Fusion Caribbean Update May 2008
It has been quite a significant time of transition
since our last update, with David, Liz and Zoë Campbell returning
to Jamaica from Australia and Ashley Hansen (team leader in their
absence) moving back to Canada to prepare for her wedding to Matty
Coppin in July (congratulations guys!) However, in the midst of
these changes the momentum of the work has kept growing in both
the regular programs and the bigger events, so this update will
fill you in on that news.
A Growing Team
 Just
after the last update we had a "Friends of Fusion" evening
to bring together many of the people who we have been in contact
with help them see the bigger picture for each part of the work.
The team members outlined all the different aspects of the work
and some of the young people got to share how it had affected them.
At the end, a volunteer called Jackie spoke about not having any
purpose in her life until she started working at Kids Club, and
how much difference it had made to her confidence and self-esteem
to have a purpose. She has not done any of our training about the
importance of purpose, but it was just so obvious to her what had
changed in her life.
 At the team meeting just after David’s return, while the
team were reflecting on the work and what was significant about
it, Kay (from Central Village ) said simply; “It brings out
the me in me!”
Another new team member from the same community said that the
sense of belonging in each program was what made her keep coming.
I mention these because the team has been growing in number
lately, but it is their own words that say best why they have been
coming and what has been drawing them, and inspiring them to invite
their friends, to be a part of the work.
Easter
Having
those extra numbers was a very helpful thing at Easter, because
it was our busiest Easter yet in terms of the number of events.
After the prayer vigil on Thursday night into Good Friday morning,
we then had 5 festivals and 2 marches over 3 days touching 5 different
communities!
 On
the Saturday the Festivals were in Majesty Gardens, Trench Town
and just outside Montego Bay – all of them with over
400 people attending. The Montego Bay Festival was going well for
almost 2 hours until the rain came down so heavily that it had
to be stopped. Many of the people sheltered in the school, and
the teachers made space for the volunteers to keep playing games
with some of the children – so even then, people wanted to
keep some of the sense of fun and togetherness going. In Majesty
Gardens there was a problem with the P.A. but the festival still
went on and the children were much more peaceful towards each other
than at some festivals in the past, and in Trench Town a small
team worked well together to carry out a busy festival; nobody
wanted to leave when it was over and we had an army of children
helping to pack up all the equipment.
With so many festivals on
the same day we had to spread the more experienced team out which
gave some challenges, and meant that for Majesty Gardens and
Trench Town we were not able to create quite the open and relaxed
culture that was intended. In spite of that it was a great learning
experience for the team, and many people got to try out new roles.
One 12 year old girl, Janiel, who has been coming to the festivals
for 4 years was the face painting team leader, and she and her
team of 6 face painters ranging from 11 to 16 years old managed
to provide face painting throughout the whole festival. She was
so excited at being able to carry this important role!
 On Easter Sunday we had two marches, from Trench Town and Majesty
Gardens and both meeting up at another inner city community called
Payne Land to run a festival there. The children in each community
had painted banners at the Festivals on Saturday, and marched behind
these banners to the other community. It was the first time we
had done a march that took people out of their community altogether
and into another one to bring the message of hope and new beginnings
at Easter through the death of self interest and the coming alive
of care. With new volunteers now ready for more responsibility
and the whole team together again it was a much stronger event,
and really brought the entire community together.
 The tug of war
between the children and the adults got many of those watching
involved, and there was massive cheering from the high rise buildings
on all four sides of the venue when the children won … 3
times in a row! As we were leaving all the team were being asked
when we would be returning, so we have kept contact and some young
people from this community will be coming to the next day trip,
as well as some adults coming to see our kids club with a view
to starting one there.
 Then on Easter Monday we were in Central Village and had the
largest festival we have ever had in that community. This time
the churches were much more involved, which made a huge difference.
The highlight of the festival was close to the end when they broke
the Jamaican record for keeping the beach ball in the air; with
a time of 7 minutes and 40 seconds! To see the whole community
working together on this activity was a beautiful sight, and since
then more volunteers have joined in some of the regular programs.
