Last Words From St Lucia 2011

It was strange having everyone else wave goodbye to me today as I headed down to the airport. I am the only member of Team 4 that is flying Air Canada. I just spoke to TiTi and Sylvanus, our van driver, had managed to fit everyone in with all the luggage. They should arrive here in about 1 hour with lots of time to make their flight. I may even see them briefly before I have to board my flight.

Yesterday we completed the mysterious process of making Camp Sylvester disappear. Thanks to Auntie Chara and help from Meridith and Bethany, we now have a very accurate craft inventory. We are going to focus next year's crafts on using coffee filters, beads and skewers. These items could be combined for some very unique projects! Chara expects that next year's craft budget could be kept to zero with careful planning. She certainly knows how to make me smile.

Yesterday everyone except Michaela travelled to the rainforest and the hot baths at New Jerusalem. What a lovely way to relax and deal with the stiff muscles caused by all the packing. There was also a brief chance for the Team 4 members to do a "speed shop" in Soufriere.

Last night we went up to the village for our final "dinner up top", prepared by Leona. As always the food was delicious and more than we could possibly eat. Before dinner, we met with our campers to hand out their Blessing Bags which included rice, flour, sugar, lentils, beans, tuna, milk and sardines. While we realize that the food provided is not much, it does allow the parents to re-direct their limited resources to purchasing the books, uniforms etc needed for their children.

While in the village we got word that Marie had done very well in her CXC exams and should receive her acceptance letter to A level college shortly. This is so exciting! She has worked very hard and continues to stay very focused on continuing her education. She hopes to enter the medical profession in the future and we believe she can do it.

Not all the news this week was good. For several years we have struggled to accomodate 2 young men at camp. CJ has been with us from the beginning. As the years progressed CJ's developmental delays became more apparent and it became more difficult to facilitate his participation in our programs. Last year we tried including him in the older boys carpentry program but found it was very stressful for

the volunteers in charge. This year, with TiTi's support, we tried placing him in the kitchen to help out. Unfortunately, this also proved to be too challenging for both CJ and the kitchen staff. Reluctantly, we have decided that we will not be able to include him in camp next year.

The other boy, Iman, has been with us for several years. We have found it challenging to accommodate his Rastafarian ways and dietary restrictions. His attendance has always been a problem as well has his attitude. We felt we could not move him into junior leadership nor would he be able to participate in the carpentry program. Both require regular attendance, good co-operation, and strong listening

skills. On Friday however, the decision was made for us. Iman was discovered smoking marijuana on the property next door. This was an unexpected first. Iman was asked to leave camp immediately and I made it clear that this would be his last year. It is always difficult to admit that we are not able to help every camper and that some situations must be accepted but not condoned. I reminded Iman that he is a smart boy, but that he was making choices that we couldn't accept. I wished

him well and watched him walk up the driveway for the last time. I can only hope that he will be able to make his way in life.

As I drove back and forth to Castries each afternoon for the past week, I noticed how many young men are simply sitting by the side of the road, watching as life passes them by. Far too many still do not have even a basic education. Without this, they are forced to compete with hundreds of experienced labourers who are also struggling to find work.

There is certainly lots of work that needs to be done to repair the infrastructure of the island that was so badly damaged by Thomas. However, the government has very little tax base to use to fund all the projects that are incomplete or have yet to be started. As I drove to the airport today, I had to stop as rocks and dirt from the most recent landslide was being loaded into heavy trucks and hauled away. The roads crews never seem to be able to get ahead of the situation.

Please pray for the continued safety and health of the people of St. Lucia. In particular, remember the students, teachers, campers, women and seniors who join with us each year. May God bless and protect them.

Blessings to all;

Auntie Shel

Video Update

Our video update from the first 3 weeks of camp is now online for you to watch.
Enjoy!  Thanks for watching.

