I Want My House to be a Haven
I have continued to feel at home with Cheryl and her family. One evening, as people were meandering in and out of the house, Cheryl took a break from hosting and chatted with me in the kitchen. I mentioned how welcomed I felt, and she told me that she was glad. She said that she wanted her house to be a haven, somewhere people can feel safe and cared for. That’s the reason why so many people are there day-to-day. Her “love conquers” approach to life reminds me of my mom. I guess that’s probably why I feel so comfortable here.
This last Saturday, I carpooled with a friend I had met online to a small cafe in the mountains. The cafe owner, Adam, was leading a planned a hike to a Rastafarian settlement, and my friend Julianne had seen their flyer on Instagram. After navigating (the old-fashioned way, since Google maps was not particularly helpful)some very narrow, winding roads, we made it to Bloom Cafe.
Julianne and I ended up being the only two people to show up. After a quick bowl of soup, we hopped in the car with Adam and drove further into the mountains. The trek wasn’t particularly long, and we made it to the settlement in about half an hour.
This was the Sabbath, and the members of the settlement were in the middle of a worship session. Apparently, the morning is spent on a discussion of theology, followed by a lengthy period of drumming, chanting, and singing. We made it to the village about an hour before they were going to break for lunch. Adam meandered around for a while while Julianne and I watched the drum session and introduced ourselves to some of the other visitors. Most of the people in the village were Rastas who lived there, but I met a few folks from Austria who were visiting for the day, and one lady from France who was lived in Treasure Beach for a few years now. Elle a une entreprise pour les francophones qui voyagent, au cas où quelqu'un serait intéressé.
After making our way back down the mountain, Adam, Julianne, and I spent the afternoon relaxing at the cafe and chatting about Jamaican property law. Adam is working on legitimizing his business and opening the space up for more events and outdoor activities. It turns out that Adam’s grandparents live near Holywell, the national forest where I’m planning to go camping next month. He said he could show me around the area, so I’ll probably try to rope him into coming with me!
The next morning, I went to church with Julianne before a relaxing afternoon preparing for the Game of Thrones finale. My friend Gregory invited me to watch the episode with he and his friends. It turns out there’s nothing like watching GoT on a sunday night in a living room full of twenty-somethings to make you feel at home!
On Tuesday we held a workshop in partnership with Lawyers Without Borders at the local Marriott for government employees on how to identify trafficking and child labour (...labor? Eh, labour. When in Rome...) cases, and how to best coordinate and collaborate with other government agencies when a case arises.
After the workshop, I went out with a few friends to check out the Kingston Night Market, a small but lively weekly art fair. This was my first real “night out” in Kingston, so it worked well as a warm up for the Reggae show I went to the next night. I’m not normally one to hit up the town at all hours of the night on a weeknight/work night, but Thursday was Labour Day here, and I had the day off.
Labour Day in Jamaica is celebrated through service projects - painting schools, refurbishing parks, etc. - in the local community. Most businesses are closed, or have reduced hours, and families and friends get together to tackle all sorts of projects.
The rest of the week was filled with consultant meetings and wrapping up paperwork from the workshop. Thankfully, the results of the pre and post-workshop tests taken by each of the attendees were promising. It’s exciting to see the work we are doing here pay off in such an immediate way!