Starting the morning with worship and ending the day with reflection, JASY team prepared the University of Technology campus for the camp kickoff, and ourselves for a week of love and learning.
This morning we attended a church service in the chapel at our home of Stella Maris. The energy in the church was contagious. Our JASY Team was introduced to the church community and we were warmly welcomed with claps, handshakes, and blessings. In a church among so many locals and travelers, our different backgrounds and degrees of involvement in faith did not deter us from being engaged. We sang and danced along to the choir. After mass ended, numerous people approached members of our team to share their appreciation for our upcoming work and blessings for our group. We had a great amount of appreciation to share in return for the hospitality everyone has shown us since arrival.
We felt a part of the community here. We’ll take this energy, faith, and community building with us into JASY Camp, where Faith is tomorrow’s (Monday) theme of the day.
Preparing for tomorrow, we took our first trip of many to the University of Technology where we will be holding JASY Camp. We split up into our teams and specific venues (pool, Caribbean games, Olympic Village arts and crafts, soccer, and sport teams) but as some venues finished prepping, we transitioned to help others until everything for the camp was organized. During this process, our team was also introduced to the Jamaican volunteers we will work with to host JASY Camp. Many have volunteered for several years and continue to come back as mentors and role models for the campers.
After a day of worship and logistics, we took some time again to reflect on our progress and our work ahead. Worrel, who has been a friend of JASY for thirteen years, joined us for dinner. Worrel shared stories about some of the campers who will be joining us for camp which gave insight into the realities they face every day. With these stories in mind, he told us to focus on two main things we can bring to the campers this week: hope and opportunity. We discussed the importance of perspective, something that was touched on in this morning’s homily and echoed by Worrel. At camp, we can impart values of faith, teamwork, joy, and gratitude while working on building friendships between the campers. But we also have much to learn from the campers, as well.
Many of us have questioned, what happens after we leave JASY? Since we will only be with the campers for five short days, it was significant to hear from Worrel on the impact that JASY Camp can have on the campers and Riverton community. For example, turf wars are prevalent, often preventing a child from walking certain streets and more. JASY Camp has been able to bridge tensions, and for some time after each camp the children walk freely and remain friends.
It’s important for us to learn that we can’t change the campers’ circumstances but by instilling values, competencies and resiliency, they may have the hope to envision a new reality. That is our goal this week. Through listening, leading, patience, empathy, friendship, and a few camp cheers, we hope to make connections and find a new understanding across cultures. We will give each camper our attention and show them that they are capable of so much.
Take a look at our prep work at University of Technology today by viewing our daily video:
Stay tuned for more about JASY Camp this week!
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