Week 1: Crunchie Munchie
Everything in Jamaica is expensive but I’ve decided that I will be treating myself to Devon’s House famous ice cream once a week so I can blog once a week. It is going to be my motivation! The goal is to go through every flavor on their menu!
Tip: Every Monday/Tuesday- it is $50 off! Local knowledge only
My first flavor is “Crunchie Munchie”. It has a taste of brownies, pecan and caramel in it! I love how much they give you for your one scoop!
We had our first week in the office and the content that I have gone through has been so heavy on the heart and brain. As mentioned, I am working with the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVC) which is a coalition of community leaders and non-governmental agencies that are advocates and service providers to the Caribbean population – specifically those vulnerable to HIV infection or forgotten in access to treatment and healthcare programs. Their population market includes men who have sex with men, sex workers, people who use drugs, orphans and children that are vulnerable to HIV, migrant populations, persons in prison and ex-prisoners and youth with difficult circumstances around them.
There are a lot of legal repercussions for the LGBTI (there is no Q in Jamaica) community and homosexuality is against the law. These groups are subjected to a high level of stigma and discrimination. CVC essentially works to remove the barriers of stigma and discrimination in hopes to additionally reduce the prevalence of HIV among key populations. The CVC works to take action on local, national and regional levels. They are the recipients of a global fund project to develop model programming for preventing HIV among vulnerable groups in Trinidad, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, and Suriname.
There are many different campaigns/communication/advocacy/mobilization activities all working at one time which is amazing to read about. CVC’s board of directors and staff members are all passionate individuals with years of experiences. Our current director is Dr. Carolyn Gomes whose biography is quite a read with her sense of justice. She was a founding member of the Jamaicans for Justice organization and received a United Nations Prize in the field of Human Rights and the Order of Jamaica. I feel very honoured to have this opportunity to be with them
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The first thing I noticed when I came into the office was a sign in the front area “You have entered a non-discriminatory area”. This is important to show how its office culture values safe space and a safe environment. We also don’t have a sign outside the office which I wonder if it has to do with safe space as well. We talked about this in training with organizations that have the name AIDS or HIV in their name creates a stigma around the individuals who visit the office. These individuals may not feel comfortable or safe walking into an office called AIDS because they would be looked upon by pedestrians and fear the judgement. This reminds me of the lessons learned in Global Health Promotion and Health Communication at Western University taught by Prof Donelle. Words, communication, advertising are all important factors when creating these spaces.
Our office culture is quite formal but lax. Monica described the office as – we don’t know the definition of fun” which I think is quite wrong! In this one week, I have learned so much about each of them and their unique atmosphere. We had a staff meeting on the first day and what I saw was a cohesive office culture. They all “check in” before the meeting where they have to explain how they are feeling from the weekend, the work, etc. They each go through updates of their work progress and then they “check out” to show whether they are still feeling stressed about the work or relaxed. I love that. I really do. It is so important to have the same environment to be open about your feelings about your job.
I’ve been going through the different projects that they have and making sure the reports are up to date. Most of what I have read so far deals with sex workers and the outreach officers who try to connect with them. Sex workers are afraid to take condoms because they fear police will arrest them for holding condoms because it is an indicator of being a prostitute. This increases the chance of HIV/AIDS because they will have sex without a condom as it is a source of their income. Reading this just makes me so worried for the future because how can we help if the stigmatization is so great? Advocacy and action will be important players for the future.
In terms of living in Jamaica, I was feeling very worried about the budget. A bag of black pepper cost over 10$ Canadian for something that would cost 1$ Canadian. I’ve changed my eating habits and for a while I was nervous to buy meat because it would be too expensive. I was actually eating rice, soy sauce and butter for the first few. I’ve managed to recalculate my costs and am eating properly now. Learning how to shop local and substitute ingredients that one is used to is the way to success.
My daily routine consists of work, pool, dinner, tv and sleep. Its not much but the crime rate as I mentioned is high here so going out for a walk across the street after 6 pm is not recommended. I also realized that every Asian is called “Ms. Chin” here. Whenever I have been walking to work or home, people have been saying Ms. Chin, Ms Chin” and I had no clue they were talking to me. I realized it after I noticed it was just me that was being called Ms. Chin that it was a thing to do here. Its hard to say whether that is them being racist or not. I do stand out like a deer in headlights and often hear konichiwa but I am learning to ignore it. The hardest is catcalling- some of the things they yell from their cars are just crude. I am learning to tune it out as it is simply easier to block out the noise (Jamaica is also known for loud honking constantly).
I am missing home a lot. My brother and my new sister-in-law had a city hall wedding on Monday which I missed out on. Thankfully for the delivery of flowers in this day and age, I was able to send them a little gift to celebrate their day with them. My mom and dad have been calling me every day which has helped with the homesickness. Time will tell but my heart is already counting the days until Christmas.
On the bright side I have done a lot of research in my spare time and really started looking to make a list of where I want to go visit while I am here. Yesterday J and I went to the Bob Marley Museum and I have never been much of a follower but man- his story, his music and being at the museum was a motivation to me to start following his songs. We bought a smoothie known as Get up Stand up which contains irish moss. It was recommended in our tour but the man behind the counter was very shocked we ordered the drink. It was a drink made for males to improve their sex drive. It tasted really bland though but I am glad I tried it. We also went exploring on the streets – IT IS SO HARD TO CROSS THE ROADS HERE. The lights don’t make sense, half the pedestrian lights don’t work and the cars will NOT stop for people. Pedestrians abide the cars, not cars abide pedestrians. We stopped by the King’s House and the security guard told us a bit of the history. We weren’t allowed in as it was actually a government official’s home. He started getting flirty so we left and went home.
I am not going to lie- you all know that I am a person that likes to keep busy, go on crazy adventures and shoot for the moon- but I am so bored at times! Everything closes at 6 or 7 pm so by the time we get home from work, there is nothing to explore. I really have to make friends with the locals because they don’t have advertisements for stores on a website that you can find on google. People just know where things are and what is happening. I’ll slowly make friends, I’ll slowly get comfortable to walk outside. I know it’ll take time but I hope I can get the confidence soon! Scared or not- I will adapt!
