Our time in Jamaica is quickly coming to an end. Less than two more weeks before we have to say goodbye to Catadupa, Jamaica, a community which has become our home and is filled with many new friends and family members. In the past 5 weeks I have laughed hard, cried hard, and, most importantly, I have loved hard.
It won’t be the beautiful sunsets or never ending fresh fruit that I'll miss most. It will be the people and the lives that I’ve invested in.
I’ll miss singing songs with Bigga and Wingey. I’ll miss cooking dinners with Mama B and laughing at Papa Rose’s jokes. I’ll miss playing games late into the night with Nick, Donway, and Sondrey. I’ll miss the family members that not too long ago were strangers.
IMMERSION is about living the local way and making a community in a foreign country your home.
“Living the local way” doesn’t mean trying jerk chicken or breadfruit once to see what it tastes like or washing your clothes by hand one time for the thrill of the experience and a photo on Instagram.
It means fully immersing yourself in the culture and making their way of life your way of life.
Here in Jamaica, that means eating cabbage for breakfast almost every morning, daily walks to the spring for drinking water, shaking ants out of our clothes before getting dressed, and greeting everyone as we walk through town. Living the local way means making our host family's schedule (or lack thereof) our schedule and way of life.
If you were here you’d commonly hear me say, “Show me how you do it,” or “I’d love to learn how you do it.” Because, honestly, I know how to cook, clean and do laundry, but I want to learn how they do it. I may know how to make a mean chicken and rice stir fry…but, let’s be real here, in Jamaica they have a different way of preparing and seasoning food than I’m used to at home. That’s part of living the local way and immersing yourself in the culture. In the past week, I’ve learned how to hand crush and grate nutmeg (because not all spices come ground in a nicely labeled package like we are used to). I’m also working on improving my skills of cutting vegetables in my hand (who needs a cutting board anyway?)
Since I left Maine in May the most popular question from people back home has been, “What have you been doing?” Our main goal is to live the local way among the people of the community, building authentic relationships with our host families and the people in the community. Sometimes that means helping out at after school programs or planning weekly Sunday schools. Sometimes it means spending the day at home with my host mom cleaning the house, taking care of the children, and cooking dinner. Sometimes it means helping out at church or playing card games for hours with the teens and young adults. Sometimes that means watching my host mom sew for hours and days later helping her sell them at the market.
Before IMMERSION, my life was so filled with work that I almost didn’t have time to even think or breath. I’d often run from working a 24-hour shift at one job to working a 16-hour shift at my next job and then back to my first job for another shift. One of the roughest things for me throughout this trip has been learning to be OK in the laid back culture and unscheduled way of life here in Jamaica; but I’m beginning to find purpose in the simplicity of life.
The cool thing is, I came to Jamaica to live as the people do. I have nothing except time on my hands to do that. It’s all about how you use the time you have to seek out opportunities to become involved in the community and the family you live with. I’m learning to look at each day in a new way. Instead of measuring the value of the day based on how busy I’ve been or how much I accomplished I’m learning to base it on how much I have loved or served.
Throughout the time I’ve lived in Jamaica it’s been the littlest things that have meant the most. It’s been playing games late at night with the teens from the church. It’s been holding hands with the 4-year-old twins as we walk down the huge hill to our houses trying not to slip on the wet roads from the torrential downpour that ended moments earlier. It’s been laughing with my host mom while we cook and I try not to slice my thumb open while using it as a cutting board. It’s been taking showers outside under the pipe that only runs when there is extra water. It’s sitting on the veranda and singing as the rain slowly cools down the stifling Jamaican air. To some, life here may seem mundane or boring. But on this trip, I have learned to take life slower and find joy, even in the littlest things.
—
More IMMERSION Stories
.jpg)
Site developed and hosted by Skycog, Inc.