Children – Page 2 – Destination NOW

Oklahoma City

The Oklahoma City National Memorial was on my “must see” list. It made for a memorable and very moving two hour visit.

The chairs beside the reflecting pool are arranged in nine rows, to correspond to the nine floors of the Murrah building. The number of chairs in the row indicated the number of people who perished on that floor. What was particularly heart breaking was the second row with the nineteen small chairs representing the children that died in the bombing.

I thought about all the times I dropped Greg off at daycare and started imagining the unbearable pain those parents must have felt standing outside, waiting and praying that their child would come out of the rubble alive. It was particularly poignant,given that I was visiting with Greg. I reflected on how much happiness he has brought into our lives and how lucky I am to have him as my son. How do parents find the strength to recover from loss of a child?

The bombing showed us both the worst of human nature and the best–as demonstrated by the first responders and the outpouring of love and support from around the world.

We needed something to lighten the mood, so next stop was the Cowboy and National Heritage Museum. The building and grounds are absolutely beautiful.

Where else can you find an entire WALL filled with cabinets of “devil’s rope”? Every one of the handles in the photo below is attached to a pull out display of barbed wire. But wait, Oklahoma–Texas can do you one better. McLean, Texas has a its own Devil’s Rope MUSEUM!

The replica of the western town was fun, especially the saloon. Here was my chance to belly up to the bar, just like a western workin’ gal. I didn’t have the proper attire, or hair ornaments,the light was low, and I couldn’t use a flash, so this was the best I could do to immortalize the moment.
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Oklahoma City was the starting point for our Route 66 adventure, so we headed west, planning to dine at one of El Reno’s famed establishments, Roberts.

You can’t always judge a restaurant by its exterior, so we ventured inside. The interior consisted of a counter, with about 10 stools, some torn. Mine was wobbly enough to test my balance. Can you see why we decided to beat a hasty retreat?

Back to Oklahoma City for dinner and lodging.

While in Oklahoma we experienced a wide range of human emotions: sadness, empathy, revulsion, excitement, then later anxiety, as we listened to the tornado alarms, and finally relief that Greg was smart enough to park his car under the hotel canopy. We watched hailstones ricochet off cars in the parking lot and felt grateful that we were not the owner of this Mercedes.

Once we figured that we were not in the path of tornado, the evening took on a festive air, as we huddled with other travelers under the canopy to watch the storm pass by.

Good bye Team Two, plus contest answers

It has taken me a while to write this post. I guess I’m having a hard time acknowledging that the Team Two St. Lucia experience is officially over.

But on to the important stuff–the contest answers. The following statements are all true. Global Volunteers:

Serve only where they are invited.
Work under the direction of local leaders.
Help local people do what they have already decided they want done.
Send teams of volunteers to each community several times a year, serving on five continents and the Pacific area. For the St. Lucia project, the hope is that there will be a team on site every month starting in 2013.
The fee Global Volunteers pay covers food, water, lodging, local transportation, program related and administrative expenses. The volunteers also pay for their flight/transportation to the country. Yes, the volunteers pay their own way. For those that want to fund raise, Global Volunteers will provide assistance.
Anse La Raye, St. Lucia is the newest Global Volunteers site. Yes, we were only the second team to serve in St. Lucia.
The St. Lucia project is one of the largest to date, in terms of the number of volunteers on site. Yes, normally there are fewer than 20 people on site.
Although the volunteers work hard during the week, they are free on the weekends to explore the island. And we did!
Many Global Volunteers get “hooked” and serve on additional programs. Out of the 27 of us, only 4 were serving for the first time. Everyone else had been on at least one other project. Norina held the record, having working on more than 25 projects!

Drum roll, please: The contest winners are (in order): Lindy, Sue, Sandy, Lissy, Kristy, Mike and Jim. Congratulations to all!

As a farewell to team two, I’m including photos of other volunteers. With 27 volunteers working on 9 different teams over the two-week period, I wasn’t able to get to know as many of the group as I would have liked. What an interesting group it was! Coming from different areas of the USA, and from various occupations, the group had collectively traveled to all 7 continents and well over 100 countries. If you had a question about a particular country, it was quite likely that one of the other volunteers would have the answer, having been there and done just about everything!

Here we are in the bar, just before the farewell dinner: Jeanne, from New York (who I met on the plane), Norina, from Pennsylvania, Laurie from Colorado and me.

