One thing Renee likes to do is play to the strength of the volunteers. Katie from Australia is a qualified first aid teacher; thus two days were scheduled to run a first aid course in Treasure Beach for local fisherman. It was part of an island-wide initiative to enable community members to act as ‘first response’ after a disaster. We were well prepared; Katie had her lesson plan, the bandages had been accumulated, and we were off to Treasure Beach at 8am. The journey would take just under an hour. Just as we left, Renee got a phone call. She came back to report to us, sitting in eager anticipation in her pickup truck.
“Ok, so there’s good news and bad news.”
“What’s the bad news?” asked Katie apprehensively.
“The fishermen aren’t there.”
“WHAT?! Where are they?”
“They’ve gone fishing.”
“Oh… when will they be back?”
“Next week.”
“Right… “said Katie in disappointment. Katie and I would be back on our respective continents by then. “So what’s the good news?”
“We’re still in Black River.”
So there was a two day project out of the window.
Luckily, the one other project that was scheduled went ahead; whilst Katie and Philip gave their long-awaited first aid demonstration at Santa Cruz infirmary, Alison and I headed off to Brogues to give a presentation to a summer camp of students on disaster causes and prevention. Alison is a fellow geographer here doing a dissertation on disaster management, so has the relevant expertise, whilst I was the glamorous assistant. Luckily, it went very well; the crowd of over one hundred young people seemed responsive and applauded enthusiastically. Hopefully, this one task helped to empower a small part of Jamaica’s next working generation on what to do if emergency strikes. That can be one legacy of my time here of which I can be proud.
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