John's Next Step

Front of the new school waiting on approval to see the place The teachers and some of the children went to see the new school on the Friday before last. We were told that it would be ready in a week. This is progress because since October we had been told that it would be ready in a month. And now that they’ve been saying another week for a few weeks now is should really be ready soon. Back of the front building with some work still ongoing The new school is big, maybe bigger than the school destroyed by Ivan and certainly bigger than our current one in the community center. One of the classrooms for the lower grades.  How am I going to fit six students in this room? Before Ivan a lot more students attended Holy Cross. The school had a woodworking shop and other facilities (such as real classrooms for all grades) that we don’t have now. Many parents decided to send the children to other schools in the area so now we are a very small school. The hope is t...

Banner at Church Thursday February 7th was Independence day for Grenada. The school celebrated the 45th year of independence from England with children in the patriotic colors of red, yellow, and green. Getting ready for prayers Third grade waving their letters First and second waving flags Ring game We had a program consisting of songs or skits from each grade as well as singing by our choir, and the teachers. The very nice day ended with a traditional oil down meal. Resiliency Theme for this year The theme this year is “Building resilience and enhancing social economic transformation.” We used the assembly on Monday and Friday to help explain the theme to the students because resilience is not yet a common word in elementary school. Resiliency is a common word for governments on the Caribbean and Pacific island nations and other countries around the world that see their future. The ability to quickly recover from difficult situations is requir...

After three weeks with guests I have the house to myself – nice to be back to my routine. But it was also nice having people around: sharing conservation, food, and time together – showing them the island when I could and happy that they could easily venture off to explore the island without me. I enjoyed meeting a new friend and spending time again with an old one. Lisa using wifi with permission Well, of course neither one of my attractive, single, female guests would be considered old. Before they came I made sure teachers and people in the community realized that I had a second bedroom and that I was having house guests in the spirit of traditional hospitality – guests treated with the utmost respect. I think most people get it. Hospitality in the ancient cultures, Greek, Middle East, African, Native American, Asian – was very common and taken seriously. Helping strangers provided a way to expand ones own support network. The host gained as well as the guest. It wo...