Port Antonio, Portland (Trip outside of Kingston)

I just returned from three days in Portland, 90 miles and 2 hours away from the hustle and bustle of Kingston.

Portland is a rural parish, and one of the safest. It was the one of the first major tourist sites in Jamaica, and over the years places like Negril, Mo'Bay and Ocho Rios have overshadowed Portland's tourism industry. PLEASE,VISIT THIS GORGEOUS PARISH! HELP REBUILD THE ECONOMY AND SUPPORT THE PEOPLE.

You can see ghosts of great hotels past all over the place. British novelist Ian Fleming wrote his James Bond series there and American actor Errol Flynn purchased much of the area. It's abundantly green and lush, mountainous and along the coast.

Because of the recession, the tourism industry has suffered, and because of the hurricane five years ago, most of the roads are in terrible condition. It was a rough ride there, but once I got there, I was amazed by everything.

I visited and stayed at a place called Great Huts. I had read about it on line, and in the guide book as a unique spot for ecotourism and decided to check it out. http://www.greathuts.com/

I arrived on Friday, and there was a conference on homelessness and mental illness for the next two days.

The owner of Great Huts is Dr. Paul Rhodes, a doctor from Brooklyn who did his medical residency in Jamaica in the 70s. He returned in 1994 and continued to form his connections in Portland. Currently, he operates the Portland Rehabilitation Center and works with the homeless people in the community, people who are often ostracized for being mentally ill, unemployable, and for of course being homeless.

The center opened last year www.prmhomeless.org and it serves to feed, house, clean, clothe, nourish, and educate the homeless in Portland. Lloyda McIntyre lloydamcintyre@yahoo.com runs the center. Dr. Paul is the medical doctor on staff, and volunteers from all over the world are invited to work at the center. I met Peace Corps volunteers, and everyday activists at the conference, as well as doctors, nurses, social workers, health care workers from Jamaica, and from abroad.

Again, here is an example of an everyday person (a foreigner at that!) filling the void in the infrastructure of health care in this country.

I attended the conference on Saturday 8.23. This conference addressed the issue of mental illness, specifically schizophrenia in Jamaica, and the mistreatment (both socially and medically) and treatment of those with the illness. The keynote speaker Dr. Bernard spoke of the connection between mental illness and homelessness, and the need for the creation of social services to help the mentally ill, and not just medicate the mentally ill.

I visited the Portland Rehabilitation Center the next day. The center is nestled on top of a hill. There is green all around, and must of the center is painted green. It has a soothing and calming feel to it.

The center can house up to 16 people, male and female, young and old. During the day, clients are out and about, many of them are working or trying to work. The clients sleep in a dorm on one side, and share a common area on the other side. The center hopes to build a chicken coop and develop a farm on site to develop skills for the clients, and to also feed the community.

Because of the potential employment opportunities in Kingston, it has nearly half of the country's population. In addition, half of Jamaica's homeless population live in Kingston, and from talking to some health care workers at the conference, there is also a lack of support systems in Kingston for these individuals. The ghettos of Kingston are crowded, hot and there is much poverty there. Homelessness and mental illnesses exacerbate these problems.

Everyday people that I have met are the true heroes, taking a stand, and making a change. I feel inspired and invigorated by the people I have met.

As our trip here to Kingston is winding down, Everton and I are dreaming about our next steps.
He plans to return this December to continue to form connections and to strengthen our current ones.

We plan to gather a group of our colleagues, teachers in the areas of English/literacy, math, science/health and arts. We hope to return for two weeks to volunteer at the various centers that we have visited and learned so much from.

This is really an inspirational beginning to something special.