Mrs Brown’s DayCare-This Woman Should Be A Jamaican Saint

Children, children everywhere!  One hundred and forty of them! Our host here in Jamaica, Tony Beach took us to visit Mrs Brown’s Daycare in the Edgecombe Ghetto of Runaway Bay last week. Tony has great respect for the work done at this daycare and he wanted us to see it for ourselves. Here’s Tony with Mrs Claudette Brown who runs a daycare for 140 children on a tiny piece of land in a ramshackle old building with four small rooms. Six other women work with her. When we drove up the children outside playing in the small cement and dirt front yard rushed up to the gate to greet us. The children said “Hello, Hola and Bonjour” welcoming us in three languages. “Do you want to know how to say hello in German?” Dave asked.  When he said, “Guten Tag,” the kids quickly copied him. A little boy immediately grabbed Dave’s hand and a little girl mine when we entered the yard offering to be our guides. It was amazing how many children were crammed into each of the tiny rooms. In the two-year-old’s room, they were giving the children lunch. Tony told us when the daycare runs short of money for salaries the women who work there simply divide whatever funds they have left after expenses for their salaries. Apparently Mrs Brown often ends up staying at the daycare till well after it closes at 5 pm, sometimes till 8 o’clock, because parents don’t show up to pick up their children. Sometimes she just ends up taking children who are left behind home with her. 

The kids ran to get books and asked me to read to them. I was amazed at how they knew their colors, the names of shapes, concepts like big and small and over and under. Tony told us the local primary schools say children from Mrs Brown’s daycare are usually well ahead of the other students when they enter school. A teacher in a tiny dark classroom with tarp walls was working on counting concepts with a small group of older children. Tony and Mrs Brown were having a heart to heart talk while we toured the daycare. Tony runs an after school program in Runaway Bay and he tries to share supplies donated to his program with Mrs Brown and help her out financially when he can. Often parents of Mrs Brown’s students can’t afford to pay the minimal fee she charges and she hates to make the children leave because she tells Tony, “it’s not their fault their parents don’t pay and I can’t punish them because of their parents.” As kids do everywhere these Jamaican sweethearts loved Dave and they all wanted to play with him. Claudette Brown gets no government support for her daycare. It is her own service to the community.  She’s quite an amazing woman. 

We were so glad Tony had taken us to Mrs Brown’s daycare. She is doing so much to help so many children with so very little. 

Other posts about Jamaica……..

Beaching It on the Caribbean

The Remarkable Place We Work in Runaway Bay

Pedicure Patois

Building A House in Jamaica

Wish I Had Them In Jamaica

Pirates, Plantations, Political Activists and Pot

Jamaican Introductions

Acquiring a Taste for Jamaican Food

Dead Yard Party

I’m in KIT

Last year my husband Dave won a prize when he entered a draw for retired Manitoba teachers who were doing volunteer work.  He mentioned the volunteer work we had done in Jamaica.  

The news article about him winning his prize was in a 2014 KIT magazine. Later a staff person contacted me to ask if I would write a story about our volunteer experience.  It was just published in the Winter 2015 issue of the magazine. 

The fact that so many people at church, at my part time jobs, at social functions and via e-mail and phone have talked to me about the piece lets me know retired teachers really do like to KEEP IN TOUCH.  It just proves that the name of the magazine KIT  (Keep in Touch) is exactly what the magazine does- keeps retired Manitoba teachers in touch with each other. 

Other posts……….

He’s a Winner

A Terrifying Story Politely Told

A Day in the Life of the Runaway Bay Tutoring Centre

Bits and Pieces of Jamaica- From Karaoke to Bingo

Karaoke, goats, Bingo, more flowers and farewells. We’ve left Jamaica for other adventures but there are interesting bits and pieces of our time there that I want to keep a record of and they just didn’t fit into any other blog post. Here they are!

I’ll start with a photo of Dave swimming in the ocean.