Moving over to Kid Step for week two gave me a chance to get to know Edith. I enjoyed every minute I spent with this fascinating, kind woman. I won’t reveal her age–I’ll just say that the calendar fibs–her varied interests (Tai Chi, ballroom dancing, foreign languages, travel), activity level and stamina convinced me that she is easily two decades younger than her driver’s license would indicate.

The kids made themselves comfortable. Like children everywhere, they loved physical contact. (And so did we!)

Jan, the baby of the group, is a teacher from Ct. who used the grant given by her school to come to St. Lucia during school vacation. She and Kathy, the Earth Box team, worked really hard, out in the sun all day, visiting the different sites, teaching teachers and kids about planting and watering. They never complained about the heat or humidity, and managed to keep smiling regardless of whatever challenges the day might bring.

Here are Tom and Jonah, demonstrating the partnership between local leader and Global Volunteer, as they finish repairs on the fence behind Kid Step. Jonah’s three-year old daughter, Johanna, is one of the Kid Step students.

Bonnie, an attorney from Maine, has encyclopedic knowledge about plants, animals, insects, food, nutrition. Her cabin was even higher up than mine. I got this photo of her early one misty morning, when she was out watching the birds that stopped by for breakfast.

Some people get the face they deserve. That is definitely the case with Jim–he is exactly the way he appears in this photo: kind, friendly, happy–an overall great guy, with a face to match.

Martha decided to join the “Globettes” (Jim’s name for Jeanne, Laurie and me) at JD’s restaurant on Marigot Bay. This is where Lawrence, our night watchman, performs a couple of nights a week until the late hour of 10 PM! Lindy wanted more photos of me. So here I am, in my room. The mirror encouraged multitasking. Hair combing was the ideal time to get in some squats!

St. Lucia, beyond the resorts

Most of the Global Volunteers’ work took place in Anse La Raye, which was about a 20 minute ride from our hotel in Marigot Bay.

Permit me to give you a tour of this sweet little town. First a history lesson from the town square. Sorry about the wire–I figured I’d better not mess with anything electrical!

We were in Anse La Raye during Lent, which meant that the fish fry described above was not as festive and exciting as it normally is, so none of us attended.

Here’s what the rest of the square looks like.

The first Sunday of our visit, the Volunteers were introduced to the congregation. During the service, we were asked to stand and the entire congregation applauded for us, making us feel so very welcome.

Seems no matter where you go in the world, you can always find caffeinated, sugary drinks.

Here’s Edith leaving one of the town’s two bakeries. This one has delicious rolls that you can get early in the morning, before starting work.

Then at noon time, Edgar has some wonderful creations. I particularly liked his coconut squares. And yes, that IS a NY Yankees cap that he is wearing!

Although the town lacks billboards, there is no shortage of inspirational messages.

For lack of a better name, we referred to this place as the “Bounty Rum”. It was a gathering spot where we could get coffee, water, fruit juice and snacks. We were always working, so we never got around to sampling any of the place’s name sake.

And while we are on the subject of food, this is the local ice cream store, where you can get a cone for $1 EC, or about $0.40 US.

Remember how clean the children are? That is not something easily accomplished. As we strolled through town we would often see uniforms hanging out to dry. Recognize the little red skirt? That’s the bottom half of the Kid Step uniform.

These ladies are working in the local open air laundry, right by the ocean. Talk about putting things into perspective–when I do laundry, I just press buttons!

This woman doesn’t need to go to the gym. She got those muscles in her arms by scrubbing clothes. Notice the wonderful smiles on these very gracious ladies.

Right next to the laundry is the market for souvenirs.

The lady on the right told me if I bought something from her, she’d give me a very BIG smile. This was not a problem, because I was trying to buy a little something at each stall anyway.

After chatting with them, I learned that they are sisters, and that I had been working with their little girls during my week at Kiddie Homey Day care.

Here are their daughters, Starr and Gladice.

Not every vendor can afford a store or a booth, so they spread their wares on a blanket on the street.

Below is the public shower and toilet for town residents that don’t have indoor plumbing. It is right across the street from Kid Step Day Care. The facility lacks a bathroom for adults, having only a toilet for the children, so the staff suggested that the volunteers go next door to use the bathroom at Kiddies Homey Day Care. The staff, however, used the public toilet.

The town also had its share of beautifully decorated, well maintained homes.

I’ll end this post with the Primary School’s Motto, which tells you a lot about the spirit of the people with whom we came in contact.

The Contest Finale– Global Volunteers Questions

Learn more about Global Volunteers by determining whether the nine statements below are true or false. (And being the visual person that I am, I had to throw in photos for your — and my — entertainment.)

