Hello Mr. Gustav

Hello Mr. Gustav,

Please be nice to us and our Jamaican friends. We do not mind some rain, but please go easy on the wind and try to keep your stay in Jamaica short and nondestructive.

Thank you,
Amber DelPrete


We received a phone call from our weather guru and friend, Rosie, at 7am on Thursday morning. She gave strict instructions: Pack your things, secure the house and move in with her by noon. Gustav is on his way.

So that is what we did. Food, books, movies, random shiny things to keep us occupied like crayons and markers and fun paper, and oh yeah, clothes, all got shoved in a bag and tossed into our van for our first hurricane experience.

Gustav hit Jamaica by about 9pm Thursday night, although it rained HARD all day. The damage is "minimal". Well the radio says it is minimal. We hear over the radio, “4,000 people have been displaced, a bridge has collapsed, trees are down, about 150 houses have been swept away, flooding, landslides, rooftops are blown away and there are 11 deaths”. That doesn’t seem minimal to me.

I am going to be completely honest, the wind is exhilarating. For a long while I sit on the veranda and take it all in. It feels cool and fresh and it is exciting to see the trees blow sideways in the wind, an unnatural and uneasy sight, but all the while, exciting.

It is only supposed to be a Category 1, which according to Jamaican standards, isn’t a bad storm. According to Amber standards, if it has to be labeled with a category number, it certainly is not good news.

I sit on the veranda. The rain gets louder and the wind, stronger. The cloudy sky turns vibrant shades of purple- beautiful but unnerving. Something about a purple sky makes me uneasy. Especially if it’s a cloudy, vibrant, purple, straight out of Crayola crayon box or a water color painting. I want to snap a picture of it because it doesn’t look real. But I don’t want to walk away from this view to go inside to get my camera. This is a fleeting moment. So I just sit.

I become inspired to send a prayer into the universe, thanking God that my tummy is full, my clothes are dry, and most importantly, that I and those around me are safe because there are plenty of people in Jamaica who do not have this luxury. I am usually not one for spontaneous prayer, but it felt the thing to do at the time.

A family in the missions keeps creeping into my conscience as the rain pours and the wind gusts. They are members of Devon Pen church and live in a single room in the mountains with several children, I haven’t been able to keep track of how many. I am scared for her. I am scared for her children. I try to put them out of my mind…“They are used to this,” I try to comfort myself with. But I know it is false comfort. And I become confused and ashamed and selfish because I am trying to comfort myself, when I am not the one needing comfort...i am comfortable and blessed to be in this house, full, dry and safe. The family needs the comforting. There are plenty of families who are not having such a comfortable experience with this hurricane and they cannot escape it. So many who are scared of their shelter being blown away. But this is reality. Sad reality.

I sat on the internet for a long time today. Rosie has wireless internet and it is a treat to use it. I turn into an addict when I get a chance to go online. It takes you- the internet, and before you know it, you’re eating dinner. With your eyes stinging. And the day behind you.

But I received many lovely emails today from people that I love. I love emails, especially thoughtful, reflective, “I am thinking of you” emails. So thank you, thank you.

I made a Jamaican friend last week as I was practicing guitar. He has a few children. I knew his name, but now I forget it. I do that often. I want to remember, I really try. But the name escapes me regardless of the number of mind exercises I perform to remember. I end up remembering the curly-haired child with him instead or the shadow of the setting sun or his nervously tapping toes.

We had great conversation about Jamaica, about expectations, about people. He told me my spirit moved him. That I emitted a positive energy not present in many people anymore. That I made his heart feel light.

He had been nervous to talk to me. But something made him take the leap and approach me. He expected me to insult him, or shoo him away. Insult or disregard him. Why? He couldn’t say.

I sat and listened to this, my fingers strumming the strings on my guitar without any intent, and felt sad. Why would anyone insult someone they have never met? But he had thought this. Something made him think that. I know I am not intimidating so I asked if I looked snooty. He said no, I saw him as he was. Equal and present without playing the common role two strangers might play- uneasy, untrusting and unconcerned.

My wish. That we could naturally meet a person where they are in life and be okay with it. Role-less interaction. Meet them not as a “secretary”, “grocery store clerk”, “teacher”, “volunteer”, or “stranger”. But instead…meet them as a “person”. Person to person interaction. An attempt to first see the human in everyone, because at the end of the day, we are all the same, even though we may label ourselves or each other differently.

Intend to meet me where I am and be okay with it. I will try to do the same. Then we will have a conversation.

More Pics!!