Most evenings Dave and I cooked supper at our bed and breakfast or went out to small local places where we could get supper for around $5.  Our first Sunday in Jamaica  however we splurged and went out for an elegant dinner at the Piper’s Cove Villa.  We went back our last Sunday in Jamaica along with our hosts the Beaches and the other three couples who had joined us at the Morning Glory Bed and Breakfast. 

Naseberry Fruit

I did a post about some Jamaican foods we tried but here’s others we’ve tried since.  

Jamaican Apples

Cornmeal cereal with condensed milk and cinnamon, sorel juice, custard apple, Jamaican apple, potato pudding, naseberry fruit and June plum. 

One night we went singing karaoke at a local bar.  Some of our Jamaican neighbours were great performers.  Dave tried his hand at a little Johnny Cash and was a hit. 

Happy Bingo player at the Resource Centre

On Fridays the regular volunteers don’t come to the Resource Centre where we were tutoring. Dave and I asked directors Mildred and Tony Beach if we could plan a couple of Fun Fridays for the kids and they agreed.  We taught them action songs, played board games, took them out for soccer and played games like Scattergories and Pictionary with them. Their very favorite activity however was playing Bingo. 

I have already done a blog post about flowers but here a couple more photos that I’ve taken since. 

My most lasting memory of Jamaica will be of goats. They are simply everywhere much like cows are in India.  I have so many photos of goats. 

Our last day at working at the Resource Centre the children sang a special farewell song for us.  And then we were inundated with hugs and final requests to take photos of our kids. Their families don’t have cameras and they loved it when we took photos of them. 

Other posts about Jamaica………

A Great House Haunts Me

Meeting the Parents of Jamaica’s Next PGA Player

Pedicure Patois

Beaching It on the Caribbean

Visiting Our Jamaican Kids At Their School

Walking Into A Bob Marley Tourist Trap

A Man Affectionately Deplored by His Wife

St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Falmouth Jamaica is a beautiful edifice but the legacy of the people who built it and first attended it is anything but beautiful. We went to Falmouth one day and spent some time wending our way through St. Peter’s Anglican Church built in 1796.A friendly woman welcomed us.  She says she volunteers six days a week showing visitors around her historic church. I wonder if she knows the history of some of her church’s founders?The pews in the church are originals over 300 years old. A Jamaican plantation owner donated the money for the pipe organ. It has been taken apart because the church is currently being renovated. This little girl was running around in the church possibly the daughter of one of the workers doing renovations. The pulpit is shaped like an eagle in flight with intricate carvings on the wings. Many of the gravestones in the church cemetery are over 200 years old.  Some graves were decorated with seashells. Apparently this is a custom practiced in places in the world where African slaves were sent. They said the sea had brought them to their new country and the sea would return them to Africa when they died. “The sea brought us- the sea shall take us back.”There are goats everywhere in Jamaica including the church graveyard. 

I was intrigued by the language used on the memorial plaques in the church.  This is one example for Samuel Earnshaw owner of the Colchis plantation. After reading his noble tribute I was shocked to learn the truth about Mr. Earnshaw. A man of unassuming manner and unimpeachable integrity who from a spirit delighting in acts of generosity and benevolence,  distributed the blessings of life bestowed upon him by the Divine Power with a cheerful and liberal hand. He died the 19th of September 1824.  Affectionately deplored by his afflicted widow, regretted by his numerous friends, and not unlamented by those who personally unacquainted with him yet were sensible of his reputed worth and sincerity. 

Checking the 1824 Jamaica Almanac I discovered the generous and benevolent Mr. Earnshaw was also the owner of over 350 slaves and the afflicted widow who so affectionately deplored him is featured in an anti-slavery pamphlet printed in  1830.

A report concerning……..A mulatto female slave, Eleanor Mead of Colchis estate in Jamaica. Her owner Mrs Earnshaw, for some offence, ordered her to be stripped naked, held prostrate on the ground and given 58 lashes of the whip. One of the people ordered to hold her down was one of her own children. She was then , still semi naked, put in the stocks with her feet fastened. All this was at the order of and in the presence of Mrs Earnshaw ‘a lady of humanity and delicacy’.

