Fusion Caribbean Update January 2008

Here is some of our news from the end of last year and how 2008 is getting going.

Basketball

The 2 basketball teams from Trench Town and Majesty Gardens get together every few months for a match, and at the end of last year we had one of these events. After the match we took both teams to a beautiful river for a swim, followed by lunch and a video back at the house. The movie we watched was “Grid Iron Gangs”, about a jail that kept prisoners who had been involved in the street gangs in America. They were in there for killings and other crimes, except now rival gang members were in the same territory. The movie is about one of the Guards who wants to make a difference in their lives and help them to change, by starting a football team. His challenge is to get these young guys from different gangs to work together as a team.

There is this really powerful moment where the 2 fiercest enemies finally work together. One of them is running up with the ball and then in slow motion, you see his team mate run along side him to block anybody trying to tackle him. From the first guys view, you see his team mate turn around and catch a glimpse of his face. It is his enemy. That is the first moment that these guys have put aside their hatred for one another and worked together.

Why do I take so much time to say all this? Because at that moment in the movie, every single one of us, every young guy from Trench Town and Majesty Gardens all stood up and cheered at the top of their voices, fists in the air!!! There was something in their spirits that rose as they watched this. Half way through and at the end we asked them some questions about what they saw. We said "How did you feel at that moment when those guys worked together for the first time?" They said things like "Sir, it touched my heart" and "It made me feel good". We asked, "What would it be like if the community you lived in was like this, where enemies put down their guns and their hatred for one another and worked together?" They said "Sir, it would be so good" "It would be safe, you could walk down the street and not be afraid". There was something about the longing in their voices as they said this. This was not just a movie to them, this is everyday life, and they are longing for change to happen. We challenged them that they can make a difference in their community and that it starts with them. Their response "Sir, change is hard sir". They know the challenges they face to see things change, but we are challenging them that it must start with them. It was a beautiful time and something in them was stirred.
Written by Tim Shaw

When Ashley Hansen went home to Canada, she got some of the basketball team to write about what difference the program and “Yard Flexx” (a supporting program) had made. One of the young guys, Freddy, wrote this:

My name is Freddy, I attend the Waterford High School where I am now in the 4th Form. I live in Majesty Gardens where I live with my mother and sister. I don’t have a father because he is shot by gun man several times all over his body, but I forgive them for what they have done. Until I get into this basketball where they told me about Yard Flexx and I went and they’ve told me about some good stuff. How to be a man and how to control my anger. It helps me in many ways, its good. I think you should try it I guess you should try it and if you do you will see a change in your life.

Advent

Advent Pageants are a reenactment of the Christmas story, where the local school children get to be the stars and start the Christmas season off by bringing that message of hope to their community. This year Fusion held Advent Pageants in Australia, the UK, Nigeria, Canada, and for the very first time, Jamaica. We had 2 local schools involved, and in our preparation time with the children and then on the day, they were very excited.

With some children dressed as stars, others as angels, and also shepherds and wise men, Mary and Joseph led the march along one of the main roads in Trench Town! Arrangements were made to have a donkey, one that lives in Trench Town which we often see, but he wandered off in the morning and no one could find him... so our march was led by Mary and Joseph walking on foot instead. People from the community smiled when they saw the kids, a lady said 'Dem look real nice, real nice, good job!' as we walked past singing carols. Trench Town where we marched doesn't have big shops or inns, so our stops to ask for a place to stay were at a corner where one of our local mum's sells snacks and drinks, another little shop on a corner and then at a corner where men and young men sit much of the time to ‘guard their territory’. We approached them about a week before, explaining what we were doing and inviting them to be apart of it by saying ‘there is no room here’ when we come with all the kids and ask if there was any room at the inn. They were quite keen to do it!

We finished the march with a simple concert, with a few kids acting out the Christmas story and singing Christmas carols together, followed by a community festival.

Because of all the different people that were a part of it, there was a lovely sense of community—having teachers and students, shop owners, community leaders, people from local churches and even people from other communities that came to lend a hand. We're very grateful for their contribution!

