Questions, Answers and Mailing Address

Hello family and friends,

Here are some questions I received and I have tried to answer them.

>>How small is “small” fishing village? it is about 7 or 8,000 people, but
>>the town has about three main north-south “arteries” and a few going
>>east-west. it is segmented in a few different communities: the housing
>>scheme is about 20 years old and has a few hundred lots. Another area of
>>town is called the Sekklement, meaning settlement. I should, but I don’t
>>know exactly the history of the town. What kind of fish? This is pretty
>>crazy, but I don’t exactly know all the different kinds. it is a fishing
>>village, but I think many people that live in the housing scheme (which is
>>where I am) maybe don’t fish.

>>Can you receive snail mail? yes, and my address is

Rachel McVey
c/o Suchet Loois
United States Peace Corps
8 Worthington Ave
Kingston 5, Jamaica
West Indies

>>Are you doing any reading? sometimes… I am reading S&H, and other CS
>>material because church for me is pretty rare right now. Recently, I just
>>finished a kids book that was around my house. I am wanting to buy Harry
>>potter and read it to my host family, but I don’t know if that will
>>work–their attention spans are very short :(, but maybe something will
>>work out.

Are you walking a lot? yes, but there is also a transportation system that
is affordable and works very well. it is called the taxi system, and it is
easy for me to understand but might be hard for me to explain, but I will
try.

there is a thing called a “route taxi” and it is ususally a man with a small
white car that in the States would seat 5 people. When I want to go home
after emailing, I will go to the area of taxis that are leaving for Old
Harbor Bay and look for a “red plate” taxi, because those are the registered
and legal ones (and insured). he will try and fill his taxi with as many
people (that are also going in the same direction) as he can. On certain
routes (like from Old Harbour Bay to Old Harbour and back) the car is not
usually that full, but on saturdays, when I have gone to market with my host
family mother, we have been squeezed up like sardines. the seatbelt laws,
as far as I can figure, only go as far as the driver and front passenger.
Last Sunday, my family and I went to a Jamaican-style carnival called
Denbeigh, and we squeezed 9! people into the car–5 adult sized people and
four kids, including my 12 yr-old host sister. THe same thing happens on
the bus–sometimes we have to fit five to a row when there are only four
seats, which makes for a shoulder-to shoulder and hip to hip ride, and
remember to hold your bag very close. So far, the one time that I had to do
that–riding on a public bus from downtown Kingston to Old Harbour, I sat
next to the head of the Police Youth Club for a city (May Pen) in the parish
(Clarendon) next to me. So that was a very good experience and a good
connection to make.

Is radio or TV available? yes, very much so. at 7:00 am everymorning, my
host family blares the news, and the TV is on for the family most of the
time. the most popular channel is the disney channel (my host sister loves
several shows…)

this past week, we took a field trip to Montego Bay (aka Mo bay) and had
some work and fun planned.
on Tuesday, we split into two groups and I had the fine priviledge of
working in both groups. In the morning, I worked with my group and we
covered a “soak-away pit” that is kind of like an underground septic tank.
so that was fun and intstructive and the family should be able to use it for
several years into the future. I learned the process of how to make a whole
lot of cement in one area and bucket by bucket we carried the cement to the
setup we had that we were covering. by setup, I mean, we had bamboo laid
down, and ontop of that, cement bags, and then the rebar grid we made. I
was part of the water crew and the cement bucket line–very important
positions.

We finished our project at about one o’clock, and went to see how the other
group was doing. We got there when they were just beginning to make lunch
so I decided to make myself useful and see what I could do for the other
project (cleaning and preping a catchement tank for it to be the next big
project for the PCV in the area. So, I got there, to the catchement area,
and the work at hand was cleaning up sweapt piles of loose dirt, weeds that
had grown in the cracks, and broken cement chuncks. it was humbling work,
but fullfilling at the same time. The person that I worked with was named
Antony, and he was a humble old quiet rasta man. we didn’t exchange very
many words, but we didn’t need to because we both had the same work
ethic–it is hot, and this might seem like small work, but it needs to get
done and we are working for a good purpose–the betterment of the community,
the community’s water, and ourselves.

anyway, I have been here for quite some time and I need to move on. I love
you all, and all prayers are welcome.
peace!
love,
Rachel