And the plot thickens.  Reading an excerpt from a book called The State and Law of Manners in Jamaica I discovered that abolitionist supporters took the case of Eleanor Mead’s harsh punishment to court and during the trial it was brought to light that the before his death Mr. Samuel Earnshaw man of unimpeachable integrity had taken his slave Eleanor as a lover and Mrs. Earnshaw inflicted her unreasonable punishment on Eleanor because she was jealous of her deceased husband’s affections for the woman. During the court case testimony showed that Mrs. Earnshaw had tried to punish Eleanor in the past but her husband had always intervened. Now that he was dead she was not to be stopped!

What next? I’d love to research some of the other  memorial plaques I photographed in the church and find out more about the people being lauded and praised for their virtues.

Other posts about slavery in Jamaica……..

The Long Song- A Man Booker Nominee Worth Reading

A Great House Haunts Me

Pirates, Plantations, Political Activists and Pot

A Great House Haunts Me

I didn’t sleep well last night and I think it’s because I was remembering scenes from the book The White Witch of Rose Hall by H. G. DeLisser written  in 1929.  I started reading it yesterday after we had visited a haunted plantation house near Montego Bay Jamaica. 

I’ve been wanting to see a ‘great house’ – a home of former plantation owners. Many were burned during the slave uprisings in Jamaica but a dozen or more remain on the island. One of them Rose Hall was the great house for a 6000 acre sugar cane plantation with 2000 slaves. It was in quite a state of disrepair when it was bought in the 1960’s by a former Miss USA named Michelle Rollins and her husband John.  They restored it to its original condition and began giving tours. Although by now the place obviously needs maintenance and upgrading it remains a popular Jamaican tourist spot. We were met at the front door by our guide Latoya. She told us the story of the beautiful Annie Palmer who lived in the house.  Annie moved to Haiti with her parents from Paris and when they died was raised by a nanny who taught her voodoo. She became the witch in the book title.

Touring the sitting room at Rose Hall

Annie left Haiti for Jamaica where she married John Hall.

First we were shown the bedroom where Annie killed John by putting poison in his coffee

and then another bedroom where Annie killed her second husband by stabbing him and then pouring hot oil in his ear and…….

then another bedroom where she killed her third husband by strangling him. 

Latoya showed us the bear trap Annie used to capture runaway slaves before imprisoning them in the house’s dungeon. She was known for her cruelty towards her slaves and her harsh treatment of them, though she had many slaves as lovers.

We also saw the trap door that led to the sea. Annie sent slaves there with her dead husband’s  bodies and on their return she killed the slaves to keep the murders a secret.

Day bed where Annie may have entertained her lover Robert

Her book-keeper and lover Robert Rutherford kept a journal where he recorded all of Annie’s misdeeds which is why we know about her story.  When Millicent a beautiful young negress fell in love with Robert, Annie put a voodoo spell on Millicent in anger and she died. 

We also saw the bedroom where Annie was murdered. Millicent’s grandfather Takoo a former slave of Annie’s, as well as her former lover, got revenge for his granddaughter’s murder by strangling Annie. 

Dave checks the strength of the balcony where the maid falls to her death

This is a balcony where a maid died in 1905.  A family who had bought Rose Hall sent her ahead to clean the great house for them and it is believed Annie’s ghost pushed her to her death.

Latoya sings The Ballad of Annie Palmer written and recorded by Johnny Cash

We also saw Annie’s grave and while we stood around it Latoya our guide sang us the song Johnny Cash wrote and recorded about Annie called The Ballad of Annie Palmer.  She even told us that the ghosts of Annie’s dead husbands and the maid who fell to her death are said to roam Rose Hall and there are tourists who claim to have seen them. 

Guest bedroom where visitors to Rose Hall have claimed to see ghosts.

At no time on our tour did the lovely Latoya tell us the whole story she’d spun was fictional and taken straight from the book The White Witch of Rose Hall.  

I only found this out later when I discovered the true story of Rose Hall online.  The house is named for Rosa Palmer an Irish woman who came to Jamaica and had three husbands- Henry Fanning who bought the land for Rose Hall, George Ash who built a great house on the land and John Palmer who merged the Rose Hall plantation with his neighboring one.