Hospital Updates

Dear friends;

Today Morgan will return to camp after 5 days in Tapion Hospital with dengue fever.  Michaela is into day 2 of her hospital stay and has already gone through gallons of saline solution.  She is much more comfortable after taking antihistamines for her rash.
We have also learned that Zoe has been diagnosed with a mild case of dengue fever back at home.
The score is dengue 3 SLLP 0.
There is no dengue fever in our area so we must have been exposed to it at Rodney Bay where the outbreak seems to be centred.  Fortunately all our campers are fine with everyone at camp today.
Morgan will be fine to fly home on Sunday and there is lots of time for Michaela to recover and fly home with the team.
Please pray for good health for the rest of the team, continued improvement for Morgan, Michaela and Zoe, and continued protection for our campers and the village as a whole.

Blessings

Auntie Shel

Field Trip 2011

Yesterday we were finally able to complete our field trip to the "Our Planet" interactive presentation in Castries.  The campers were divided into pairs for a buddy system and then 2 teams to facilitate our 2 transport vans and the 2 guides we would have at Our Planet.  Things did not start out well for the Green team in Gary's van as our youngest camper Camill was sick all over herself and her buddy.  After a stop at the side of the road to clean up a bit they were able to continue on and join us at Place Carenage.

Meanwhile the Blue team had arrived safely but one of the campers quickly developed other problems.  Poor Auntie Chara graciously assisted in cleaning up the child and the washroom and then lent the child the shorts she had in her bag.

After a rough start we were relieved to get everyone inside the centre and begin our tour.  The focus of the centre is to promote awareness of the need to conserve and protect our planet.  There were a number of video presentations, interactive displays and games that highlighted various environmental concerns and solutions.  Many of the junior leaders did a wonderful job assisting the younger campers to read the information and take part in the games.
 

Once our tour was finished we went to the Ice Cafe where we had arranged for a light lunch and treat for each camper before heading back down island.  Many of the older campers really enjoyed the entire experience and several declared it the best field trip ever!

Please continue to pray for the health of both the campers an the team as the damp conditions are creating some difficulties.  One of our new campers, Amanda, will not be returning to camp.  She has been experiencing a high fever which appears to be the result of a number of infected sores on her legs and feet.  Several other campers seem to be suffering from sinus irritations.

Blessings to all;

Auntie Shel

Very little sun, but lots of stars

Last week we ended our unit on the stars and we were able to complete all the activities despite the weather.  The campers seemed to enjoy the unit and learned a great deal about stars and our very own star, the sun.

Unfortunately, we have seen very little of the sun this week.  Tropical storm Emily entered our area with heavy rains and thunderstorms that began early Monday morning.  This caused us to reluctantly cancel our planned field trip to the Our Planet exhibit in Castries. 

The team spent the day cataloging the hundreds of books that arrived in the shipment.  Books were sorted for placement in the Infant and Primary schools as well as the Canaries library.  For the first time we will also be donating books to St. Mary’s Boy’s College as a number of National Geographic books seemed better suited for use as reference material at this school.  Morgan and Graham took on the games cupboard and prepared an up to date inventory of all our resources

Overnight the rains intensified.  At around 3 am one incredible downpour was likened to trying to sleep next to the subway!  Our galvanized roof is great for keeping out the rain but it does nothing to soften the sound of heavy rain.  Our rain gauge was already full before the storm so we have no idea how much rain fell.  However, our large hand washbasin was overflowing by mid-morning.  It is 7” deep.

Not only did we cancel camp again but the entire island was shut down by order of the Prime Minister.  A number of landslides were reported and both Castries and Soufriere experienced heavy flooding.  Since Monday was already a holiday, Emancipation Day, this meant that for the second week in a row there was a 4 day disruption in the supply of food, gas and other essential services. 

