A Little More Info

Happy Mother’s Day to my dear beautiful mother, my grandma and all of my aunts- you have raised some amazing and loving sons and daughters and I’m so proud to have you as role models!!

So I apologize for the slight vague nature of the last post- these days can weigh on a person sometimes. I will make up for it with the proclamation that my site is FANTASTIC and I see many positive and productive projects occurring during my time here.

My community is small, just a couple thousand people, and it is nestled in the mountains not far from Bluefields Bay, the 2nd largest fish sanctuary in Jamaica. There is a couple from the Green Initiative serving in Bluefields, a health volunteer in the nearest town and three volunteers in Sav-la-Mar, the city about 30 minutes up the coast.

Beeston Spring actually HAS a freshwater spring. The town uses rainwater catchment as their primary source of water and the spring, I think, as backup. It is unclear to me how many residents rely on the spring primarily for water, and I have yet to visit it, though I’ve passed it. It is my understanding that there is an actual structure piping water into shower areas etc.

My supervisor and my host family live at the base of Beeston Spring, so I will have to take a taxi to work, otherwise walk a good distance. I’ll be applying for a bicycle. Even further down the hill is a honey bee farmer who has begun an organization around his product (of which my host mother is a member). Beeston Spring also is the home of a 100 year old church and a Mento Band (traditional drumming). All of these things, coupled with the philanthropic Sandals Resort that I can see from my house, offers the perfect opportunity for Beeston Spring to become a day trip site for tourists, something they have already been doing with smaller hotels in the area. However, with their stake in things, Sandals is granting the Community Development Commission money to build greenhouses and a demonstration plot to further community development (and of course make the community more appealing to tourists- but hey, if it gets my people what they need…). I’m psyched about this because it’ll offer the Organic Farmers Group an opportunity to host farmers field schools and demonstrate organic farming not only to tourists but to farmers as well. As we all know, organic is in high market demand, so this will allow farmers to sell their products at a higher price to tourists.

View from the house

My host dad and sister

My host family’s home

Future site for the demonstration plot

Honey Bee Farm

I am so excited to work with this community. They are a dedicated group with tons of ideas and a lot of potential. Check out this news article featuring Beeston Spring- it quotes my host mom (Lesa Brown)! Also, take the writing with a grain of salt- Sandals is involved in the company that owns the Jamaica Observer so they obviously want to make each other look good:

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/Community-tourism-takes-off_11428473