Wednesday

We started our day with a short taxi-van ride through Port Maria to Port Maria primary school. Our Jamaican friend, Sister Sharon Sowell-Gray, who is a pastor accompanied us. She has been visiting for morning devotions at the school once a month for several years. We arrived at the school shortly before the start of the school day to find many children playing cricket in the dirt schoolyard. They were all dressed in their navy and light blue uniforms. We were greeted with curious stares and some smiles as we walked across the breezeway in front of the classrooms. Walton, Jeff, Leah, and our boys were immediately drawn to the cricket field to watch and try to figure out the rules of the game. Danny went to greet some of the school staff he knew from previous visits, and Joy was snapping pictures. Of course, after a while Walton joined in the cricket game to hit a few balls.


A second grade classroom:



When the bell rang to signal the start of the school day, all of the children gathered in tightly-spaced rows in the shade of a large almond tree in front of the porch. The principal greeted them and they responded to him in unison, much as the preschoolers had done with their teacher the day before. Although there were many children in the small space, they were very calm and orderly. The principal warmly welcomed us and introduced us to the children. Danny led the children in a few songs, and then I did an Easter devotional.


Joy with a new friend:

Walton, Leah, and Jeff taking in the morning announcements. (Jeff is manfully minding Joy's Vera Bradley purse for her.)




Once we finished, the principal made a few announcements to the children regarding the upcoming Easter holiday. It was interesting to me that he told them the dates they would be out of school, and apparently they were expected to remember and communicate them to their parents. (In contrast, we would run several hundred copies of notes to communicate the same information & they would probably end up in the bottom of bookbags or on the floorboards of cars…) The morning assembly adjourned, and we dispersed to various classrooms. I went into a first grade classroom, and the teacher turned her class of 36 students over to me. The room itself was large but crowded. The children were seated in old-fashioned 2-seater wooden desks. I read them an Easter book and then we all worked on a small craft project we brought with us. The children were diligent workers & enjoyed their finished projects.




Walton, Jeff, and the boys visited 4th and 5th classrooms to talk about their jobs, school, and life in the States. Leah is Walton's little shadow - she never let him get far out of her sight, and usually wanted to hold his hand. Sweet.



When they were done, they came in and helped the first graders with their craft project:





After we said our goodbyes at the school, we headed back to the church and everyone changed into beach clothes. The rest of the team headed in to the beach for a swim, and then had Jamaican “juici beef” for lunch. I stayed behind and spent some time talking to my new friend Kevita about teaching and school, and then had some peace and quiet to read a good book.