In September I went back to the family yard in Spanish Town to see the family I had met four monthes earlier.  CLICK HERE to read how and when I originally met them.  Now when I read that old post it seems odd to me that I focused so much on calling it “the ghetto” because it seems so much more normal now.  I’ve become part of that family and it’s just life.

As usual my FAVORITE part of going back to Spanish Town are the girls.  I couldn’t wait to see how the baby had grown and I knew she’d started walking since my last trip.  And the two older girls are just pleasant and sweet and I really like spending time with them.

There were so many favorites on this trip back to the yard.  I couldn’t wait to give the girls their giant coloring books I brought for them, and after I did they were busy the rest of the day competing to see who colored inside the lines better LOL.  Another of my favorite things was the baby gate!  Now that the baby is on her feet they had to be able to contain her somehow….hence the homemade baby gate.  And WHY do we spend so much money on fancy kid stuff??

There’s an ackee tree in the yard so on the menu for today was ackee and saltfish, my all-time favorite Jamaican meal. And the best part was cooking over open coals….the stove was out of propane today so we were cooking outside. I love the smell of coals, it reminds me of camping.

Late in the afternoon a carload of my friends came by to hang out for the afternoon, I’d be going back to Claremont with them later in the evening. And another brother and the father, whom I didn’t meet the first time, also joined us. It was a pleasure meeting them both, yet I still never got to meet the mother because she was at work. I did get the chance to talk to her on the phone again, and we keep saying “next time”.

Me with the family - 3 brothers and dad.

It was a great afternoon in Spanish Town but we weren’t staying. We had already planned on going back to Claremont that evening. I was a little upset because I would have liked to spend more time so I promised next trip that I’d stay for a couple days for sure.

The ackee was fabulous as usual, the rum was flowing and the company was great. We all visited til well into the evening but eventually we had to hit the road. We had about a 1.5 hour drive back to our place and had other plans this night. I said my goodbyes and everyone walked us out to the car to see us off. I got to see the Coke truck that the oldest brother drives for work, parked out front LOL. Then my friends, my man and I all piled into the car and we hit the road…..until next time.

Since everyone wanted more on the Spanish Town experience I thought I’d share something cool I saw there.  My ghetto boys are opening a shop!  I don’t know how great this will be for you but for me I was really proud of them!  It shows a lot of motivation in these tough economic times.

Before we got to Spanish Town one of them had told me about this game shop that he was going to open and kept mentioning a “container” that they had.  I didn’t really get what he was saying so he said he’d show me when we got to Spanish Town.  The next day when we got there we went for a walk over to GC Foster College and there it was….the container.  NOW I know what they meant….it looked pretty much like a car from a freight train.  Jamaica’s weird LOL.

Outside of container

They’ve been leasing this space for about a year while they painstakingly build and renovate the inside.  Its been taking them so long because of course, money is an issue.  It takes money to make money so they’re doing a little at a time on the inside.  When they opened the door I could see the brand new carpentry going in, they’ve built a store front of shelving inside which is still incomplete.

Building shelves inside shop

Shelving and back door

They told me this is a joint venture between all the brothers, they all have a little piece of it together.  They lease this container and actually a lot of land surrounding it.  The combined idea is to sell food and drink in the front part of the shop and there’s a space at one end where they’ll have a game shop….people come in and pay to play video games.  Apparently this kind of stuff flies there because people can’t afford to own game systems of their own.

Game side of shop

If you know anything about Jamaica you would know that practically ANYTHING can be made into a business with little effort.  In my opinion this idea is pretty genious because the shop is located directly across the street from GC Foster College which is full of students who will spend money eating and game playing!  So I asked them what’s their major obstacle right now and they of course, said money.  They need to finish the carpentry and want to lay some tile on the floor.  And for the games portion of the shop they need the game systems and TV’s.  That spawned my first bright idea…..the X-Box and 50 or so games that have been collecting dust in my house for years.  I immediately told them they could have it.  And actually just today,  it should be arriving in their hands via a good friend of mine who just left for Jamaica.  I’m SOOO exicted for them to get it!  As for the rest of the shop I’ll be phoning one of the brothers this weekend to find out what kind of progress they’re making.

And the last cool things about this spot….since they have a good portion of land surrounding the shop, in the future they want to put a car wash on one side and hold street parties there occasionally.  Again, if you knew anything about Jamaica you’d know they’re CRAZY about keeping their cars clean and they’re always looking for a good street dance!

You go boys!!!!   I’ll post updates and grand opening news down the road!

This post has more pictures than usual because I really wanted to show what kind of experience I had in the “ghetto”. When I got there it only took minutes for one of them to tell me I suit the ghetto.  In a strange way I was honored.

A couple friends of mine who stay in Ocho Rios invited me to their REAL home in Spanish Town, in the parish of St Catherine.  I agreed without hesitation, not knowing really what I was in for.  We drove just over an hour and reached their home after dark so I never got the full effect til the next morning.  This is a picture of the front yard and behind those walls is where 9 of them live.

