*Big entry* : West End Village Trip

Hello to all reading.
Here is my long overdue post about my trip to West End Village in Grand Bahama Island, which took place about a month ago from April 30 to May 8. We traveled there by boat. On our departure to the island, the wave report said "2-4 foot waves". The waves got up to 4-6 feet average height during the trip. The worse got up to 8-10 foot waves. 14 out of 18 of our group members got *sick* + saw our breakfast right before us straight into potpourri-scented black garbage bags. But, on a lighter note, we all managed to survive the 4.5 hour trip that was only supposed to take 2.5 hours! ^_^

To read my previous post about the trip, click this.

* Note: Hold mouse over each photo for photo description.


During our stay, we were housed in the recreational building of St. Mary Magdelene's Anglican Church in West End. It was situated right beside the church + mere steps away from the sea. Our group was in the care of two lovely ladies with great smiles by the names of Betty + Jewel. They prepared + cooked us food in the morning, noon, + night--except, of course, on Sunday morning before we left because they were at church service. Church is highly regarded in the village of West End. They take it seriously + dress up in their Sunday best each Sunday, so we've heard. We even attended service with them twice during the week.






Our group was also in the care of Ronnie, who drove us wherever we needed to be in the St. Mary's church bus. He also served as an awesome tour guide, telling us funny + interesting stories about certain people + areas of the village. Each place had their own little story to tell + Ronnie was our own personal narrator. He showed us how the fishermen of West End take the mollusk out of the conch shell + described each part of the body--it was our first lesson in conch biology! Conch is their main commodity on the island. They have many types of recipes for conch--in the manner of Bubba from Forrest Gump--they have fried conch, conch salad, conch fritters, even conch burgers! Delicious.






Our project of focus during our trip was to *build*, not repair, a government triplex in preparation to house the elderly situated in just walking distance from the ocean. The concrete foundation + framework had already been completed by contruction workers from the area, but they have done a very poor job on it. The foundation was not level + most of the studs were misaligned or warped from the weather. Now, none but two or three from our team of 18 people had construction experience to help lead the rest of us. So, this was a challenge in itself. Most of us were learning how to drywall + install hurricane clips on the frame of the roof for the first time. It was definitely a challenge that we all took upon ourselves with lots of patience, sweat, + hope. Everyone in our team remained to be very encouraging throughout our work days at the site by playing inspiring music on the sound system + singing aloud to the top of our voices. One of the perks of working at the site was being able to take a break from working + to gaze out to the beautiful sparkling bleu-green sea, which was within sight from the porch of the triplex.








Aside from working on the construction site, some of us from the team had the opportunity to organize a few programs for the local kids of West End during the week. These kids loved attention, so it was a real treat to hang out with them several times. On one afternoon, some of us retreated from the site early in the day to get back to the recreational building where we stayed to prepare our program for the kids, who ranged from ages 6 to 14. It involved bible story-telling [the story of Job] with a volunteer to act out certain parts of the story, as well as singing, arts + crafts, + a time of reflection to have the kids offer their stories, feelings, + experiences before, during, + after the hurricanes. Most of the kids said that they felt "bad" or "sad" after the hurricanes because Frances + Jeanne took their schools + things away. At the end of our program, we created a circle around the kids + said a prayer for them + their families.







One other afternoon, me + a few from my group by the names of Katy, Kelsey, Vickie, Jessica, Keishaun, + Derrick went to the local school to hold recreational activities with a first grade class. This involved face painting, making necklaces + bracelets, outside games, + lots of picture taking! These kids were so awesome--a couple of kids even recognized me from the program we held back at the church. Katy organized the kids + also lead the games with them; Jessica, Keishaun, + Kelsey painted faces, while Derrick + Vickie helped the kids with assembling necklaces + bracelets. I stayed back to document our time there, but believe me, this did not stop the kids from interacting with me. They would notice me taking photos of them, then come up to me + ask, or rather, *tell* me to take their picture. These kids, for their age, were surprisingly very familiar with digital cameras. After each photo was taken, they would say to me repeatedly, "Let me see! Let me see!" + reach for the preview screen on the back of my camera. Then, one boy asked me if he can take a picture with my camera. So, I knelt down, held the camera in front of him, + told him to aim + click. A few kids began to catch on to this new "game" + before you know it, they were next in line in front of me, asking, "Can I take a picture, too!?" Just hilarious.








Lead by Miss Katy, all of us headed outside for some fun games. When I got there, there were little boys already playing basketball, while a bunch of them were pushing behind broken upside-down classroom chairs up + down the pavement as if they were driving tiny sports cars. Kids really have awesome imaginations. Katy huddled the rest of the kids into a circle telling a story through song + hand motions with the kids copying everything she did. Then, it was time to head back in for the kids to go home. Katy gathered all the kids into a straight line + lead them back inside. I had such a fun time at the school!





I believe we helped to lift some spirits just by offering friendly conversation with the people we met + by giving someone a nice hug. It was such an awesome experience to be a part of. If all the cards fell into place again, I would definitely make another trip out there to help the people of West End or some other disaster relief trip in another country.

Downtime
Here are some photos taken during our relax time at Old Bahama Bay [the resort area of Grand Bahama Island] after we were done working at the site. We got to visit the resort at least twice--once for snorkeling [my first time!] + Junkanoo [the island's version of Mardi Gras] + twice for dinner on our last night there.







All photos were taken with my Nikon CoolPix 995 digital camera except "05-0507_enguardkatkaty.jpg", which was taken by Kelsey Linduff.