Global Volunteers:

Serve only where they are invited.
Work under the direction of local leaders.
Help local people do what they have already decided they want done.
Send teams of volunteers to each community several times a year, serving on five continents and the Pacific area.
The fee Global Volunteers pay covers food, water, lodging, local transportation, program related and administrative expenses. They also pay for their flight/transportation to the country.

Waiting for our “end of day” meeting to start. Every week day the 9 teams on the St. Lucia project share their thoughts and the day’s accomplishments.

From the left:

Steve, Elmer, Ruth, Sue and Brenda

6. Anse La Raye, St. Lucia is the newest Global Volunteers site.

7. The St. Lucia project is one of the largest to date, in terms of the number of volunteers on site.

Front row: Norina, Bonnie, Edith, Steve, Jane, Ruth. Second row: Gabi, me, Jeanne, Sally, Martha, Brenda, Sue, Marianne, Dotty and Elmer. Last row: Jim, Kathie, Tom, Laurie, Marsha, Tom, Warren, Kathy, Jan and Ron. (Warren and Ron were the team leaders).

8. Although the volunteers work hard during the week, they are free on the weekends to explore the island .

The beach near Rodney Bay, the north part of the island.

Kid Step Preschool Kiddies Homey Day Care Center

9. Many Global Volunteers get “hooked” and serve on additional programs.

And that, my friends (sisters and cousins to be exact) is the end of the contest questions!

The Anse La Raye Marathon

Running with the bulls in Spain would probably feel tame after running the “marathon” with the Kid Step Preschool students.

Like all marathoners, the kids “trained” for the big event. Here are the “Rising Fives” (the oldest children) with Teacher Henry, two days before the event. The kids are wearing the name tags that I made for them. Hey, at my age, I need all the help I can get remembering names!

Don’t you just love the ribbons in the little girls’ hair?

Time for an action shot. The photographer has figured out that while she is taking pictures, she is exempt from running!

The marathon commenced at 10 AM, however we began getting the kids ready to walk the three blocks to the starting point at 9:15. Boy, did we need every single minute!

My wonderful volunteer partner, Edith, is in the white hat, leading the way, carrying one of the younger children.

The children were divided into three teams, which is the reason for the yellow, green and blue tee shirts.

Look at the little girl on the the right. At the time, I didn’t notice Nyla lifting Sapphire’s skirt. I love the look on Nyla’s face.

Was this a big event? Well, most of the town turned out to watch. Fortunately, some of the parents and older siblings joined the race, holding the runner’s hand. That was a great relief, because the streets of Anse La Raye are not the smoothest. I had been worried about scraped knees and elbows, but luckily no one fell.

FINALLY, everyone was at the starting point. Notice the white truck in the photo above? We even had police protection, ready to divert any traffic that might appear.

And We’re OFF!!

When we turned the corner, we saw the entire student population from the “Infant” school (our K through 2nd grade equivalent), and the 4 Global Volunteers from that site lined up on the street, cheering wildly. Had I not been running, that too would have been captured by my camera.

Not to worry, though. I had another chance, when they followed us back to Kid Step Preschool, and milled about outside. This made for an exciting and chaotic day for the preschoolers!

It took a while, but finally the crowd dispersed.

How to get the kiddies settled, after all that excitement? Art! Who knew that a little paper, water and paint could calm everybody down? (I tried hard not to have favorites, but little Jaydin, below, sure made it hard. They were all cute, sweet and precious, but I couldn’t resist those big, beautiful eyes!)

What a wonderful day! How great that most of the community participated. Hard to tell who had the most fun–the kids or me. I’m calling it a tie.

Tomorrow, contest answers and the last set of questions!

“Isn’t it nice to be home again”

It has taken me a few days to unpack, do laundry, pay bills, dig through mail, upload photos. I think part of me (in addition to all of the skin that peeled off my back) is still in St. Lucia, because I awaken thinking about the children…then breakfast. I can almost smell the bacon that Andrew cooked up for us every morning!

During breakfast, one volunteer would read her/his journal entry for the prior day. Fool that I am, I signed up to do it the very last day, thinking that by then, I would have gotten the hang of journal writing a la Global Volunteers. What I DIDN’T consider was all the other things I needed to do before leaving: packing, working on the team report, doing an evaluation, attending the final dinner, having one last “fling” with my new friends. I plan on going on many more Global Volunteer experiences, but for sure I WON’T be doing the last day’s journal. I did get it done in time, so what the heck, I’ll share it with my Blog Buddies. You, however, get a bonus that my team mates missed–visuals (and the captions that go with the visuals were not part of the journal).