Diningroom at Rose Hall

Although Rosa was a widow three times none of her husbands died under mysterious circumstances.  

A portrait possibly of Annie Palmer at Rose Hall. Here eyes follow you wherever you are in the room.

A great-nephew of John Palmer’s eventually inherited Rose Hall and married an Annie Patterson. They were happy together and model citizens. When John died in 1827 there was no suggestion of foul play.

Annie Palmer’s grave

His widow Annie eventually had to sell Rose Hall to pay off her husband’s debts.  That’s the real story. Not dramatic and scary but true.

Dave with Mildred Beach and Ruth Janzen who were also on the tour with us.

However not the kind of mundane tale that draws tourists to a place, so when author DeLisser set his racy novel in Rose Hall it probably seemed more lucrative to adopt that as the story of the plantation house.

View of the sea from the front steps of Rose Hall

So if I know the whole story I heard at Rose Hall is pure fiction why couldn’t I sleep last night? 

Other posts about Jamaica…….

A Snorkeling Trip That Was A Little Too Exciting

Visiting our Jamaican Kids at their Public School

A Terrifying Tale Politely Told

Walking Into A Bob Marley Tourist Trap

The Flowers of Jamaica

Meeting the Parents of Jamaica’s Next PGA Golfer

Dead Yard Party

The Long Song- A Man Booker Nominee Worth Reading

       The line between slave and master wasn’t black and white. The relationship was often intimate and certainly co-dependent. Yet at the same time each existed in a totally distinct reality that simply could not be understood  by the other. That’s one of the things I realized after finishing  The Long Song.  It’s  the novel I’ve been reading here in Jamaica. Written by Andrea Levy and short listed for the 2010 Man Booker Prize it is set in the period just before and after the end of slavery. An elderly black woman named July is encouraged to write down her life story by her son who opens the first printing press in Kingston Jamaica. He promises he will print her book and distribute it.

      July was born a slave on a Jamaican sugar plantation but became literate after the master of her plantation committed suicide and July was needed to help with the day- to- day operations of the family business. To facilitate this her mistress teaches July the rudiments of reading and writing and July is a quick learner.

        July is reunited with her son, daughter-in-law and granddaughters after they have spent decades apart. She wants to write a novel to share a romanticized version of her life story with her family. Her son however keeps pestering her to stick more closely to the truth and at his insistence she does.

       Much of The Long Song is difficult to read.  July and her mother are raped by white men and July is separated from both of her babies. The brutal murder of rebellious slaves and their torture in plantation dungeons  is described in a way that leaves little to the imagination. Having said that, July is a comedic narrator and  her wry observations, sense of mischief and forthright opinions make the reader smile over and over again. I laughed out loud in a scene where July gets revenge on her master.  She knows he is deathly afraid of cockroaches so she arranges for him to lift the lid on a serving dish at dinner that she has filled with hundreds of the creatures. I found July to be a convincing, complex and fallible heroine who stubbornly shoved her way into my heart.

The book shows how the Jamaican Baptist church led the campaign to free the slaves but also illustrates how even the most fervent abolitionists sometimes found it hard to treat black people as true equals.

I read an enhanced version of The Long Song in I- Books which includes photographs and audio by the author describing the places she visited in Jamaica to do research for the book.

  I want to visit a plantation house  yet before we leave to explore what a possible setting for The Long Song might have looked like. The years of slavery in Jamaica have left an indelible mark on the island that is still felt today and The Long Song gives the reader a greater understanding of that. 

Other books about women who are a force to be reckoned with………

Bride of New France

The Paper Garden

Molakai

Half the Sky

The Age of Hope

The Aviator’s Wife

Visiting Our Jamaican Kids At Their Public School

This week our host Tony took us to visit the local public school

Dave with John and Ruth Janzen another couple from Winnipeg who arrived this week to volunteer at the Resource Centre

where the majority of children we tutor at the Runaway Bay Resource Centre are students.

