Jamaica 9

The most observant amongst you might wonder why I visited May Pen YMC (chartered 1979) from Nov 1st until Nov 4th when they had their regular monthly meeting Tuesday Nov 5th. (First Tuesday every month from 5.p.m. to 7 p.m.) The main reason was that they would have more time for me during the week end. With 15 members (10 females) at work during the day, they would have problems with activating me at daytime.

They had a club meeting Saturday at 12. Unfortunately only five members had the opportunity to attend. But it was a nice and active meeting that lasted nearly three hours even without the presentation of my slides. And when one of the comments after the meeting was: "We should have more BF-delegates like you" I have to be satisfied with my effort.

The members pay 100 JMD a month (2USD) in membership fees. The commitments to the funds etc. are covered by the treasury. For fund raising luncheons are their main activity. And when 50 persons pay 1000 JMD each for a meal, that brings 1000 USD to the club.

There is no YMCA in May Pen - at least not yet. Two of their members are ex servicemen who are awarded a joint piece of land as a compensation for their efforts during the WW2. But there is some negotiating to be done before further planning of a Y in May Pen is meaningful. Let´s hope for the best!

In the meantime May Pen YMC help needy persons in their township. Like giving a scholarship to a girl to make her able to continue her studies - or helping another young person with cancer treatment.

Sunday is of course also the day for attending services in Jamaica, too. In fact Jamaica is in Guinness Book of Records for having the highest density of churches in the world. Barbados has more than 100 different denominations. Jamaica surely can equal that. Our motto "That they all may be one", might seem a distant dream in places like these.

Clarice McDonald brought me to St. James Methodist Church because we would meet more Y´s men there than in her own United Church. The service lasted from 8 to nearly 11. In United Church they also had an evening service that lasted four hours. Mr Mc was there. At home we try to make the services as short as possible. After having been in the Caribbean for some weeks, I am not convinced that we have the best "solution".

Monday Mr Mc took me to Milk River Mineral Bath - the best in the world according to the brochure. I dipped my body into the water rich of minerals, and it was wonderful. I could have written a lot about my visit to May Pen Primary School where Mrs Mc is the principal. I will not go into details here, though. To be a teacher at this school without being an idealist is definitely not possible. I have never seen classrooms with more pupils per square meter before, but the pupils were polite and smiling in spite of this.

The present buildings of Kingston YMCA are just three years old. Two fires in the nineties made an end to the time when they were based in an old, large stylish building earlier belonging to a very rich man. Kingston Y has a big staff and a lot of activities. Teaching people to swim and a Youth Development Programme are the two most important activities.

Later that Tuesday I met a few ex Y´s men and the last president of Savannah-la-Mar YMC, Wilbert Sirjui. The club in Sav-la-Mar has not had a meeting this year, but they are hoping for a miracle. Savannah-la-Mar has an active club of Y´s Menettes, and may be the future will require even closer cooperation. I met three of these menettes in Sydney, but unfortunately they could not come to May Pen that Saturday because they were active with fund raising activities.

The meeting which should have been held in Kingston on Monday was moved to Wednesday. It was an interesting meeting. Sandra Hamilton teaches at St. Joseph Teacher Training College. Here she tries to create a new group of Y´s men amongst the students. They normally meet every Thursday from 3.45 p.m. to 5.45 p.m., and I think they will benefit from that frequency compared to the usual monthly meetings. In numbers they can be from 10 to 30 present. They have a lot of exciting plans and activities, and they will probably be inducted in the club in December. How this "project" develops I hope the Jamaican website will keep us informed about.

At this meeting I got questions like "What is a Y´s man? How will I benefit from being a Y´s man?" I gave them my answers. What would you have answered?

Thursday I leave for Panama - the last country of this trip.

Y'sly

Arne Augedal (09.11.02)