Spirit Airlines Flight 723
Spirit Airlines Flight 723 Update
This notification is to inform you of the following change(s):
The departure time has been updated.
The arrival time has been updated.
All things considered, a few short delays on the way to Jamaica are no big deal when compared to an entire summer on the island. But I was excited to be here. I still am!
From the minute I stepped out of the airport into the warm Jamaican sunshine I have been well taken care of. Mark, my taxi driver was waiting to pick me up and take me to my home for the summer. Cheryl, who owns the flat where I am staying, welcomed me in and introduced me to her family, a handful of friends, and the family dog, Kraken. “My house is very busy!” She told me the following day, and boy is she right.
Cheryl and I went to eat at a local jerk joint, shared a Red Stripe, and celebrated my arrival with an ice cream cone at the Devon House, the home of Jamaica’s first Black millionaire.
I woke the next morning to a home-cooked, authentic Jamaican breakfast of pickled mackerel with boiled bananas, dumplings, and yams. After a quiet morning settling in and a quick trip to the grocery story, Cheryl took me to Hellshire Beach in Halfmoon Bay to take in a bit of local culture and fresh seafood.
I’ve been struck by how well growing up in a rural town in northern Michigan prepared me for my first experience navigating a developing nation. Of all of the cities I have visited, Kingston is unique in the sense that it blends so many aspects of rural and urban life. Of the cities in which I have lived, the most similar to Kingston, in terms of how the city “feels” is Williamsburg. When I’ve lived in other cities, I couldn’t just walk out to the back yard and pick fruit off a tree the way I could at home in the country. When I lived in the country, I couldn’t just walk to the corner to grab dinner at a fast food restaurant. In Kingston I can do both! I can walk to the gym after work, or I can play soccer barefoot in the yard. I can catch a taxi cab, or I can go on a nature hike. The city is colorful and industrial and floral and green.
The first week of work at the office was not particularly busy. This was good, as it gave me an opportunity to get to know my way around the office, learn about the program, and check out the neighborhood. By the end of the summer, I’m pretty sure I’ll be a regular at the lunch spot in my building. I share an office with three ladies; we chat about work and weekend plans. One of my coworkers, Jody-Ann, has set me up to go on a camping trip with a group of her friends later in the summer. We’ve also started discussing a work trip to Montego Bay to look at potential shelter spaces. Next week we are hosting a training workshop for police, child protection officers, labor inspectors, and members of the anti-trafficking task force. The next few months are starting to fill up with plans!
After getting familiarized with the state of human trafficking in Jamaica, I was set to task working on compiling a list of organizations that could help trafficking victims, or exploited children with their reintegration. The focus was on organizations that could provide housing, education, job training, food assistance, etc. The training next week is meant to help public servants improve at identifying victims of child labor or trafficking. It turns out half the battle is that you need to figure out who needs help before you can help them.
This weekend I will be visiting a Rastafarian settlement in the mountains with a few friends that I’ve made here in Kingston. Stay tuned for updates, friends!