High in the clouds, up through the mountains and across the river, or at least an attempt, sums up my day. After a long day of travel, we finally arrived in Hagley Gap, Blue Mountain Jamaica! It was around 8/9pm, so it was pretty dark. We were driven to our hosts’ home. It all seemed surreal. Our group leaders divided us up amongst the home. Jordan, Joycelyn and I were paired with the Rodney’s. Euton Rodney, our BMP manager and his wife Ana gave a quick tour of the house and showed us our room and bathroom. We learned that Mr. Euton was a farmer and he worked for the clinic in the Blue Mountains. We also learned that Ms. Ana was the cook at Penlyne Castle Primary School close to their home.
Immediately, we were informed that water resources within the household were scare due to a drought. When going into other people’s home most people don’t think of the plumbing situation and how water runs, but we were forced to get out of that norm. We had to consider the different uses for the water and it made me think twice about the water I would use. We were told that Mr. Euton and Ms. Ana, like many others in the community, had to travel for miles with barrels to get the water that runs through their pipes. We actually saw an older woman carrying a large water container on her head as we were being dropped off at our host’s home. I knew this was going to be a life changing experience. We were given our itinerary and told where to meet in the morning then went off to bed.
Danielle Bedney, The SEED School