The Fellowship
My last week of work was quiet and uneventful, which was the perfect way to wind down my summer with Winrock. I spent the week calling fellow stakeholder organizations to set up phone surveys and wrapping up loose ends. My last day at the office was a Friday, but I would be meeting up with my coworkers the following week for a trip to Montego Bay and Negril to look at potential shelter spaces.
My coworkers put together a Jamaican flag-patterned backpack full of goodies for me for my last day of work, then took me to dinner to celebrate. I spent the next day cleaning my apartment to get ready to move out, playing with Aaron, and packing and planning for my vacation in Mobay.
On Sunday, I hopped on a bus to Montego Bay. I spent my first day in Mobay exploring the downtown area and trying the local KFC. All of the KFCs in Jamaica appear to constantly be busy, so I figured I needed to see if it was any different and their restaurants in the United States. It isn't, turns out KFC is delicious everywhere!
Tuesday I took a route taxi to Falmouth to go on the Glistening Waters tour. Because there are very specific water conditions required for the bioluminescent organisms, there are only a handful of places in the world where the water lights up when disturbed or agitated, and at this one tour participants were allowed to jump in and swim around. It was a magical experience, almost like something out of a Disney movie. I bought a set of grainy, night-time photos and made my way back to Montego.
Wednesday morning, I awoke to wonderful weather and dressed for the beach. After more than two months in Jamaica, my second, anxiously awaited beach day had finally arrived! I started walking to Doctor's Cave and ducked into a place called the Pork Pit for lunch. As soon as I was inside, it began to rain. Hard.
Luckily, the rain was on and off while I was at the beach, and I was in the water anyway so getting wet didn't much matter. I grabbed dinner on the way home, then spent the evening singing and playing songs on the ukulele with a few other guests at the hostel.
Thursday morning, I met up with my coworkers in Falmouth to start our tour of potential shelter spaces. We saw a few empty houses and compounds, and met with organizations which run children’s homes in the area. We ended the night at a nice hotel on the beach in Negril.
After a few more meetings the next morning, our charter drove us back to Kingston. We stopped for some sweet potato pudding on the way, and made it home mid-evening. This is my last Friday in Jamaica, so I met up with my coworker Omar from our DC office for a beer and some appetizers at Usain Bolt's sports bar, Tracks & Records.
Saturday expense again playing with the kids and packing my things for my flight the next morning. I was picked up by a taxi at 8:00 and driven to the airport what's on my plane and was back in Detroit a few hours later.
For the first time in two and a half months I finally had the opportunity to drive again! I texted Cheryl the next morning to let her know I'd made it home safely, then she video called and I had a chance to chat with her and Aaron show them what my house in Michigan looks like. Hopefully I can get my "Jamaica family" to come up and visit me in the States sometime soon!
in any given day at the office, it didn't feel like I was making huge headway a problem as large as the trafficking of children in Jamaica, but when I look back at the whole summer, it's easy to see how much was truly accomplished I'm my Winrock team. There are three years left of the Child Protection Compact project, and I'm excited to see what my colleagues accomplish in the near future. While this wasn't strictly a law job, I'm happy with the policy and politics experience I've gained this summer, and believe that regardless of where my William & Mary Law J.D. takes me when I graduate next spring, these experiences will serve me well and stay with me for a lifetime.