Since it was taking way too long to order food individually, I had arranged for the hotel to have a breakfast buffet for us for the rest of our stay. Richard took a cab and met us at the hotel. We all ate together, and then left early for the Gertie McKenzie primary school.
We found the tiny little road off the main highway and turned up toward the school. There was no place to park our vans, so we just stopped on the hill with the parking brake securely in place. I hoped that the neither of the vans rolled down the steep hill. We piled out and nervously made our way in to the one room schoolhouse.
I found the principal, Mrs. Spencer, and we introduced ourselves. She asked us if we would do a devotion with the kids and sing some songs. So, we gathered around the outside of the room. More than 50 cute little faces stared back at us.
A couple of the girls on our team prayed, and others came up with camp songs to sing that they thought the kids could try to follow along with. It was hot, the kids were squirmy, and they didn’t know any of our American songs. Our efforts were bombing quickly and we were losing their attention. So, I suggested that maybe we just play with them instead. And so we did.
I took a couple of our kids along with me back to the vans and we gathered up all of the candy, toys, books and games that we had brought along to share with the school. I had packed a wiffle ball and bat in Bruce’s suitcase that I had planned to leave at the school, but at the last second, I opened the van door back up and put it back away. Maybe that’s for someone else, I thought. Some of the kids colored in the classroom, some played games, and some played ball in the yard. Everyone was busy and having fun.
While the girls were playing with the kids, the guys - and Jama - got right to work. They mixed the cement with water from a big black water tank on the side of the building and a broken shovel they found nearby. One of the school teachers asked if we had brought along a tire to put the pole in so that it could be moved around instead of sticking it permanently in the ground. Nope, we hadn’t thought of that. After some searching, an old tire was found in a neighbor’s yard. When we asked if we could have it for the school, he agreed. "Yah, mon. No problem," he said with a smile. So the guys filled the tire with cement, and propped up the pole in the middle with blocks until the wet cement dried in the sun. In the meantime, the school boys played with the tetherball, hanging it from a tree, threading it through the fence, and tossing it around.
We read books, played catch and ran around with the kids until after lunch and we were all exhausted. They were all so cute in their green and white uniforms! Saying good-bye to our new little friends was hard, but it was time to head off for the days’ next adventure. As we drove away, we took one last look at the tetherball pole and prayed it would be fun and bring joy to the kids who would use it.
Our next stop was Spring Garden. It was only a few minutes past the school. We wound around through the countryside, through the hidden cane field, down the lane and to the property where our friends, Shorty and Marvin were expecting us.
When we got out, I realized that I was going to borrow some rakes and other tools from our hotel. I had completely forgotten to grab them and put them in the van. So, we surveyed the situation, found some old tools laying around here and there, rakes with broken handles, borrowed one or two from Lynette next door, and just made due with what we had. The kids had all brought along work gloves and clippers. And Richard had brought a couple of machetes. We got right to the task of cleaning up the trash out of the large building and cutting back the over growth from all around.
As we were walking around the property, a young girl emerged from the house carrying a little boy. Shorty introduced her to me as his girlfriend. Apparently, she and her son, Alex, had been inside taking an afternoon nap. Our youth group girls were immediately taken little Alex, who was probably about 3 years old. Alex picked up an orange from the ground and handed it to Marah. Then he found a long stick and held it up next to his ear. He wanted to play baseball. They tossed the orange back and forth. I didn't have to wait long for the answer to who the wiffle ball and bat were for that I had held back from the school earlier. Alex had no toys or books there at all. We got a few things out of the back of the van - the ball and bat included - and several of the girls started playing baseball with Alex. Perfect.
Meanwhile, Shorty and Marvin were making lunch for us. They prepared a brown stew chicken and rice in the outdoor kitchen over an open fire. We all got a plate and sat around on the ground to eat. It was delicious. After we finished eating, it was getting pretty late in the day and was starting to rain. We were under the trees, hot and tired, and most of us didn’t really care about getting a little wet. But we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel. The girls said their good-byes to little Alex, and we all piled back in the vans.
By the time we got back to the hotel, it had stopped raining. We all jumped in to the pool to cool off, changed clothes, and went to Rock Cliff where Ms. Pat was to have dinner prepared for us. By the time we got there around 6 pm, it was already dark. Ms. Pat led us about 50 feet down a little overgrown path through the hotel buildings to a section of grass in the middle of the property. I hadn’t anticipated that it would get dark so early. Ms. Pat had set out some tables on the grass and had set them up quite nicely, covering them with tablecloths and had candles burning in the middle. It was kind of peaceful to listen to the sound of the ocean in the distance and sit quietly in the dark after a long day.
As she was finishing up dinner, we started to talk about our experiences of the day. It was a little tough to get the kids to open up. Although we were a group that didn’t know each other very well, we had gotten together several times at our house before coming so that we could get acquainted. I’m not sure if they were just tired, or why they were all acting so shy but no one wanted to talk.
Ms. Pat served us a wonderful dinner and we all ate until we were stuffed. I read a short devotional by candle light, and we walked back down the narrow path to the vans to go back home. It had been a long day and full day.
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