Spanish Town ghetto

The night we arrived I was first shown to my host’s room.  All the rooms in this home have separate, padlocked entrances.  His room was around the back of the house which was pitch dark at night.  I followed them in and used the flashlight on my cell phone to see where I was walking.  The next morning I could see that this is what the walkway looked like.

Back of house in Spanish Town

When we arrived we all sat in one room and chatted for a while, and before long one of the brothers who lived in another room came to join us.  Through the wall I could hear the sound of an infant child so I asked about it.  The brother told me it was his daughter in the next room and asked if I’d like to see her.  I TOTALLY wanted to!  He led me around the front of the house to another door and inside I saw his girlfriend and 3 girls, aged 8, 6 and 6 months.  The baby immediately smiled at me and the other two girls looked cautious.  I quickly scanned the room and noticed that in this 20X20 space was a double bed for the mom, dad and baby, and the other two girls slept in a single bed together.  There was a TV on a shelf, a stove in the corner and that was pretty much it.  Wow.  It made me feel greedy the way I live back home.

Back in my friend’s room now I scanned his space.  Just a double bed, dresser and a laundry basket.  This is looking out his door into the dark walkway.  That walkway is also the place where they told me to pee when I had to go LOL.  There are no washrooms or running water here.

We all stayed up a while listening to music til another brother showed up.  He was a real livewire compared to the others I was with.  I suspect he’s the hothead of the family.  He was really nice to me though, and all of them agreed that they were going to take me to a street party in a garrison tonight.  I was hesitant but mildly amused at the thought so we all got dressed and hit the streets.  I admit that there were a few moments walking the dark streets of Spanish Town after midnight with 3 Jamaican men, that my mind wandered to the list of things that could go wrong at any time!  I said a little prayer for safety and decided to enjoy the walk.

The street party was actually pretty lame LOL.  It shut down about 20 minutes after we arrived.  I was a little disappointed but kind of impressed that they told me the police like to keep things quiet and keep parties under control.  Not what I was expecting.  So there we were at 2:30am in the streets of Spanish Town trying to catch a taxi home.  Well this place isn’t like a tourist place….taxi’s are not abundant.  We ended up catching a ride with a random car that passed, and I think they only stopped because they saw a white female in the group.

The picture above is the room I got to sleep in.  Its their mother’s room but the mother works away from home so there was an extra bed for me.  I felt honored they would let me have her room.  One of the guys stayed in there with me for my comfort level and we shared the space with the odd spider on the wall behind  us.  We laid awake and chatted a long time, til about 4am.  It was at that point he told me he felt honored that I would accept their invitation to come there, and that he felt like “somebody” because I came.  I couldn’t help it…..I cried.  And I wondered if he was in any way embarrassed of where he came from.  I told him the total reverse….that I was the one who was honored to be a part of their everyday lives.

The next morning I was awoken at 7:30 by the sweet sounds of a cooing baby through the wall.  The door to the room I was in was open to the outside and everyone was already busy about their day.  I saw one of the brothers preparing bath water for the baby.

I went outside and said good morning to everyone, including the little girls from the night before.  I did a lot this day but I’m saving some of it for another post.  I will tell you that around lunchtime they were gracious enough to ask what I would like and they would go to the market.  So I turned it around and said I would like to take care of lunch.  I wanted curry chicken and I gave them $1000 JMD to get what was needed at the market.  $1000 JMD converts to about $15 USD…..and that fed 9 people.  Amazing.  Everyone voted this brother the best cook so he took care of lunch.  Prepared outside on this table and cooked inside on their gas stove.  I was completely in my element here….loved it.

While lunch was being prepared I took note of how things went in this yard.  There are big barrels of rainwater all over the place and this is their drinking, cooking and bathing water.  They simply scoop water from the big barrels into small tin cans and use it for whatever.  Whenever I squatted behind the house one of them was always gracious enough to pour water over my hands to wash.  And one of them was bathing from a barrel on the other side of the yard while lunch was cooking.

Blue water barrels at side of house

Bathing with a tin can.

My summary of this experience….I was in complete awe that they all function normally and the only reason they are “poor” is because we look at them and say “awwww those poor people”.  Everyone right down to the 6 year old has it completely together here!  The little girls take care of the baby while the dad cooks.  They know how to hang laundry.  This is just the way they live and they don’t seem to be upset that they bathe from rain barrels.  Its all just what you’re used to and we are REALLY spoiled in North America.

Even though I was hot, sweaty and felt kinda gross without a shower I would do it again in a heartbeat.  In fact I’m going back to see them in September.  The chicken was some of the best food I’ve eaten and no, I didn’t get sick from eating in these conditions.  My friends have a really old laptop so I uploaded ALL the pics I took of them and the kids so they would have something to look at.  I can’t imagine raising children and never having any photo’s as keepsakes.  I can’t wait to go back and see the baby walking a few months.

This was by far, one of my most treasured experiences in Jamaica and I will definitely be going back.