April 28, 2024 - Week 14

I have water! At least there have been no interruptions, so thank God for water tanks. Furthermore, the school also has water, with only one day when the water ran out at the end of school. Unfortunately, this is not the case for the west end of the island, where West Moreland and Negril residents are facing extreme water shortages. Some have had no water for 24 hours resulting in insufficient water for showers or to flush their toilets; the Health Department even has to send flyers out to educate residents on hygiene practices to prevent the spreading of diseases. And some are even calling for a lawsuit against the National Water Commission.

In other news, to catch up with 'work' I went to school 5 days this week (instead of 4) and am slowly embracing "in-person" instead of hybrid work. On Monday, I had meetings with the Director and Project Co-ordinator, the Accountant then speedily wheeled her way to me to fix the March bank Rec and the receptionist tapped me to help with some bank transfers, then the school co-ordinator advised me she would like a drumming procession and choir presentations for graduation and the dance teacher wanted permission slips generated for the Dance competition coming up. Needless to say, it was a busy week!

I cannot close this post without mentioning how proud I am of our students who participated in the Open category of the Deaf Dance competition run by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC). They won a total of three categories! It was a very unique experience being amongst those of the Deaf community. The first thing I noticed was how quiet the audience was - until I noticed they were actually talking in sign language and I was none the wiser; the second thing I noticed was how strong the bass line of the songs was to enable the dancers to feel the vibration of the beat; the third thing was the importance of dancing barefoot on hardwood floor to enable this vibration to be felt (EDM ravers think Festival level of deep bass vibration) and finally how to clap in sign language. If you have time, I highly recommend watching the full performance (see below). Let me know your thoughts!