Home sweet home

I am a very lucky girl. With the help of my parents I was able to visit home for the Easter holiday and see all my loved ones! I was home in the states for two whole glorious weeks and had such an amazing time experiencing all the things I miss in Jamaica including family, friends, special foods, even little things like the joy of carpet and well stocked public libraries! (Did that sound nerdy?)

The first stop of my journey brought me to Philadelphia. Dad, Vicki and the boys were all there to pick me up from the airport and were surprised to see my tears of joy at being home, back in the states. Immediately following greetings and hugs and kisses we went out for cheese stakes and I got to enjoy my first cold draft in over nine months!

As we drove around on the highways and roads I was seeing familiar places through different eyes, eyes that have seen a different way of living and experienced a different culture. For instance, I was very impressed with the quality and vastness of public infrastructure that surrounded us, which is lacking in most places in Jamaica.

Luckily the boys were on spring break while I was visiting so I got lots of time to play with them and go exploring. Dad took us down town to the art museum, one of my favorite places in Philly. We went to a Phillies game and got to see the 2008 World Series Ring Ceremony before the game, a pretty cool event although I didn't follow baseball at all last summer/fall cause I was in Jamaica. I stole this pic from the Phillies website!

The next stop on my trip was to Cleveland where I got to spend time with Mom, Shane, my brothers, and Grandma and Grandpa Mac. Mom and Shane picked me up at the airport and mom had a great big sign "Welcome Home Janelle!" I felt very loved! And I was greeted at home with more big hugs from everyone. On saturday we spent the day dying easter eggs, frosting Grandma's famous easter cookies. We all watched Wallie in the evening and I got to cuddle with Spencer, he's such a cuddle bug! Easter morning we all went to church and then we were off to Hocking Hills State Park where Mom had rented a lakeside cabin for us to stay in for a few days. We explored the nearby state parks and saw some AMAZING views. Waterfalls, caves, cliffs... absolutely gorgeous.
My next stop was to D.C. where I got to see all my friends that I had been missing while gone in Jamaica. Even though I'd been gone for almost ten months we were able to pick right back up like I hadn't been gone at all. I also made a visit to campus and got to chat with some of my old professors and coaches. It was fun to share with others about my experiences and learn about what's been going on while I was gone. There are a lot of changes at Mason, the school is really growing fast! Go Patriots!

The vacation ended back in Philly where I got to celebrate the Greek Orthodox Easter with Dad, Vicki and the boys and our extended families and friends. Dad cooked the lamb on saturday morning/afternoon and then we went to midnight service as always later that night. On "Greek" Easter day we rented a pavilion at a local state park and spent the whole day eating massive amounts of yummy Greek food, dancing to Greek music and playing in the park.

But way too soon it was time to come back to Jamaica. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone and to my home, but I know that I have more to do here on the rock and more adventures to look forward to over the next year. And hopefully some of the special people I miss will think about coming to visit me!! :D Hint, Hint! Until then, I'm sending love from Jamaica to all of you back home. Be thankful for what you have in life... you are very blessed!

Rodent Control Program

One of my jobs here in Jamaica is to aid the Public Health Inspectors in projects that they are conducting through the parish health department. Ultimately I'm here to help them build resources and capacity for jobs they currently do and/or want to do in the future. Usually this just means they need an extra hand because the biggest resource they are lacking (besides money) is manpower.

So when one of my PHIs asked for help with a Rodent Control Program that is being conducted in our community I was right there to assist. I am now official part of the Rodent Control Team which consists of other PHIs, the Health Education Officer, other employees at the health department and even members of the community that we are conducting the program in. The main goal of this program is to reduce the rodent population in the community. We will do this through a number of strategies:

1. Educate members of the community about the importance of rodent control and how they can all help to reduce the rodent population through proper solid waste management.
2. Conduct a community wide clean up, creating rodent traps throughout the community.
3. Provide opportunities for community to properly dispose of waste (place garbage bins throughout town)
4. Hold a Best Kept Street Competition to promote cleaner, healthier communities
5. Go the local schools and teach children how they can do their part to help clean up the community. The plan is to have a poster contest and quiz competition on the importance of rodent control and proper solid waste management.

So far we have been able to acquire 20 garbage bins donated by local companies to place throughout town. I spent this past week painting them all. I painted "St. Ann Health Department Rodent Control Program" with a picture of a rat and a big X painted over the rat on all 20 of the bins. I can paint rats in my sleep now! I'm not sure if that is something to be proud of or not... lol! But I had a lot of fun spending the days outside painting. And since I was sitting outside I got to meet more people who work at the health department because they saw me working and were curious about the project. They just came right up and started chatting. So painting the bins was a great excuse for me to meet new people at work as well. :) Needless to say I am very excited about helping carry out the rest of the program with the Rodent Control Team. Hopefully we can inspire behavior change and help to really clean up the town.

By the way, today is a GORGEOUS day outside. I can't wait to hit the beach. I know you guys in the states are all jealous ;) but don't worry, it's spring now and the worst of the cold is over... Miss you all very much, I'll think of you while I'm playing in the waves!