Sunday

After a short 1 ½ hour flight from Fort Lauderdale, we deplaned in Montego Bay at the city’s newly expanded airport. While the rum shack that used to greet visitors is no longer there, the efficiency of the system more than made up for it. Our bags were waiting for us and clearing immigration and customs was a breeze. We were even able to check into our hotel in a beautifully-appointed room at the airport!

Our host, Dr. Beverley Scott, was waiting for us outside with a large grin and hugs all around. The ride from the airport to the hotel was filled with chatter about the Family and Parenting Centre and the upcoming week. What were the desired results? What did we intend to do? The trip to the hotel was quick, as the old winding pot-holed road has been replaced by a lovely new divided highway.

We had planned our trip to arrive with the afternoon before us. We knew this would probably be our only chance at playing tourist. So, after securing our bags in our rooms, we headed over to the Hip Strip – the street of restaurants and shops. In the hour and a half before the shops closed, we grabbed lunch, watched young men playing king of the mountain on large inner-tubes in the bay and faithfully did our part for the Jamaican economy!

Monday

The day was over-subscribed. Our hosts expected 60, and more than 70 spent at least half a day with us . Fortunately, arrangements had been made to hold this session at a function room in a local hotel, rather than try to squeeze everyone in at the Family and Parenting Centre.

Prior to our coming, we suggested that Day One be open to various stakeholders of the centre. We wanted the chance to help them craft messages to take into the community from their unique perspectives. Still, as we began introducing ourselves to the early arrivals, we were surprised to find out that the majority were clients. Most of those were young people in their ‘20s and early ‘30s living with HIV/AIDS. A couple of them even had pre-schoolers in tow. Clearly, we would have to shift gears. Robyn did a masterful job of this, getting everyone, even the little ones, involved.

Dr. Scott had arranged for several dignitaries to bring greetings. This included the Acting Custos Rotulorum, or Chief Magistrate Enel Brydson, and the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Paul Stanton. Both stayed beyond the time that politeness dictated. Mr. Brydson stayed and actively participated until 1:00 pm when we broke for lunch, saying he had no intention of doing so, but found the morning so interesting he was totally unaware of the passing hour. In attendance for a part of the day was also Sheena Gayle, a reporter for the Gleaner, the oldest newspaper in the Caribbean. Prior to leaving, she interviewed Terrie about the project and the results we hoped to achieve during the week. She wrote up an article that made the front page of the paper the next day.     Closing out the afternoon, we asked what people had gotten out of the day. The answers were powerful, shared as they were by everyone including a 13 year-old girl who entered the Family and Parenting Centre with low self-esteem and anger management problems and now felt confident in standing before this large group of strangers, as well as a young man with AIDS, left to raise a six year-old son after his wife had died of the disease. Speakers jockeyed for the chance to come up to the microphone and offer their personal valentine to Dr. Scott, the centre, Robyn or all three. However, this session was capped by a 15 year-old who expressed her feelings in a powerful and deeply moving song that brought several to tears.

Tuesday

We jumped in the car and Dr. Scott took us to the Family and Parenting Centre, where the rest of the sessions would be held. Our hotel was a bit out of town. We found the drive in fascinating as we passed goats grazing and people sitting in the middle of the median digging – not too strenuously – at weeds. We were told that we were not seeing diligent effort since many of these jobs were patronage jobs. Once we hit downtown Montego Bay, the pastoral scene shifted to masses of people and cars, each trying to find a bit of space in which to move. School children – their ages easily ascertained by the color and design of their uniforms – walked in packs among the throngs.

The centre’s offices were on the first and second floor – if you count European style – of a large building that also housed a small university, professional offices and even apartments. Among the centre’s assets is a large bank of computers. The centre used to allow individuals to rent them, until it was discovered that some unscrupulous people were using the equipment to run scams.

 

 

This day was devoted to the topic of board roles and responsibilities, as well as techniques for better board engagement. Terrie provided a lot of practical take-home information not only to the board and staff of the Family and Parenting Centre, but to potential board members for this organization and board members and executive directors of organizations that had a collaborative partnership with the centre.

 

At the conclusion of the day, Dr. Scott shared that while she originally had hoped to get a financial grant when she first connected with FAVACA, just these first two days had already proven to her that had the centre gotten a million US dollars, the lasting impact would not be nearly as great as the information she was getting.