Friday, March 23rd

The cricket match between the West Indies and Australia takes place today. This is a very big day for Anse La Raye, because the captain of the West Indies team is from their little village. To give you an idea of how big this is–the infant, primary and secondary schools are all closed today. Not so for Kid Step and Kiddie Homey Day Care, although we noticed that attendance was way down at both schools.

Today is also sports day at Kid Step, which means that the kiddies wear their different colored shirts identifying them as members of the blue, green or yellow teams. Edith and I expected to guide the children to the field in front of the medical center around 10 AM, however Ruth Fredericks stopped by to ask that we come to Kiddie Homey at 10.

Edith and I arrived to find the children assembled in the big room. (Normally there are twice as many kids)

Marcia had taught the children a song about Charlie the fish, which they enthusiastically sang while the staff prepared for the farewell ceremony.

Brenda (one of the volunteers) is on the left; Ruth Frederick, the school administrator and teacher is on the right.

The four of us were seated together in front of the class, who proceeded to serenade us with songs about how special we were and how they loved us.This was followed by a solo about St Lucia performed by a very confident young girl with a beautiful voice. Miss Fredericks introduced her as a recent graduate of Kiddie Homey.

Each member of the staff had written a special individual tribute to each volunteer, which they read. They presented us with handmade cards, a beautiful framed photo of the children, and a huge glass full of the best vanilla and strawberry ice cream ever!

(I was so very touched by this gift. I am quite aware of how difficult it must have been for them to create these personalized photos. It cost them considerable resources that are in very short supply–time, materials and money).

Miss Frederick wanted to make sure that we told Mr. Thomas and Mr. Thomas (fondly known as T Squared) how much she appreciated their work on the door stoppers.

Edith and I then hustled over to the field. Some of the fathers had put up two white tents in front of the medical center. Another had brought over the school’s plastic chairs so the children could sit out of the sun when they were not competing.

Parents, aunts, grandparents and siblings were assembled on the field to cheer the children on and to photograph them as they raced to bring colored blocks, one at a time, from one goal back to the other.

A historical moment–Barack (blue shorts) and McCain (red shorts) racing against each other. This time, McCain won.

These little girls can MOVE! I love watching their faces while they are running.

Herman is intensely focused on this race!

Clowie was disappointed that she came in last. Fortunately, her mom was there to comfort her.

Next up, relay race–pass the paint brush. And the crowd went WILD! Take a look!

I was impressed with the creativity of the teachers and the ingenious way they used common materials as teaching aids.

At the end of the races, they presented us with the cards they had made for each of us. I had watched them work on these cards thinking that these were materials for the kids. They traced the butterflies, colored them by hand, cut them out, pasted them on construction paper, and then wrote lovely messages in each during their lunch time, and while the children napped.

At noon, some members of the preschool team returned back to the hotel, but I was having way too much fun to leave. Wandering the streets provided an opportunity to chat with the locals.

I got a taste of what it must be like for friends of Angelina Jolie. People wanted to know if I was friends with Anse la Raye’s biggest celebrities, Gabi and Laurie.

Left to right: My new friends, Laurie, Dotty, Edith and Gabi. All members of the “ladies who lunch” in Anse La Raye. The empty chair belongs to me, the intrepid photographer.

I had time to poke my head in to say hello to Kathy and Jim at the medical center while the kids were having lunch, a little before 12. Then it was time to head over to the library to join in the party the roving caregivers were throwing for Laurie and Gabi. Well, timing is everything in life. My escort, one of the caregivers, spotted them at the end of the block ahead of us. Damn, I missed the birthday party, the wine, the toe nail polishing and the food. On the van home, I heard about the feast the medical team made for Jim and Kathy that started started shortly after I left. So much for the luck of the Irish!

But all was not lost. There was just enough time to visit the local salon to get transformed into Island Girls.

Braided and bedazzled, Laurie and I made our last trip to the market for a final opportunity to stimulate the local economy. I got a dress for our big night tonight, and added to my collection of bling.(See above)

After our dinner with the Anse La Raye partners, we plan on celebrating Laurie’s birthday with an encore of “girls gone wild” at JD’s restaurant. Lawrence, who also doubles as our security guard, is the main attraction at JDs, and we are his Global Volunteer groupies.

This has been my first Global Volunteer experience, but it won’t be my last. I have so much admiration for both Ruth Frederick and Wilcina Gabriel, who spend all day, every weekday showering their love, attention and patience on these beautiful, funny, energetic children. It was an amazing experience.

