I know it has been 10 days since my last update, sorry! This blog covers June 13th through the 22nd.
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| San San beach |
The week started in a very sweet way. We took advantage of our off Mondays and we went to Port Antonio, a beautiful and somewhat secluded beach in the parish or Portland. About a 50-mile drive from New Kingston; however, due to the terrible conditions of the highways and the fact that we had go around a mountain, it took us 2.5 hours. Emily did a great job on the way there.
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| A lot cooler than the Shaggy we actually saw |
We tried to crash a bed and breakfast by the beach, but management invited us to leave. We then decided to go to San San beach. It was awesome, clear turquoise waters, white sand and the beach just for the three of us… for the most part. After two hours on enjoying our “private beach” a bus with about 8-10 people showed up to disrupt our beach. Turns out it was Shaggy filming his a music video for his latest (hit?) called Sugar Cane. Emily and Aditi fixed their hair to go talk to him. I decided to relax by myself... while I was by myself a beach worker who claimed to be a close friend of Shaggy offered me some good ganja (weed) and some nice cocaine (benzoylmethylecgonine). I passed!
The next day at the office was great; I met with the manager of JYBT and we discussed the needs of their clients. I agreed to host a marketing workshop. So I started to work on it! My team at JYBT is awesome; however, they seem to be more interested in what I do on the weekends than what I could do for them and the entrepreneurs. Its funny!
Food in Kingston is very expensive. The food industry in Jamaica is loaded with inefficiencies. It is a lot cheaper to import foods than to grow it domestically. I think this is terrible for the local economy; if agriculture were properly ran it could significantly reduce the already high unemployment rate (17%). I’m getting the feeling that shopping in a Super Market is somewhat luxurious and probably that is why there are a lot of beggars right outside the supermarkets. To give you an idea of how expensive food can be here is my list for last week: Bread, eggs, ground beef, turkey meat, milk, a bottle of wine and a bottle of rum. $105 American dollars. Pretty expensive.
Last time I went shopping two kids approached me; I immediately assumed they wanted money so without listening I said “I’m sorry, I don’t have change” and kept walking. One of the kids responded: “We want to earn the money by helping you put your groceries in your car”. As I kept walking I noticed that one of the kids was starring at my bag, I felt very embarrassed because the bottle of wine and the bottle of rum were sticking out of my bags. Then I realized I had told a 9 and a 10 year old that I didn’t have any money after spending $105 in groceries (alcohol accounting for 1/3 of my bill) I felt so embarrassed!
Fortunately the kids insisted, I chatted with them for a minute or two. They told me their names; their ages and that they had not eaten dinner. I remembered that I bought a box of granola bars; I have it to them and asked them to share.
The drive back to my apartment felt weird. I was thinking that charity is not the proper way of addressing the needs of people in developing countries; I know that businesses have the responsibility to create jobs to improve the standards of living in the communities where they operate. But, what is the role of business when the face of poverty is a 10 year-old child? What is the best way to keep them in school and break the poverty cycle? I am fully aware that I won’t be able to fix anything in the 3.5 weeks that I have left in Jamaica but I am also fully aware that the experience I had with these two kids is going to stick in my mind for a while. Hopefully some day I can do something about it.
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| Emily later said "I would've peed on you If I had to" THAT is friendship :) |
The weekend came around and Emily and I packed a few beers and headed to Lime Cay (an island 4 miles away from the shore. We get to the island and we relaxed for a few hours. It was great! I offered Emily our very last beer and went into the ocean. While in the ocean I felt a lot of pain in my index finger, when I looked at it I noticed that I was bleeding and that there was some type of black substance under my skin. Yup, something stung me! As I was rushing out of the water the only thing in my mind was the episode of Friends when Joey had to pee on Monica’s foot because jellyfish stung her. This was the same exact situation except that Emily was going to have to do the peeing. Oh gosh, how do I even bring it up to her?!?!?! So, I get out of the water and I ask Emily if she has finished her beer, she says no. So I told her what had happened and asked her to drink up. I may need some of her… ammonia :) :) :). She has a few sips and then tells me “what if YOU finish the beer”. Those words were music in my ears… not only because I got another beer but also because I could use my own ammonia to ease the pain. Yup, thanks to a bottle of Red Stripe, biology and the gift of aim I was able to ease the pain on my own finger. Nice, I suppose. The next day Em, Aditi and I went to Ocho Rios. It was great, more beach, more drinks and we got to climb the Dunn’s river falls. One of the coolest things I’ve done in Jamaica.
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| Yup, we climbed it! |
That brings me to today... after 10 days working on my presentation I’m finally ready to host the marketing workshop at JYBT. The workshop was supposed to start at 9am but people showed up a lot later. By 10am I had a full workshop with about 16 entrepreneurs. The workshop was long very long; it lasted 5 hours. By the time I was done I was beyond exhausted! I think the workshop went very well, I was asked to share my slides with everyone (which I take as a good sign), the entrepreneurs were engaged, they asked questions and talked a lot about their businesses. At the end some of the students had some kind words thanking me for my time and the workshop. It is very rewarding to know that I am helping these people improve their ventures and, therefore, their standard of living. At the end of the workshop all of the participants received a certificate of participation. It was fun to hand the certificates out and take picture with every participant. It felt like a mini graduation. A few participants inquired about having one on one consulting time with me… I hope to get some more appointments and continue to help these young entrepreneurs. I’m having a good time doing it!
That’s all for now! I miss you guys!
P
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