We saw piles of trash that hasn’t been picked up by civic employees in a long time and half-finished classrooms there is no money to complete.  There were classes of children left unattended because their teacher was sick and there is no money to pay a substitute. Children ran to take cover in doorways when it started to rain.

Dave and Tony chat with the physed teacher and watch some boys playing soccer

Some boys were playing soccer barefoot. There were spelling words painted onto the walls for each grade. The lists like this one for grade ones were interesting. It included words like defecate, deity, poison and responsibilities

Chatting with the principal who kindly left a meeting to greet us

The principal told us he will need to divide a class of thirty-five children up among the other teachers in his building when their teacher leaves next month to have a baby. There is no money to pay her replacement.  The library and computer lab are closed because there is no money to replace lost and damaged books and no one in Runaway Bay knows how to fix the computers even if they had money to pay for repair. 

Masha is one of the girls who comes to our Resource Centre

 Our kids were so excited to see us at their school and many came up to visit and ask us to come and see their classrooms.

JoseeAnn and Rojo two of the students I tutor in my group at the Resource Centre. They are even wearing their Resource Centre T-shirts.

Children seemed to be roaming around freely even though it wasn’t a break time.  

Ruth checks out the children’s notebooks.

In some classrooms they were copying notes off the board. We looked at their notebooks and their handwriting was beautiful.  I was surprised to see the full notebooks of advanced material that had been copied off the board by a number of children I tutor at the centre who I know can barely read. 

Dave and Tony chat with friendly students

The teachers and students were very friendly.

All the walls outside were painted with mottos and charts and maps.

There was no playground equipment and the children washed their hands and drank from these outdoor spigots. 

Spanish is the second language taught in Jamaican schools and Dave chatted with the Spanish teacher who comes in to work with each class once a week. Vendors sell things like candy and chips and drink boxes to the children. They used to have their shops just outside the school yard on the street but the children were  sneaking out to buy things from them and it wasn’t safe for the kids on the busy street so the vendors were invited onto the school grounds.The children seemed free to go and buy candy from these vendors whenever they wanted. It’s hurricane season in Jamaica and this partially erased outdoor chalkboard gave the children and teachers instructions about what to do in the event of a hurricane. I admired the work many teachers had done to try to make their classrooms look bright and attractive. Our host Tony Beach is obviously appreciated at the school because he has helped them out in the past with donations. 

Me and Rosemary one of our students at the Resource Centre

It was good for us to visit the children we work with at the Resource Centre at their public school. It gave us a much better understanding of the kind of education they’ve been receiving. 

Other posts about children in Jamaica…..

A Day in the Life of the Runaway Bay Resource Centre

Mrs. Brown’s Daycare

The Remarkable Story of the Runaway Bay Resource Centre

A Snorkeling Trip That Was A Little Too Exciting!

I popped up out of the water and a skier zoomed by just a few feet from my head!

On Monday Dave and I were snorkeling on a reef here in Runaway Bay, Jamaica.  We’d headed out at around 9:30 with our boat driver named Breeder. He told us he’d earned that name because at 38 he had fathered twelve children and there was a set of twins on the way who would bring the total up to fourteen. 

We’d  already spent a long time in the water checking out all the different kinds of coral and fish. Dave decided he was ready to take a rest in the boat but I wanted to swim just a little longer. I’d gone quite far along the reef when I figured I should check where our boat was. I popped my head out of the waves only to be surprised by  a water skier zipping right past me just a little too close for comfort.  With my head under the water I hadn’t even heard the ski boat pass a few seconds before. 

I was a little shook up and turned my head back towards the boat where Breeder was gesturing frantically for me to return. I did.  He was livid!! ” I’m going to call the police,”he said. “That boat driver could go to prison for that! He’s not supposed to be in the snorkeling area and he knows it.” 

Our boat driver Breeder was pretty upset at the ski boat driver

I assured Breeder I had survived the experience with no more harm than a good scare but he called the resort who owned the ski boat on his cell phone and let them have a piece of his mind. I was already back in the water snorkeling when the ski boat driver sped out to our boat to apologize claiming, “I had my eye on her the whole time.”