The evenings were such fun. I was glad to be able to spend time with such a diverse group of fascinating world travelers, and hope that the budding friendships will be like earth boxes and flourish and grow.

The St Lucia Contest

I promised a contest so here goes, but first something akin to the “fine print”. Prizes are only awarded to contestants residing in either New Jersey or Massachusetts, because the contest sponsor (that would be me) only makes deliveries in those two states.

Furthermore, prizes will only be awarded if I find a cash machine that accepts either my ATM or my credit card, because, you see, I am out of money. On a positive note, I have learned something useful to pass along to future Global Volunteers and those staying in the general vicinity of JJ’s Paradise Hotel. There is only one bank nearby, in Marigot Bay, just a boat ride away. That bank does not accept ATM or debit cards, only credit cards, however–and this is a BIG however– it only accepts credit cards that have the Cirrus logo on the back. As you have guessed, MY Chase Sapphire Visa card does NOT have that little logo on it. With those disclosures out of the way, Game On!

Question One: I am out of money because

A. I lost at the slots and roulette, big time

B. The bar at the hotel only accepts cash and a week’s supply of red wine can really add up

C. It cost a lot to get my hair braided and beaded

D. I forgot my money pouch somewhere, I have no idea where.

Hint: there is only one correct answer

Question Two: We are on our own on the weekend, to do as we please. Which one of these did I do today?

A. Sat by the pool, working on my tsn

B. Went zip lining

C. Went kayaking

D. Went snorkeling

Question three: plans have been made for tomorrow. Which of these will I be doing:

A. Driving an all terrain vehicle through the jungle

B. Bird watching in the national forest

C. Visiting Sandals resort

D. Taking a local bus and letting the day unfold

Answers on Monday afternoon, by which time I will have made it to the city and replenished my funds.

My crystal ball sees many bad hair days in the near future

The weather here has been beautiful-warm, sunny, bright blue skies. It IS just a tad humid, so by the time we finished breakfast, I could have passed for Albert Einstein’s older sister. I look scary, but the kids don’t care, however I suspect there won’t be many photos of me on this blog.

Today I continued my quest for the perfect wifi spot, and future volunteers, I found it! At the bar, sit on the FURTHEST seat to the right, with your right elbow pointing into the dining room. Believe it or not, a couple of seats over and at the round table, there is NO connectivity. (Phyllis, this is my gift to you.)

So, while the wifi cooperates, I’ll do a little photo uploading.

I’ve named the path to my room the “thigh master”. I took these on my way down to breakfast this morning:

Funny story. When I arrived Saturday night,it was quite late. Knowing I have a tendency to stomp, I was very careful to “tread lightly” so that I didn’t disturb the people in the room below. It wasn’t until the next morning that I realized the only thing below me was air, dirt,and grass!

These next steps remind me of the grand plaza at Caracol. When I ascend, I need to LIFT my leg to get to the next step.

One more turn, a few more steps, and I’ve made it to the flat land.

Not to worry, though. Anyone with mobility problems is assigned a flat-lander room.

And now the moment you’ve been waiting for–more kiddie photos.

I think little Dayna is a born model.

Michelle, not to worry. Precious’ foot is fine. She was moving around so much,it was hard to get a sharp photo. Little Yasmine still isn’t talking, but I almost got a smile out of her today, and we still have another week to go!

My wine is a callin me…tune in tomorrow for more beautiful faces.

I’m in love!!!

Beautiful, funny, cute, smart, precious….I could go on and on about these kids. Suffice it to say that my heart has been stolen by these little munchkins.

I brought name tags so that I could more easily memorize their names, and I thought it would help those that don’t yet know how to spell and write their names. They really liked it. In fact, if I didn’t get out the name tag fast enough, they reminded me to get with it!

Dotty and I are loving our assignment. Yes, it is noisy, but hey, what do you expect from a bunch of kids under 5. Today we used the board books that I brought and they were a hit with all of the younger kids. Tomorrow will be Cat in the Hat day for the older kids.

After lunch the kids rest, which gave Dotty and me a chance to stroll around the town. Good news, boys and girls. There WILL be a contest. You know how I feel about dropping dollars into the local economy, so I will be picking up a few odds and ends for prizes. All I have to do is figure out the questions. Then Game ON!! (Mike and Augusta, since neither of you are with me, you get a chance to play too). I can’t do a packing question this time around because you have already seen the contents of my luggage in previous posts. I am sure I’ll come up with something eventually.

More photos of the objects of my affection. Notice how neat and clean they are…perfect in every way.

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