Our very own Gary took our Help the Kids Program to St. Paul's School in Jamaica.
One of our goals at Dream Pleasure Tours is to help those people in the countries we visit, who are not as fortunate as the places from where most of our customers come. So on our last trip to Hedonism II in Jamaica, we headed off to St. Paul’s Public School in New Hope Jamaica with boxes of school supplies.
We traveled for about 25 minutes from Hedonism II into Negril Jamaica. After a further 20 minutes on a two lane paved road we turned off onto a one lane road. The pavement that had once been on this road had long ago turned to pot holes and mud. Somewhere along this road we arrived at the small township of New Hope. For those of you used to fancy resort properties, here you see a different side of Jamaica. We traveled another 2 .5 miles through sugar cane fields until we arrived at a small building that houses a two room school house called St Paul’s.
Our tour guide on this trip was Patrina. Patrina works in the sales and reservation department at Hedonism II. She has lived in New Hope all her life and was a student at St. Paul’s growing up. So there was never a better person to show us the place and how the public school system works in Jamaica.
We were met at the front gate by Mrs. Watson, the school headmaster. Mrs. Watson was a teacher at the school when Patrina was a student. We were told that Patrina was one of her best students. The age range for the students is between 6-12 years old, and the school has 250 students at this time. As we came to visit the school in the middle of July most students were on their summer break (School starts September 3). All these students share two class rooms about the size of 30 feet X 150 feet. The only way to separate the classes is with portables chalk boards.
The school is 49 years old and with the exception of indoor plumbing not much else has changed in the last 49 years. But this only made us realize how much these public schools really need. And what little they have to work with. With the help of our friends from the Rooster Boosters Group we were able to bring three suitcases of school supplies. We brought everything from notebooks and pencils to art supplies, plus some clothes and shoes. Mrs. Watson was very excited and grateful for the donations. She told us that not only do most of the children come to school with no supplies, many come to school hungry not having had breakfast. Add to this a 3-4 mile round trip though the sugar cane fields just to get to school making for some long days.
The class rooms were packed with small desks from wall to wall. The children not only must do their studies from these small desks but also must have their lunch at the desks as there is no lunch room. Oh by the way there is no air conditioning and very few windows.
Still the school is painted with positive logos and motivational words. We saw a small basketball court with a deflated basketball off in the corner. There were several goats on the ground to help keep the grass trimmed. This is their conventional way when there is no money to maintain the grass.
There is so much this school needs. A $10.00 - $15.00 bag of school supplies from Wal-Mart can take care of one child’s needs for one half of a school year. One of the greatest needs is backpacks for the children. If only each one of our clients bring a backpack or two it will make a huge difference in the lives of these children. Despite the poor conditions the children seem happy and tend to have a very good outlook on life. What the average American kid takes for granted here is valued as a gift from God.
With the Dream Pleasure Tours “Help the Kids” program we plan to make more trips to St. Paul’s and other schools as resources permit. We really appreciate the Rooster Boosters making the commitment to bring school supplies to kids, and of course Dream Pleasure Tours paid for some of the supplies. So, on your next group trip to Hedo, please throw a bag or box of school supplies in your suitcase. You can give it to one of the Dream Pleasure Tours hosts, and we’ll make sure those supplies get out to the kids at St. Paul’s or other schools in need.
You can join the Rooster Boosters on their next trip. They’re off to Fantasy Resort in Puerto Vallarta in January 2013. You can check out that trip by clicking on Rooster Booster’s Fantasy Resort Trip.
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