Blog 12

Hmm so many photographs to choose from!

I guess I'll write about a picture of the 5 children I met in Jamaica on vacation this past summer. One of the tours we went on took us to different places in Jamaica to learn about its history and culture. We wound up going to Mt. Olive Basic School (this was a Saturday in the last 2 weeks of school being in session, mind you), and these 5 kids gave up their Saturday afternoon to come sing and dance for us and show us around the school a little bit with a teacher at the school. They were so cute! My mom had a little keychain that looked like a mini cell phone that was really just a clock, hanging from the outside of her purse. These children were fascinated by this silly little clock. All of them wanted to look at it up close for some reason. It was kind of funny.

Looking back at this picture, I wonder how these kids are doing in their studies, as well as in life in general. I wonder how all of the students at the school are doing and if they have enough supplies to teach the kids all that they deserve to be learning. During our tour, the teacher that was there gave us a piece of paper with the name, address, email, etc. for the school and told us about how even in this school (which is for children ages 3-6), the parents have to pay for everything, and many of them do not have enough money to fulfill this obligation.

Although we gave a donation to the school, I still wish that we had known that we weren't going to need the extra money I had on me (we thought we would need it for transportation back to the hotel.. we didn't.) so that we could have given each of these kids that took the time to come entertain us a little extra money, just for them. It still bothers me to this day that we didn't...
And yes, I will be sending them some school supplies and things that could be used in a classroom for children between the ages of 3 and 6. Maybe that will make me feel better about not having given those children something. Maybe I can throw in something special for those 5 kids that we will never forget.