Wednesday

Devoted to redrafting a new mission and vision and coming up with value statements, goals and specific plans for forward movement, this day was restricted to the board and staff of the Family and Parenting Centre. Like many organizations, the centre had a mission and vision that nobody could repeat and few could explain clearly. They were long and restricting. The new mission – restoring family values to build a strong nation – is powerful, easy to remember and broad enough to allow the centre to take on a variety of activities. It is also important. Just one example: While we were there, we heard and read about companies bringing in foreign workers because they feel Jamaicans lack the necessary work ethic. If Jamaicans are to get their fair share of the jobs, the values around working hard have to change.

Lunch was special this day. Dr. Scott had gotten up at 5:00 am to cook barbeque chicken for us. She thoughtfully kept the spices “mild” to suit our wimpy American palates.

As the day drew to a close, the group bid Robyn a fond farewell. They presented her with a plate with a picture of the Jamaican island nation and a lovely note. Dr. Scott insisted Robyn stand on a table to receive the gift, so as to “stand tall” as she had done for the last few days. Perhaps this was a reference to a poster that we saw hanging in Dr. Scott’s office, that hit all of us, but particularly Robyn who mentors in the schools in Florida. The title of the poster was “No more ‘smalling up’ of me,” and it contained a poem written by a young Kingston boy who decided to take responsibility for his own sense of self-esteem.

 

Thursday

Gail was up today. She played to a full room – validating what everyone seemed to intuitively know – that the events they had been doing for little profit were not the way to go. She gave them many ideas to try instead and helped them come to grips with donor motivation.

At the end of the day, Gail was feted with song, a clock in the shape of Jamaica and a dance that had her swinging her hips and twirling around when others put their finger on top of her head.

We came back to the hotel to find our associate Bentonne Snay who would be doing the grant writing session the next day. Dr. Scott followed shortly after so that we could conduct a phone interview with Michael Cuffe, who has a radio program on Power 106 FM entitled Western Focus that is broadcast across the nation. We had the opportunity to speak about a new program the Family and Parenting Centre is initiating and how this five days of workshops sponsored by FAVACA would enhance that. Dr. Scott then joined us for a leisurely dinner where we wound down after a long week.

Friday

When we were first contacted by FAVACA, we were told that the client, the Family and Parenting Centre, wanted training in grant writing. Like many organizations, it saw grants as its salvation. Unfortunately, grants are not a good source of sustainability. Thus, we had convinced the group to look more broadly at capacity building. However, we still wanted to meet the need for good training in grant writing. One of the women summed up Bentonne’s session later that afternoon when she said, we’ve been to many seminars on grant writing, where we’ve paid a lot of money and never got as much information, presented a clearly as we got here today.

As Bentonne took the group through the various steps of the grants process, Dr. Scott and Terrie slipped out to meet with Lloyd B. Smith, president of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and the owner of The Mirror Newspaper. We wanted to suggest the need for more interaction between businesses and NGOs in Jamaica. We talked about the value to businesses if organizations like the Family and Parenting Centre were supported. For instance, if the NGOs could teach skills along with the values and work ethic needed to succeed in business, employers would benefit from a stronger work force. Mr. Smith was already thinking along these lines, and he vowed to further the conversation.

As the Friday session wound down, the participants each got up and shared how much they had received from the opportunity to be a part of the experience. Those from other organizations committed to working more closely with the Family and Parenting Centre in the future. In fact, one person who runs her own NGO will write a grant proposal for the centre. Those who had been invited to join the board but had indicated they needed to know more, agreed to work on behalf of the centre, even if that might not be through the board.

The thank you this day included a lesson in Patois – the dialect found throughout Jamaica. Then Terrie and Bentonne were each presented with memories of this very special experience that will go up in our offices.

The most impactful thank you, however, was knowing that Dr. Scott had already scheduled a meeting with her board and staff for first thing the next week to go over everyone’s notes in relationship to the pages and pages of flipchart notes in order to build out the plan we started and to prioritize all activities in line with that.

 

 

Saturday

All too soon we were flying home – back to our everyday lives. However, we have committed to staying in touch. What an inspiring organization!