Ongoing Work
 In some of the ongoing work we have seen a great response to
schools work, and young people calling each other out to the values
of “build people up, help people grow because people matter” even
when they are just in regular school time not just the lunchtime
program that we have been running. This month’s day trip
(May 10th) will be the first one with young people from the schools
work joining in, as well as young people coming from Payne Land – so
we have had to order an extra bus in order to have space.
 The Day Trips themselves have been going well – particularly
because of recently starting peer-leader training and including
some of the young people who have been coming for longer as leaders.
Last month’s day trip started well, but then torrential rain
came down during the second set of activities.
 So to improvise
some of the peer leaders just started a game of football in the
rain, and everyone was just having the time of their lives getting
completely soaked! At the end we were trying to get everyone together
for a game of ultimate Frisbee, but they were very distracted by
trying to slide the furthest on their backsides in the mud. The
peer leaders all rallied round and encouraged everyone to get involved
in Ultimate Frisbee, and it drew the whole group together for a
great finish to the activities. In spite of the rain several of
the young people said it was the best day trip they had ever been
on.
 With the basketball program we are entering a new phase, where
we are starting a separate training time for the 15 – 17
year olds and then getting them to help coach the 11 – 14
year olds. This new structure is due to start this month but we
have had positive response from the young people about the plans,
and it will be good to encourage them to keep contributing as well
as receiving from the programs.
 With Kids club it has been great to see the team growing almost
every week, especially as more people have been coming from Central
Village as they prepare to start a separate club there for the
children in their community. We had some festivals in a community
called Marverley last weekend and a team from there is also coming
to take part in the Kids Club to prepare to start one in their
community.  This month the topic is cooperation, and one 10 year
old boy said thoughtfully in the discussion time on the first week “the
world would be a much better place if everyone cooperated.” That
was where the discussion will point in the fourth week, but it
was good to see him understand the significance of the value just
from the first week. We also heard from people who live in the
community that kids have been telling their parents to keep the
values that they are learning at kids club with comments like; “Mum
you are supposed to treat others with respect”. They are
understanding how much of a difference these values make and now
they just expect everyone else to follow them too.
Coming Up… Please Pray
For
- In the next few weeks we are re-structuring some of the monthly
timetable to make room for more volunteer training and networking
as well, in order to grow the work and build on the momentum
that has been building over the past year. We are using the Kids
Club example to develop an ongoing program for Basketball and
Yard Flexx, so that each week will build on the previous one
more clearly, which will really strengthen the work locally but
also create a model that can more easily be reproduced elsewhere.
- New Kids Clubs will be starting in Central Village this month
and Marverley soon after that, and we are talking with some leaders
in Payne land about possibly starting one there as well.
- The day trip on May 10th will bring in young people from
Schools work and also another new community, but even with extra
space we still have more demand than we are able to supply because
of not yet having enough trained leaders.
- Our next major event (as in festivals) will be Emancipation
Day (August 1st) but we will be using the time of preparation
over the next 3 months to meet with several church and community
leaders to hear their heart for their community and help them
see the potential for this kind of community work to assist in
building towards those goals.
- Please pray particularly for regular finances for the ongoing
work. We can often find support for the major events but just
covering our administrative costs like print cartridges, rent,
phone bills etc is an ongoing struggle. We are also looking for
more office equipment like a fax machine (and are very grateful
for desks and a filing cabinet that we have just been told we
can have.)
- Also David and Liz’s 15-seater van has been the regular
vehicle for all the programs, so there is a clash any time they
need a vehicle and there are work needs, so are now looking to
get a family vehicle so that the van can just be for work. Please
pray for further provision for this.
- Of course it would be great to keep praying for Ashley and
Matty as they prepare to tie the knot, and the next steps for
their life together. Ashley is very much missed by the team here,
and young people come to the office every day asking if she is
around.
Thank you for continuing to take the journey with us, we have
been very conscious of being carried in your thoughts and prayers
through some of the more challenging times.
The Fusion Caribbean Team
- “We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just
a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of
that missing drop.”
- - Mother Teresa
Information and support
If you would like to receive information about how you can support the work of Fusion Caribbean either in prayer, by lending a hand, by telling others about us or financially then please contact us.
Tel: + 876 967 4738
david.campbell@fusion.org.au
7 Swallowfield Close, Kingston 5, Jamaica, West Indies. |