On Tuesday afternoon the weather had finally started to improve.  We cooked up a giant pot of soup using our Gleaners mix combined with 6 lbs of chicken and macaroni and made fresh bakes.  At 5pm we headed up to the village to be greeted by many of the children who had received word that we would be up.  Together we shared a meal with the village, delivered soup to our seniors and took part in a cricket match on the road.  Chara and Michaela brought up sidewalk chalk and paint.  Many of the younger children helped them to decorate the steps to the washhouse.

Once camp was able to resume on Wednesday, we were scrambling to get the food necessary for our hungry campers knowing that some would have had little to eat in the last 2 days.  There was nothing left on the shelves in the shops in our village or Canaries so I headed toward Castries.  Fortunately, I was able to get the ingredients for TiTi’s famous chow mien and tuna.  I also stocked up on the ingredients for macaroni with hotdogs for today’s lunch.  There was no chicken or any eggs in the stores on my route.  I tried the shops in Soufriere late yesterday with no luck.

As I write this, the rains have returned and at times the wind is blowing a mist into the courtyard and onto our covered porches.  We have been unable to resume swimming due to the large plume of debris that enters the sea from the rivers that run from the village above.  The heavy rains also means that there has been no water in the village for over a week now.  The washhouse has been closed the entire time which also means there are no bathroom facilities.  This causes concern for the health of the children and adults too.

Later the same day:  Camp ended today with the younger children proudly going home with the Home Depot donated helicopters that they built and painted.  The older boys and girls have stayed back.  The girls practiced the dance routine that Auntie Zoe taught them and now they are making bracelets with Auntie Blythe in the courtyard.  The older boys finished their second picnic table and treated and painted both today and are now enjoying tetherball and basketball with Uncle Graham.  Normally Uncle Morgan would be in the middle of all this but he has not been feeling well for several days now.  Somehow he is managing to sleep despite all the racket but we are anxious for him to rejoin all the fun.

Tomorrow we are finally going to take our field trip.  We are experimenting with a new junior leadership model that we hope will carry us into the future.  Each of the junior leaders was asked to list the 3 younger campers that they would like to partner with on the field trip and into next week.  Auntie Chara spent time explaining expectations to this group and I was pleasantly surprised by the choices made by both the boys and the girls.   Tomorrow we will use this buddy system as we divide the campers into 2 vans for the trip to Castries and 2 groups to tour the exhibits.

In other news, we were all touched yesterday when Aloysius came to me and asked for help to go to the Care program next year.  Many of you will remember Aloysius as a very troubled angry child who had a very hard time fitting in at camp and in the village as well.  He has struggled at school so it was wonderful to have him realize, on his own, that the Care program would give him the best chance to learn a trade and make a future for himself.  Many look down on this program however, we have seen what it can do for students who struggle academically.

Right now we are anxiously awaiting word from Joe about the job interview he went to in Castries.  Joe spent 3 years at Care and learned carpentry.  He had several very successful job placements at Bay Gardens resort.  This week he got a call to come in today.  We are so hopeful as he can serve as a role model for some of the other boys here at camp who find school so difficult.

All safe & sound

Dear friends -
All is well - the sun has returned (though our beach is missing) and camp resumed with our "Around the world" week from Mareika (and the occasional comment or dance move from Scott).
Damage has been limited; a few localized landslides and some flooding on the island, but no serious calamities.
We've rescheduled our field trip for Friday ... Only our 3rd reschedule this week.

Thanks to you all ...

Uncle Scott

Tropical Storm Emily

All are fine here but we are dealing with a tropical storm Emily. All
our tanks are overflowing and we still have electricity and a full
tank of cooking gas so we are fine.
The Prime Minister has just announced that the island is closed for
the day due to the unsafe driving conditions.
There have been several landslides already and more can be expected if
this rain continues.
We have been forced to cancel camp yesterday and today. We are
planning to make a big pot of soup and bakes to take up to the village
late this afternoon to share.
Please pray for an end to the rains and safety for all the people of
St. Lucia. After Hurricane Tomas, there is great anxiety whenever
there are heavy rains.

Blessings

Auntie Shel