Comings and goings

On the day of the Advent Pageant, we drove Tim Shaw to the airport to head to the UK for a couple of days and then to Australia. Tim was a part of all of our programs and team-life for 6 weeks. His experience and knowledge was a blessing to the work and team—we’re thankful for his contribution!

One of our local full time workers, Kevon McLeish, also went to Australia for 6 weeks to do further training in January, so to help keep things moving forwards Dave Mackenzie has joined us from Vancouver, Canada for 3 months. Dave has taken on our work in schools as one of his main responsibilities, so we are thankful for Dave taking on this important role as we begin a new aspect of the work here.

January Day Trip

The year started with a day trip, on January 5th, which was a great day except that the bus driver turned up 2 hours late. In spite of that it was the first day when some of the young people took on more of a leadership role, and they did an excellent job of helping it be a positive day for everyone else who came.

Kids Club

Kids Club has been going really well! It has grown to about 30 kids on a regular basis, and they continue to take on the values more and more. Some of the team that live and work in Trench Town were sharing that they have been encouraged by the change they're seeing in the kids even outside of kids club.

Each week it seems like our ‘set up crew’ grows, as the kids come and want to help to get everything ready. One of our values is 'Be a helper’, so it is encouraging to see them doing just that. There is also now a regular group of 2 and 3 year olds, when the program is meant to 4 to 11, but the team is looking at how we can care for them and make them a part of the program in a way that is helpful for the whole group.

Yard Flexx

This year Yard Flexx has started well, with about 12 committed members. One week we looked at what our hopes are for our communities and how we can be a part of making a change. When asked if they believe that there can be change in their communities there was a very strong 'yes' response! Excitement rose when looking how a transformed Trench Town and Majesty Gardens could bring hope to other parts of Jamaica and the world. As we looked further at practical things we can do to contribute to transforming our communities—they really seemed to see how they can be a part of it. About 6 of them have helped us plan the last 2 day trips and are now taking on responsibilities as peer leaders. They are doing well and enjoy being creative with ideas and then doing the work of making the day trips happen. They have so much potential! Please pray for them and us as we continue to support and mentor them to live out that potential and the unique story God has for each of them.

Around Jamaica

We recently went to John's Hall (outside Montego Bay) to connect with our friends there that we worked with to put on community festivals during the Cricket World Cup and at Easter last year. We visited the orphanage that our team stayed at, which is an amazing place and is bursting at the seams right now. Then we met with people from the community and they are keen to work with us to put on an Easter festival again this year.

Prayer Points

As we work the get back into the flow of things we’d ask for your prayers for a few different things…

• Please pray for Kevon in Australia doing the beginning of the Certificate III youth and community work course.
• For Dave Mackenzie as he settles into life and the work here.
• For our team that we would be able to re-engage with the story that God is writing through Fusion here in Jamaica and for the team to grow as the work grows.
• Liz, David and Zoë will be returning in early March, please pray as they prepare to return and we prepare to welcome them back.
• For the commencement of schools work, that we have enough team and wisdom as we work in this new environment and seek to meet the needs of the students and teachers.
• Continued prayer for our Trench Town Research project
• For the young people we are working with we’ve noticed some old behaviours and habits since the Christmas break from the programs—pray that our regular contact with them would help them to keep making more healthy choices.
• Please pray for Jamaica on a whole. There has been an increase in violence in the country on the whole, and also in Trench Town. Last week we weren’t able to have our Kids Club program because there was shooting at 11:30am, when normally shooting would be early morning or in the middle of the night. There are many people dying all around the country on a regular basis, which we see really affecting people. Christmas this year, particularly for the inner city people, was not pleasant—please pray for these communities and those of us traveling in and out of them and working with the people on a regular basis.
• Pray for our Easter preparations—we will be holding Festivals in six communities this year, and on Easter Day the children from Trench Town and Majesty Gardens will march to another community called Payne Land to serve them by putting on a festival for them. This is very significant, as the children from two troubled communities carry the hope of new life at Easter to another needy community.

Thank you for standing with us. We will keep you informed as we keep moving forwards throughout the year.

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

ashley.hansen@fusion.org.au

7 Swallowfield Close, Kingston 5, Jamaica, West Indies.