Math, Literacy and Yoga in Miss Pet's Class

We spent the day in Miss Pet's class at the McIntyre Community Center, in Dunkirk, Kingston.

This is a center that plays an integral role in the community. Youth Crime Watch of Jamaica partners with this project because it specifically targets the youth of a community that is crime-ridden and impoverished. The children are the future of Jamaica, and without the proper supervision and guidance from community leaders and volunteers, they will almost certainly be led astray by the temptations of the street.

On the outside, there are broken bottles, undrained sewage, rubbish, broken fences and busted up streets. Walk through a gate (that is securely locked throughout the day, and a specific child is in charge of the key) and there is a vibrant family of children, all under the supervision and care of their teachers Miss Pet and Miss Cookie.

When we arrived, the children were leading their own morning prayer session. This is a routine that they are accustomed to. Miss Pet has set up a lot of routines, they are a must because a lot of the time, she is alone with 25 children, ages 5 t0 17. The older children help to set up the routines and look after the babies. The younger children require more of her attention and time, and she sets up activities and programs for the older children to be a part of.

The space feels like a busy well-oiled household. Everyone contributes, everyone benefits and everyone functions as part of a whole.

We began the day with an icebreaker, facilitated by one of the older children.

Afterwards, I led the group through a morning stretch and yoga class. We inhaled, exhaled, laughed and reconnected with our bodies.

Everton taught and reviewed consecutive numbers and mathematical functions. The children love math and were eager to learn, to share and to experiment with numbers. After math, I led them through a letter writing activity. The children wrote to their local councilman to express their concerns about their community. During our first visit two days ago, almost all of them commented on the crime and the decay of their environment. One young man suggested that the government should fix the streets and create more jobs by doing so. We returned yesterday with the intention of building on what he had said by leading them through the letter writing activity. We also wanted to reinforce what they are learning about being active agents of change in their own lives and in their communities through these letters.

The students took great pride in these letters. They wrote them in groups, revised them in groups and proudly read them aloud to the class.

Miss Cookie will mail these letters to the councilman.

We ended the day with an interview with Miss Pet. She is from the community and lives up the road from the center. She has a total of 9 children and 6 of them are a part of the program. She runs classes from 8:30 to 3, but on most days, the children stay with her until 8 at night because they don't want to go home...even though some live across the street.

Most importantly, Miss Pet is a volunteer. She teaches, nurtures, mothers and cares for these children for half of the day, and then returns home to her own family at night. I asked her what brought her to this, and she said that it was something that she knew she had to do, for the children. She joked that she once did not like children...one could never tell. The children, big and small are drawn to her.

The center is a sanctuary for them, and she and Miss Cookie are their mothers.

Miss Pet is not a trained teacher, but she is a natural. I watched in amazement as she organized, faciliated, structured and taught all the children. She is aware of all their needs, strengths, weaknesses and quirks. I have met many many teachers in the years I have been teaching, and she puts most of us to shame. She is a natural, and above all, she is a mother to these children.

The children have no bathroom, the door and the window is broken but everything else is magical.

I hope to return next year to volunteer some time to these children. Everton and I are thinking of ways to start a teacher exchange and volunteer program. This is the beginning of something special.