Aug 12^{th (This is yesterday's blog that I wrote but unfortunately, we were having more technical difficulties. Hope you enjoy!)}

Hello all - Kathryn here! So today we started out today with VBS once again, although we organized our schedule to allot more time to stay for the whole session. We started out with songs (with crazy dance moves!) and then broke the kids up into different age groups. I was put into a group with Robert and Lisa with the kids from ages 9-12, and we got to learn about David being picked by God because He looks at our hearts and not our outward appearances. We then jumped into a craft of sheep masks and crowns (Thank you Burger King!) to represent David going from a shepherd to a king. The kids seemed to enjoy it by drawing sheep faces with their tongues sticking out. After that we just had hang out time with the kids. We didn’t really have a game planned but we didn’t waste the time. Two little girls showed Aaron and I this crazy little dance where you stick your “thumbs out, elbows in, knees together, butt out, head up, eyes closed” and you sort of wiggle your bottom to perform a very silly dance. Trust me, it’s AWESOME! Ask me when we get back, and I’ll show it to you - you will be impressed. J

From VBS we took a crazy twisty road through the jungle to Copse, a house for troubled teen boys. We unfortunately, had less than an hour to spend with them because the girls (including myself) were expected at Melody House, a home for abused girls at 2:00. The moment we got in the gate it was amazing to see all of the young boys, many of which were much younger than I thought they were going to be. The guys on our team started a soccer game with some of the older boys while the girls hung around just making small talk with some of the boys who didn’t feel like playing. We learned that there wasn’t much to do for them in the ways of entertainment, especially because school isn’t in session. They mostly spend their time making bead necklaces, bracelets, and rings from twine and small beads. They also have a TV with a DVD player but it sounded as if they had limited movies to watch. I met a boy there who was thirteen years old and had been at the facility since he was seven. I can’t imagine what he must have done at seven years old to be deserved to be sent to a facility where young boys are sent to be under government watch. The guys on our team are eager to go back to spend more time interacting with the boys, hopefully sometime this week.

From Corpse, we had to travel to the other side of the mountain to get to Melody House. We girls were dropped off there, and the boys were taken back to Fairhaven to paint second and third story exterior window sills for Mary. From what I heard, this involved a great deal of screaming on Geoff’s part, and in general many painted arms and legs. Meanwhile, we were led into a sitting room by a woman named Jean, and we were forced to wait for some length of time before she finally sent the girls in. At first, the girls came in and sat on the complete other side of the room and just stared at us. We tried to create a little bit of small talk, but it was a little awkward at first. To me it felt like there was an elephant in the room that nobody wanted to talk about, the elephant of abuse; during our short stay, however, it never really came up. We just tried to treat them like normal teenage girls. While we were chatting it up, I was just trying to put myself out there and be a little on the crazy side just so that maybe they would open up and feel more comfortable with themselves - hey, if she’s that crazy, I can’t be as bad as her. They seemed to really think there was something wrong with me at first (you should have seen their faces) but they soon began to think I was funny. Becky soon planted the idea of playing a game, and they jumped right in. We played a game somewhat like “Have you seen my Goat” (ask me when I get back if you don’t know) and that really helped to break down walls and get people to know more about each other. Then they taught us this awesome dancing game where you sing this song that goes something like, “There’s a brown girl in the ring- sha-la-la-la!” while a person in the middle does a dance move. The girls forming the ring then have to copy it, and then once the little rhyme ends the person in the middle has to pick a new person to be in the middle and the song starts all over again. I was the first girl out of our group to be picked to go into the middle and they started singing about a brown girl, but after a few moments they realized the words had to be changed to, “There’s a WHITE girl in the ring!” It was hilarious! It was an awesome game, we must have played it for what felt like hours. Watch out! Because I’m going to teach it to everyone I know! After that, we just walked around the yard for the bit talking about, you know, girly stuff: hair, boys, clothes, shows on TV, killing chickens for dinner. It was all good! We even tried some of the different fruit they had growing on their property. Sour plums are verrrrry interesting, let me tell you… but all in all, it was AMAZING! We all felt so happy and overjoyed as we left, and yet so very sad to leave our girls. We took a few pictures, however, and exchanged addresses so we could write to them. Unfortunately, we’re not going to be posting pictures on here of the girls, for safety purposes. We are hoping to squeeze in some more time this week, possibly tomorrow. It was a blessing to meet these girls and just hang out with them and have some girl time. J It was very rewarding because another woman named Clair who works there told us that these girls sometimes feel cut off from society being so far up in the hills without having many visitors. I just hope we can see them again before we leave. So far, Melody House has for sure been my favorite!

Just so you guys know, if you have any comments you can leave them here! We’d love to hear what you think of our adventures and labors here in Jamaica!