Fusion Caribbean Update July 2007

It’s been another great month! We’ve been keeping busy with the regular programs as well as gearing up to run festivals in different parts of Jamaica to celebrate Emancipation Day and Independence Day. We also welcomed some new team as well!

Kids’ Club

The program started off with about 25 kids attending and has now grown to around 35 kids attending each week. The team has been working together to prepare resources and the theme presentations that we do each week which focuses on a value such as sharing and helping others. After the theme presentation they then divide into smaller groups where they talk more together about the theme and then do an activity or craft that relates. The kids are really starting to take on the values and beginning to trust and open up to the team. One girl in particular, who has been quite challenging at times and often won’t sit still for very long and refuses to take part, last week sat for the whole small group time leaning comfortably on the group leader and took part in most of the activity!

Daytrip and Basketball Club

The daytrip went well! We had planned for about 60 people but because we had to postpone it due to challenges with transportation there ended up being 40 of us, which worked out really well. The venue was Cranbrook Flower Forest (a beautiful park near a river) which is about 2 hours drive away from Kingston. Along with the young people from Kingston we also picked up young people from Central Village (Spanish Town), where we had run festivals earlier in the year; this was the first time young people from this community came to one of the day trips.

When we first arrived some of the young people didn't want to participate and it was hard to get the group to focus or work together. Kevon, the MC for the day, worked hard to keep them busy and engaged. By the time the afternoon activities came around, the groups were beginning to connect. During the first activities the groups were struggling to work together but the leaders and activity leaders persevered and by then end of the activities you could see a real positive shift in the groups! Jamaicans absolutely LOVE the water so we let them swim for another few minutes and then packed up and headed to a church about 15 minutes away for our evening program. I was pleasantly surprised to come upstairs where we were having dinner to find all the groups sitting calming in their small groups practicing their chants! In the evening program Kenny, one of our team members, did the talk. He did a good job and we had one person raise their hand to give their life to Christ. Through conversations between the leaders and participants afterwards, it seems that others prayed the prayer for the first time as well!

Lots of the young people, who are from Trench Town and Majesty Gardens, have been coming to day trips for a while and are involved in our weekly basketball clubs... there is a sense that they are really seeking to know what it will mean to live a life with God and say no to so much of the unhelpful things that surround them. Having the people from Central Village there was great and a next step towards building the work there. We had 4 leaders and 5 young people come, who were all excited and very willing! We gave Bibles to several of the young people, and one of our team members said that one of the young guys walked into church the next day holding on to his new Bible that he'd been given at the Daytrip.

The Basketball Club in Rema continues to run on Saturday’s and in Majesty Gardens on Tuesday’s. The team has been working to improve the program and already have seen positive change. After the Basketball Club in Majesty Gardens on Tuesday one of the leaders said that he thinks it was the best one they’ve ever had there yet! Our aim is that as the daytrips and basketball programs further support each other, this will continue to be the case!

See more pictures online.

New team

Just over a week ago, Lauren Dixon from Australia arrived to work with us for a couple of months! She was part of the Jamaica Pilgrimage in March and was asked to return to Jamaica for a short time to lend a hand. Lauren has already been very helpful, arriving on Friday and heading straight into daytrip preparation—helping to make over 100 sandwiches and then coming to help at the daytrip the next day!

We also welcomed Kevon McLeish to the team full time! Kevon has been working alongside David for a while now, contributing in many significant ways, one being his growing skill in MC’ing large community festivals. He’ll also be playing a major part in daytrip coordination as well as with the basketball clubs. The office has been buzzing with these new additions, as well as others that come in part time during the week!

Coming up next

We’re in the process of networking and planning to hold festivals at the beginning of August to celebrate Emancipation Day and Independence Day, which are both national holidays here. We’ve just met with a group from Trench Town that is made up of young adults from different areas and churches in Trench Town that are keen to work alongside us for the Emancipation Day festival on August 1st at the Ambassador Theatre. Over the Cricket World Cup we working in a community called Central Village and another community near Montego Bay called John’s Hall, which is where we’re also working towards holding festivals.

Leading up to the festivals we’ll be having a Short School of Mission, July 30th to August 1st, which everyone who hopes to be involved in the festivals is invited to. This includes networks from other Caribbean islands who’ve been invited.

Please pray for

• The next daytrip on July 28th. For the planning and preparation as well as finances.
• The networking and preparation for the festivals at the beginning of August and the Short School of Mission.
• Wisdom as we work out what the best structure might be for the Kids Club over the summer. The VBS program that the local church usually does is not happening this summer so we are talking with them about working together to do some sort of program.
• Lauren as she continues to settle into home and work here.
• One of our main means of transportation, David’s van, has become ‘sick’ and needs $15,000 JMD worth of parts to be fixed.
• The team’s finances, as well as for the work.

See more pictures online.

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.