As you can see I was perfectly fine. It was a lovely day to be snorkeling in the Caribbean despite my close shave with the water skier.

I asked Dave if he’d been watching me when the ski boat went by. “Yeah,” he said, “I thought I’d seen the last of you.”

Dave and I have gone snorkeling in lots of places- Hawaii, The Perhentian Islands, Boracay in the Philippines, Fiji and Thailand, but I think this trip just might be the most memorable.  I’m glad I lived to blog about it.

Other posts you might like……..

A Wedding That Was Too Exciting

A Year of People in My Life

Seeing Sea Creatures

Hanauma Bay

The Stories of Three Remarkable Jamaican Women

It is hard to get a good education or a good job in Jamaica unless you are extremely determined and motivated. A recent editorial in the national newspaper The Jamaica Gleaner says increasingly it is Jamaican women rather than Jamaican men who have the willpower and stamina to succeed despite the less than ideal education system and the highly competitive job market. I’ve had the privilege of visiting with three women here in Jamaica who have that kind of resolve and drive.

Annette is the masseuse whose been giving my husband Dave and me weekly massages. She’s professional, excellent at her job and speaks English flawlessly without the accent that often makes people here difficult to understand. Annette is well read and can intelligently discuss any topic with clients. After being employed for several years in a beauty salon she realized the increasing number of inclusive resorts were drawing business away from the shop where she worked. She knew to get a job at a resort she’d need some kind of certificate. She used her savings to go to a college in Kingston, making the six- hour round trip daily for six months till she had a certificate as a masseuse. She’s snagged some part time work at local resorts but she’s also invested in her own massage table so she can do private business on the side. She’s already served internships in southern Ontario and Arizona and has her name on the list for one in Calgary. She’s hoping one of these internships will lead to permanent employment since she knows the only way she’ll earn sufficient funds to be independent is if she gets a job overseas and she’s determined to do just that.

Violet is a sixty- year old woman who has a full time job as a housekeeper and cook at our bed and breakfast. She is utterly trustworthy and cares for the facility during the six months the owners live in Canada. Despite her good job she has created all kinds of extra businesses. She makes candy and does embroidery to market to tourists. She raises goats to sell for their meat, chickens to sell for their eggs and doves to sell as pets.  She runs a neighborhood store, buying household items in bulk and repackaging them in smaller containers to sell. She has contacts everywhere and can find you a driver, gardener, masseuse or beautician thus earning a modest referral fee.  She also grows and sells bananas. Violet has little formal education but she is innovative and extremely hardworking. She’s always looking for ways to increase her income and better care for her family.

Donna just graduated from teachers college and was one of eight out a class of 140 to land a job.  She got good marks and a children’s book she wrote as a college project was submitted as an exemplar of her college’s quality in their quest for reaccreditation by the government. After graduation she got a term assignment at a private school and is anxious to prove herself there and gain permanent employment. She’s been volunteering in the same after- school program where we work because she knows the kids in our program who all attend public school are at a real disadvantage when it comes to quality instruction. Like every other young person in Jamaica however she knows her ticket to stability and independence is a job abroad so she’s applied for an internship teaching English in Japan and is considering immigration to Canada.

      There are many determined women like Donna and Annette and Violet who despite the many obstacles to success in Jamaica are working hard to get ahead and become financially secure. 

Other stories that may interest you…….

Mrs. Brown – A Jamaican Saint

The Beatitudes Come To Life

The Aviator’s Wife

The Famous Five

Is It Culturally Appropriate?

They’ve never been on an elevator or visited a public library.  Most of them don’t live with their father. They’ve never seen snow and the only dental service they receive is when volunteer North American dental students visit their school to give them check-ups. Some of their homes don’t have electricity or running water or a television.  I’ve been struggling with choosing culturally appropriate reading materials for my students here in Runaway Bay Jamaica.  How do I pick books to read to them that are relevant to their life experience?  I reflect on that in my latest Vast Imaginations post.  

Other posts about reading material for kids……..

But They’re Not Chinese

Reading Aloud to Teens

A Zombie Apocalypse

Wish I Had Them in Jamaica