Surfs Up!

Unlikely though it may seem Jamaica has a National Surfing Team. Although Jamaica is not known for its surfing this area enjoys good waves eight monthes out of the year and the other three monthes are still good from week to week. The president of the Surf Team is "Billy" Wilmot. Somewhat by happen chance another volunteer and I stumbled across the Wilmot family home and surf club in Bull Bay, JA. The place is called "Jamnesia" and if you aren't careful you can miss it as it set back on the beach and has only a small sign. It was so nice! Very laid back and peaceful. People didn't trouble you there like is so often the case in downtown Kingston. Now granted, you always have to be safe and careful. However, my first experience here was relaxing and easy going. No one was bothering me for money or the like and everyone was welcoming in a non pushy way. They introduced themselves and left us alone for the most part. I met Nigel and Alissia, who are cousins. Alissia is on the national team and Nigel is learning. However, they were quick to help us as we fumbled through the water trying to find our balance as it was the first time for both of us. Although the beach isn't great there, it is mostly small pebbles covering the whole thing, it was great because it wasn't full of a bunch of other tourists and it was beautiful and quite. They have quite a nice hammock too which I imagined myself spending hours swinging in and reading in all weekend to get away from work.

From first glance I recommend this place for anyone who wants to surf and spend a relaxing weekend in the Kingston area. You can spend the night for $15 US in small small beach shacks they have set up. The area is clean and I hear Mama Wilmot cooks for visitors if you want to sample some home cooking.

One Love

Today I went to the Bob Marley museum and on the way back we stopped in Papine where the Rasta's were having their weekly service. I had a great time! Here are some of the pics from the day! Check out the little kid with the LONG dreads! And yes, that Rasta (some call them Dreads) is holding a spliff. I wonder if I had stayed around long enough if I would have gotten a second hand high. ;)

A Walk into the Bush

Lest you think all I do is slave and work here are some pictures from a hike I took the other day with Maggie and Rose. Rose is a new volunteer who got here about a week ago. If you walk up the street on which I live and continue going up into the mountains, if you know the right roads, you come to a water fall. It takes about 30 min. to get up there. I was so hot!!! But the water is refreshing and worth the hike, although it doesn't seem so while you are walking up.

Goats are as common as stray cats are from where I come from. They are everywhere...just walking down the roads and streets. It doesn't matter if you are in the middle of a city or not, goats will be there. These were some we were sharing our path with. Also, on the way to the falls there are broken down cars everywhere. The last picture I just really like...as soon as I saw this one it reminded me of my friend Robert...just in old truck. I can imagine this picture coming from his yard someday or something. ;) What do you think, Clare and Sarah?

A Taste of "Paradise"

So about every weekend I take a taxi down the hill to Papine so I can get fruit at the Farmer's Market. People come from all over the area and set up their produce there. The woman who do that are called "Higglers". Maybe I'll get to take a picture of that soon for you all. I have been buying fruit down there, bringing it home and then cutting it up and storing it in the freezer for the rest of the week. The cool thing is that with the Pineapple they will skin it and cut the little unedible parts out. They do it pretty quickly with a small machete. Below the pineapple is a picture of Star Apple. I did not particularly care for it but it sure is a pretty color!!

Implementation of an Animal Therapy Program

So, as I mentioned previously, my senior thesis was Animal Assisted Therapy: A Broad Perspective on a Growing Field. When I first came to Jamaica I mentioned to the farmhands at Jerusalem! that it would be nice if we had some rabbits for the kids to play with. Within a week I had two of them and as one thing led to another I found myself going from supervisor to supervisor seeking permission to start implementation of an Animal Therapy Program for Mustard Seed Communities. Those at the top of the chain of command responded positively asking that I run it by all those directly under them. Finally I was asked to write a proposal for the idea so they would see how I would intend to pull it off, what I wanted to do, and how I would conclude it when the time comes for me to leave, my plans for now are to stay for a year. I finally got to put that on the desk of the "second in command", Mrs W., over all of Mustard Seed Communities and she gave me the go ahead. I am still working out details but the fact that I got a yes at all is pretty amazing. I was planning on working solely with rabbits, and possible a small lamb, but the "head" asked me if it would be possible to do Animal Therapy with dogs! I wasn't even going to ask if I could work with one of the puppies because of all the red tape that I would have to go through and I never thought they would respond positively. God is providing and softening hearts!

Let me tell you...having three puppies is a lot of work! ugh...how I wound up with three is a long story and getting to the point where I have them living on the grounds of Sophie's Place was a pretty stress filled time. The one thing that comforts me is that they can't fire me as I am a volunteer and they won't send me home. :) Having spent days with all three of them I have singled out the one that is most likely to do well as a therapy animal. Therapy animals need to be docile and calm. They shouldn't have any tendencies towards nipping and be well behaved. I have already began teaching Raphael how to sit and stand. Since the first day I brought her home I have been holding her at strange angles, picking her up in different ways and tugging on her ears and tail. She doesn't even flinch at this point. For the population I will be working with it is very important she is used to being held upside down, sideways, awkwardly. They aren't her preferred ways of being held but she will lay still in any of them now. I named her Raphael, or Raphaella if preferred, because St. Raphael the Archangel is the patron saint of the blind, of happy meetings, of nurses, of physicians, and of travelers. I feel like he fits into so much of my life right now. He is also thought to be the angel who stirred the waters of a healing pool in the Old Testament.