This is a picture of the HUGEST but COOLEST catepillar I have EVER seen. There are tons of them all over the place in the hotel...apparently they eat the trees clean, which I have noticed and I am still amazed by it. And when you try to pet them, they try to bite you, as I soon found out...haha oops. As you can see, it is about as big as my finger and I swear they are real! How cool!



These are pictures of my room/ bed. We put netting up over the windows, but the bugs still get in so I put a net over my bed. It is not entirely necessary, but certainly does help, and I think its cool that I sleep in a sort of cocoon....haha The view from my bedroom window is yes, a jungle, without a house in sight :) We see very interesting wildlife (this morning I saw a hummingbird!!) and I love the huge window, especially because the sun wakes me nice and early (about 7:30) , which conveniently means no alarm clock and I wake freshly rested!

o yeah, for those of you who can see closely, yes bunny is there enjoying the view from my pillow as well. haha


If I have called you, I am usually talking to you as I sit at this spot, which is one of my favorite places at home. There is a great view of the city and the sunsets always display a beautiful array of pinks and purples, which is certainly a gorgeous sight.

Picking COCONUTS!!!!

So I was laying by the pool Friday afternoon when all of a sudden I hear this huge CRACK!!!! I jumped and looked around to see that a coconut, yes a coconut, had fallen from the coconut tree above the pool and splashed in about five feet from me. Now, imagine if I had been in the pool where that coconut had fallen...I would have been killed! Or at least knocked unconscious! So I am thinking that I may wear a helmet from now on when walking around Jamaica (Tim Rich's wonderful advice) I wonder how many injuries are caused by blunt force to the head from a falling coconut.....geez, this country sure is dangerous.

Well anyway, here we had this coconut and had no idea how to open it, so we found our dear friend Frank, who has worked at the hotel for at least the past fifty years. He knows everything about this place and we figured, would probably know what to do with this coconut. So we asked. He took the coconut and said "soon come", only to return five minutes later with a machete and a cracked coconut, ready for us to eat.

Now, for those of you who aren't familiar with eating coconuts from a tree, as I am now, I will give you a little lesson. When the coconut is picked from the tree, it has coconut milk in it, which you can drink, and then jelly inside that is delectable when scooped out and shoveled into your mouth. It makes a great little snack when you are hungry and dying of thirst and can usually be bought on the side of the road at a fruit stand for less than an American dollar. That is my favorite coconut and here I am drinking from one:


The one that fell from the tree into our pool was ripe, which meant the center was hard and is usually what we grate up into shaved coconut, but is good to chomp on as well. I told Frank how much I enjoyed the coconut jelly, which then caused him to again reply with "soon come", which meant he was going to climb a coconut tree for me to get me the jelly. Frank is certainly "the man!" Next thing I know, I see Frank, who is by no means a young fella, in a coconut tree, picking me a coconut with the water and jelly. This picture was taken in my "backyard", from my our roof/patio... if that is what you want to call it....haha




My favorite. He sure does take care of us, and we are blessed to know him and have him around. The next thing I knew, we had about six fresh coconuts in front of our house, ready to be drank/eaten or saved in the fridge for a cool snack later. I saved him some of our dinner and gave him some juice to show how grateful we are, because in this country, people show gratitude in food and I love it!

And here is the man himself, Frank, in a picture with Betsy and I with our matching PVI T-shirts! Yea monnnnnn

The view at dusk on my patio.....For my Jamaica 08 team, this is the patio where we star gazed when we lost power. Simply Breathtaking.....

My kitchen....yes, it is fully open to the elements and we commonly have lizards crawling on the walls and cats eating all of our crackers!! There is a fantastic view, however, and it is gorgeous during rain storms.

Mosquito Netting!

Here I am putting up mosquito netting in our bedrooms to keep all of the bugs out....even though it doesn't quite work like screens in the states....but it is all part of the experience :)

Lime Cay

The four of us at Lime Cay! For my Jamaica 08 crew, you know the beauty of this small island off the coast of Jamaica is indescribable.

Rain!!

These are the stairs down to my house. This was today when the sky opened up and it just RAINED!! Yes, my stairs turn into a waterfall and I have no other option but to charge right through!!! So fun!!

This is where I work in Devon Pen. I hike the road along this gully to visit families in the community. It is breathtakingly beautiful and I still cannot believe this is my life! I love Jamaica!

River swims :)

I went swimming in the river today with the kids. The sang, danced and hugged me ALOT :) It was really rejuvenating....the kids are just fantastic here.

