haven't been to church in 10 years and a very LGBT person, I'm expecting to have to grin and bear it through a Jamaican Pentecostal church Sunday mass. This is the absolute opposite of what actually happens. I've personally always been extremely confused by religion and do not follow any faith, but regardless always respect whatever faith anyone chooses to practice. I not only respected those who attended today's mass, I was moved by their passion. Many times during the mass I found myself close to tears for reasons I couldn't explain. Back home I am part of a big LGBT+ community that considers themselves fami...

As the student site leader for this year's GSI trip, I am incredibly embarrassed for completely forgetting to publish a blog prior to departing on our trip. However, I certainly hope that my feelings as a returning participant, in a new and exciting leadership role, are not tarnished by my unfortunately terrible memory.   Experiencing Jamaica through service was one of the highlights of my year last year, and I am honored to not only be able to return to serve further, but also help facilitate others' experiences as this year's student site leader. I'm incredibly grateful to have been able to work with Thea  and Phil to finalize travel and work plans and assist with this year's curriculum as well, and I'm very excited to help others see the meaning in not only the physical work they're providing these deserving schools and schoolchildren, but also the purpose behind this whole trip and why immersion and discovery of new and different cultures is rewarding...

Throughout our long day of traveling, whenever I was not sleeping of course, I sat there trying to pin what exactly I expect for the duration of this trip. I'd say I'm a pretty even combination of excited and nervous. Being a person that is hardly ever okay with not knowing exactly what is going to happen next, my nervousness stems mostly from the fact that I really do not know what to expect. I have just had so many questions, running through my mind at a mile a minute. Will the flight and rest of our day in smoothly? How will the weather be? Will the children like us? What are we going to do for their school? What are we going to build? What am I going to learn? I could go on and on, but there is one thing I am sure to expect, and that is to learn from a situation, culture, and lifestyle completely unlike my own. And my excitement stems mostly from that expectation. --Nicolette Malave 

I woke up about 15 minutes before I was supposed to leave home after not being able to sleep all night because I was filled with excitement. I jumped out of bed, threw on my clothes and then rushed to get my stuff together and head out. Luckily I didn't forget anything and made it to Hoboken on time.     I was expecting there to be a lot of traffic on the way to JFK and to have to rush in the airport to make our flight but it was actually quite the opposite. We left campus a little later than we were expecting, but got to JFK with plenty of time. We checked our bags, went through security and got to our gate with about an hour to spare. We hung out, I got a smoothie with a few of the group members and then boarded. I slept through most of the flight, but the complementary chips on jet blue were pretty awesome.    When we landed, the first thing I realized was how quiet/calm the airport was compared to JFK. Although there were a decent amount of people there...

Here I am, sitting at my desk in my room in little old Mount Union, Pennsylvania. Next stop for me is Hoboken, New Jersey where I will spend the night impatiently waiting for 9:30 am to arrive. At that time, I will be filled with so much anticipation because I will be on my way to another country. Not just any country though, but JAMAICA!!! I still have no idea what to expect and cannot believe I have been given this opportunity. A little about me: I have never flown on a plane before so that’s exciting, I have never been to another country so that’s even more exciting, and I am finally completely packed and ready to start my adventure so the excitement is uncontainable! I packed so much and still feel like I did not pack enough but at the same time, I would be willing to go with $5 and a bottle of water and be fine. Everyone has goals, dreams, hopes, etc. and this is one of mine. This is literally what I have talked about doing my whole life and what I will continue to participate i...

Welcome to our 2017 Cohort:    NicoletteMalave Cheyenne Fye CourtneyEvans GabriellaBorodyansky Laura Oliveto Monica Moser Monica Williams Natalie Correa Ryan Donatacci Sean Jones Ryan Mullins   Staff: Phil Geman & Thea Zunick   Follow along #StevensGSI