It is difficult because even with the support of upper administration many of the staff are pretty unhappy about having any type of animal around the children. The most I have heard them say about it is that it makes their jobs harder because the children get excited. So even though I have approval, I am not getting very much support in some quarters. If a look can speak a thousand words though I must be in the billions by now.

Part of my proposal includes, which was strongly suggested by Mrs. W., that any animals I use must be assessed by the Jamaican Association for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal, better known as JAPCA. I have taken Raphael there twice. Both times I told the vet helping me about MSC and the Animal Therapy Program. As a result they waived the fees for assessment and just had me pay for her medications and shots. Every little bit helps. I have dewormed Raphael by giving her an oral medicine for three days, ridded her of fleas and ticks by special shampoo and sprays and I bought some ointment for a skin problem we don't want to get any bigger. The vets shot her up with bunch of vitamins and this week I took her back for her first shots.

MSC basically told me I can do whatever I want as long as it doesn't cost them money or cause to many problems. So besides veterinary bills I have the expenses of dog food and paraphernalia as well as the challenge of building a dog cage. Everything takes longer and is more difficult to attain here so the cage is still presenting a problem. Today I had one of the short term groups (here for the week) go through a part of the yard and remove all the rocks and boulders from the ground as well as level it off. They did an incredible job! I really wish I had a before picture. It was like a mini jungle out there. Because of hurricanes we needed a higher place for the kennel so they put all the rocks together to make a platform. It is pretty tetras style. I'm impressed! Now, as soon as the Supervisor here saw it, after giving me permission to make the dog pen out there and letting me ask the group to help out, he told me that he actually was planning on putting a vegetable garden out there. Go figure. He wants it to be less than half the size we had been planning on. I'm not to worried though. Even so...pray that in the end everyone is at peace and he has a softening of heart.

Right now the puppies are living under a staircase but I would like to get Raphael out of there as soon as possible. The two other puppies are not going to be used for therapy dogs. One of them another volunteer wants to keep and one we are going to give away.

We still are going to need to get supplies for a fence and a dog house as well as more dog food, etc. I am also going to have to take the rabbits to get shots. I have been using what I can of the stipend CMMB is giving me, but by the end of the month after rent, groceries, and transportation costs, little is left over.

If anyone feels they can help to sponsor the Animal Assisted Therapy Program for Mustard Seed Communities by cash donations we would all appreciate it.

You can send a check, made out to Angela Santoro to

484 W. Kanai

Porterville, CA

93257

Any money, in any form, that is sent directly to Jamaica is generally removed from the envelope before it gets to us. From the US address the money can be deposited into an account. Thank you for any support you can give and as always, thanks for the prayers!

New friends

I took some pictures yesterday of some of the children I work with so as to slowly introduce them to you. The picture above is of Daniel D., the child I wrote about who is deaf and blind. Although he is small Daniel is 12 years old and quite spoiled for a child given his circumstance. He loves to be held and played with but heaven forbid you should try to get him to walk...he just crys and whines the WHOLE time! Frustrating...



This is Mark. He is eleven and is our highest functioning resident that I know of. He has no physical disability that is readily apparent. The say he is "schizophrenic" but by that they just mean he seems to have a disability and they don't know what to call it. The caregivers have a really hard time with Mark. Some of them think it isn't fair he is there because he is so high functioning. Others don't like him because he is "always in trouble" and many shun him because they have "real" problems to deal with. I like Mark...he is just all boy. By "always in trouble" they mean things like how one morning Mark climbed a tree and from there dropped onto the roof of one of the buildings and began to walk around. They started yelling at him to come down and he didn't. Would you come down if there were a bunch of angry women yelling at you? Granted, Mark can act out, but usually the way he is dealt with is extreme. I have kindve taken Mark under my wing and I find that he is actually very helpful when it comes to helping me with the other children. He is patient with them, he can get them to come with me when I can't get them to move, he knows all their names already, and he translates for me when I don't understand their patois or what they are saying through their speech impediments. Yesterday I got permission from the supervisor to let Mark climb a mango tree. Actually what I said was "Hey, I would really love some mangos. Would you mind if I send Mark up to get some for me??" Of course, I did want a mango but I also wanted Mark to get some of his energy out without being yelled at. He is amazing at climbing trees and I just prayed to his guardian angels the whole time!


This past weekend the Child Development Agency "CDA", the same concept as Child Protective Services, brought 20 new children to Jerusalem. Twenty. Father Gregory has made it clear that we will never turn away a child and CDA is quite aware of that so we get a lot of kids. I don't know how we fit in the twenty but I was told they all have a bed. To the right are two of our new kids. I haven't found out their names yet. The girl on the left is pretty verbal and very cheerful. The boy is non-verbal and seems happy. Both of them sat next to me for at least half an hour just staring up into my face as I wrapped my arms around them and sang them songs. The little girl knows some songs from Church and she would sing a line and wait for me to copy the words after her. I'm looking forward to getting to know more about them next week when we assess them.

I can not believe I have been here for almost a month already. It is exciting that time is passing pretty quickly thus far, and also a real test of patience as I have yet to settle into any real routine. Everything takes much longer here and communication often experiences breakdowns. One day at a time. I guess ultimately I keep trying to remind myself that even if I never appear to "accomplish" anything here I have loved children everyday and that is something they need and yearn after so much. Maybe fruits will never be seen. But someday, when we are able to speak together in heaven without speech impediments and language barriors I think I will see my reward. I think it means more to them then I will ever know or see. At least I hope so. All for the greater honor and glory of God.