This is the church I work in in Devon Pen! I love this mission already and am so excited to meet more people who live in this community. I attend mass here every Sunday at 11AM....It doesn't always start at 11AM though, and it commonly doesn't end until about 2PM....lots of mass

A family from Honduras that was a part of Bishop Neil's parish when he lived in Honduras came to Jamaica for the ordination. They were such a warm and friendly family, and allowed for some interesting interactions because they only spoke Spanish. Father Daniel (on the right) had the heartiest laugh I have ever heard, and most of our interactions involved laughing at each other as we atempted to communicate to each other. :)

Bishop Neil in Mandeville

We went to the Bishop ordination in Mandeville last week, which is about two hours away. The new Bishop of Mandeville, Bishop Neil Tiedemann, was a Passionist Priest and very close to the volunteer program so we were able to sit in the cathedral for the ordination and attend the dinner after, which was a huge honor. This is a picture of the new Bishop with the five of us volunteers.

Accomplishments this week:

I drove to mass on Saturday :) It wasn’t really too difficult, once I got used to the potholes, constant hairpin turns, high speeds, others passing you, and the fact that I was on the left side of the road and sitting in what has always been to me, the passengers seat. I basically talked my way through every intersection, reminding myself that I should be on the left side of the road and to not flip out because of the craziness that is surrounding me. The term “aggressive driving” doesn’t even capture how Jamaicans drive. It is a full body experience of being constantly alert, avoiding the other cars and people and goats while trying not to run yourself right into a gully. When I return to the states, my driving skills will have certainly improved.

I was laughing with one of the new volunteers, Lauren, as we discussed the driving in Jamaica. We have basically concluded that driving in Jamaica entails no rules or laws, just one general guideline: stay on the left side of the road. Every other rule is basically out the window. I mean, it’s a good idea to try to avoid falling into the gully (because there aren’t any guardrails), hitting other cars/people/bikes/potholes/random objects (like stray dogs, trash or goats), pass often and honk even more (usually to the rhythm of the music in the car), drive fast, and BLAST the music. If you make it home without getting into an accident, congratulations: YOU WIN! Haha..it is all a game

Speaking of music, one thing I really love about Jamaica is I feel like my life has constant background music. No matter where I go, even high up in the mountains, it never fails: some sort of reggae, dancehall, or even Celine Dion (they love her here) is blasting in the background of my life. I really love it.

We went to Lime Cay (which for my Jamaica ’08 team, you already know how wonderful it is). It is basically my favorite beach on earth because it is a small island off the coast of Jamaica. A fifteen passenger motor boat takes you to the island and you tell the driver what time to return to pick you up. The water is the clearest water I have ever seen and the island itself offers a number of places to sit and relax. I went for a walk around the island, which took no more than twenty minutes, and met a man who had found a star fish larger than his hand. Whoa. Totally cool. Towards the late afternoon a storm started rolling into the mainland. We watched from the island as it swept across the mountains and it got very windy on the island. It was so peaceful, natural and awe-inspiring. I just sat in the sand at the corner of the island, gazing at this wonderful storm, trying to meditate on it.

Once again, how did I get here? How on earth did THIS become my life?

Miss you all!

Friday, July 24, 2008

Hello to all those I love and miss,

First off, I want to really thank all of you for being such a wonderful influence on me in my growth throughout the years. Each of you has shaped who I am and helped me to formulate my values, opinions, and direction in life. You have had a huge impact on me being here so THANK YOU! I am trying to rediscover the beauty of letter writing, so please feel free to write me letters and I will certainly write you back :) Of course, emails are always welcome and phone calls as well, although you would need to buy an international calling card to call me. I am also going to periodically be updating my blog much more than I will be sending out emails….at least that is the plan for now. So feel free to check on my blog every once in a while for some pics, stories, thoughts and please comment

Jamaica is beautiful. I feel like I am on vacation here and I often catch myself wondering how I ended up in this place that reminds me of a Fern Gully daydream. This has been the most exciting, challenging, and exhausting beginning to any adventure. With new beginnings, many questions arise in my mind about how I want to personally challenge myself through living simply, spiritually, and accompanying the people of Jamaica. I figure this will be a balancing act and will figure this out as my time here progresses.

I have officially been a resident of Jamaica for a week as of yesterday and boy has the week flown by! We have been very busy with the old volunteers getting acquainted with the area and our mission. I am going to be working in a mission called Devon Pen. It is one of the four missions that each of us is assigned to. I visited Devon Pen twice so far and met some of the children and their families. Jamaicans are very welcoming and feed you every opportunity they get as a way of hosting you in their house. I have had the most delicious mango, which is my latest addiction, and other dishes that are simply to die for.

I am trying to get used to the weather, the amount of walking, the food and the basics like driving, taking buses, and trying to understand Patois, which seems very far from an English dialect. I am so excited about this year, especially when I think of all of the adventures I will encounter, the relationships I will form, and the moments that will sometimes break my heart or make my day. I cannot wait to be accustomed to the land, know where I am going, and understand those I work with, but the old volunteers say this will come in due time.

The old volunteers have been really wonderful to us while we have been here. I can only imagine how difficult it must be for them to leave the people they have grown to love, respect, and appreciate. Through witnessing their goodbyes, I can see how much they mean to each family they have grown close to during their time in Jamaica. Many houses that we visit have pictures of the families with former volunteers. It is so beautiful watching how real and genuine their interactions are and I hope at the end of my year, I have accomplished half as much as them. They have such a strong bond in these communities and will be remembered forever. Boy do I have big shoes to fill!

Okay, so yes, I have a funny story to share (If you have stuck it out through this entire email, congratulations and thanks!)

We helped to run a camp in King Weston (another mission) with kids ranging from all ages. When I introduced myself, instead of hearing “Amber”, the kids conveniently heard “Hamberg”. From this, one of the little ten year old boys decided it would be much easier and much more amusing to call me “Hamburger”, which obviously spread like wild-fire amongst all of the little ten year old boys. So now I am Hamburger. Hi, nice to meet you. (Ry, I know you are loving this) But just wait, it gets better. Later in the week after a very long day at camp, I was exhausted and sitting with one of the boys who call me “Hamburger”. We had just rolled down a nice hill and successfully did not fall into the gully (yay!) Apparently while rolling, my sweaty, gross self must have rolled over some small seeds because as we sat at the bottom of the hill tired, dirty and now dizzy, the little boy pointed to my shoulder and exclaimed, “Hey, Look! There are seeds on the hamburger bun” haha Oh Jamaica, you make me laugh!

Bless,
Amber

June 26, 2008

During my three week orientation in Pittsburgh over the summer, we were asked to write our own personal mission statement for the year. This was a challenging task and after much thought and reflection, I came up with the following mission statement, unique to my own goals and perspectives. Initially, I was not going to post this because it is very personal. However, I feel this statement sheds light on my preconceived notions and goals regarding my volunteer experience, which will help to shape how I interpret the year as a whole.

My Mission Statement

Go to the people.
Live with them.
Learn from them.
Love them.
Start with what they know.
Build with what they have.
But with the best leaders,
When the work is done,
The task accomplished,
The people will say
“We have done this ourselves.”
Lao Tsu- China 700 BC

My mission statement will be used as a reference tool to myself throughout the year to reflect on how I saw the world, interpreted the world, and loved the world pre-Jamaica in the summer of 2008. I expect this view to change as I learn and grown, for we are always learning and growing individually and collectively in response to this beautiful journey of life.

I found this quote in one of my favorite books, Love Poems from God (thank you Elyse)

"When you meet a person, you say to them, “Love Me”, maybe not aloud, but we all have this inherent desire to connect." As I embark on this journey in Jamaica, I will keep this quote in mind as a guide to help me in relationship, in prayer, and in life.

My Goals in Relationship: To-

• Focus on feeling, not fixing
• Look deep into the being of each individual to foster conversation of mind and heart as an act of living in solidarity with the people of Jamaica
• Empower individuals and groups through respecting the dignity of every person
• Be honest with myself and others to reflect on my worldviews and how this experience has challenged or confirmed them

My Goals in Prayer: To-

• Let myself fall into the hands of God and believe and trust in Gods will as an indescribable mystery
• Be aware of the moments God has been creative to make me smile
• Enjoy the living tapestry God has laid out in order to find peace and beauty amongst pain and suffering
• Have patience and allow my life to unfold as God pleases through his will

My Goals in Life: To-

• Make frequent acts of love
• Treat each day as a lifetime
• Love the earth. To imagine the fullness of life. To not tire of hope. To desire to fail. To envision justice and mercy.
• Recognize my small contribution as a part of a larger movement of peace and love.
• Take time to pause and notice.

My mission statement is what I will use throughout the year to regroup and refocus when I feel lost, hopeless or discouraged. I will use it as an aim and it is a work in progress, for I cannot imagine that in my year of service I will live out each goal fully. Instead, it is stating that which I strive to be.

I feel the goal I will have the most difficulty with falls in my prayer life. I am a practicing Catholic, and I will attend mass twice a week while here in Jamaica (once at the main church in Stony Hill and once at my mission church in Devon Pen). However, regarding my actual true beliefs, I am still working to find what feels right to me.