Project
Project |
The team going through the boxes to
make sure they all had a similar amount in them and making up any shortfalls. |
The JamPak project was initiated by Graham and Katrina Palmer from England after visiting the Restoration Christian School.
Graham explains how it came about:
Katrina and I came to visit Jamaica in September 2002 because we felt God was calling us to some kind of mission work there. We had felt this for over ten years—since we were first going out together. The purpose of the September trip was to come and see some of the areas in which Operation Save Jamaica was involved.
One such organisation was the Restoration Christian School where we met Lorna Archer-Stanley and she showed us around and told us of some of the achievements of the school.
I asked her what needs she or the school had and she replied that she desperately needed a dictionary for each pupil. She also talked about how other people had given items like pencils in the past.
 |
Our team of helpers with some of the
JamPaks (l-r Wendy Aylward, Diane Fisher, Graham & Katrina Palmer, Rev Bob McKay) |
Sitting in Lorna's office in Trench Town it became clear that we could be of just as much use back home in England as in Jamaica. Surely it would be easy to get dictionaries in the UK to send over to Ja?
On my return to England I contacted a few dictionary publishers and they were happy to provide brand new editions of their dictionaries—a total of 120 dictionaries and 24 thesauruses were supplied by three publishers (see sponsors).
My idea was to create a school pack for each pupil, to include a dictionary, but after discussion with Lorna via e-mail we decided to make it more of a Christmas gift box with a mixture of necessary and fun items to be given out at the Christmas party.
Thus the JamPak project was born. People were asked to find an old shoe box, cover it in wrapping paper and fill it with a list of items until it was “JamPacked with gifts for Jamaican children,” hence the name. The gifts included toiletries, clothes and toys/games.
The project was centred around the members of Carshalton Baptist Church, but our friends and family as well as Katrina's work colleagues also joined in.
In all we had 117 JamPaks plus a box full of 'left-over' toys, games and clothes for the children in the communities near the school.
The dictionaries and JamPaks weighed in at nearly a quarter of a tonne and as we didn't finish the project until the end of November the only option was to fly everything to Ja. That's where Mr Oliver Foot, vice president of PR at Air Jamaica, came in—he agreed to help us by flying all the boxes free of charge.
Here, Lorna takes over the story:
We had the Christmas party and prize-giving on Monday [16 Dec 02] and what an excitement there was about the JamPaks they received. We were all truly blessed and I heard many, many people saying this has been the best Christmas they have had in a long, long while. Some even said it was the best Christmas ever.
What I did, was to take out some of the items and use as prizes for Best Initiative, Most Disciplined, etc. And then, I also gave out boxes according to the points they had earned throughout the term and this was truly exciting. While most of the students got full boxes, a few didn't get some of the items because they didn't earn the required points. You should have heard weeping and wailing and promises to be good next term. The dictionaries were also distributed the same way with some being left over for class awards.
And what really went over big is that even some of the teachers were able to get something. There is one male teacher who received a shirt. He has worn it twice and he was so pleased with the way he was looking that he went out and got a haircut, something he has never had in the year plus he has been working there. I also gave out boxes to the staff's children and they were ever so grateful.
My heart is truly full with all the joy and emotions that comes from touching so many lives. There were three children that came to the party and they were so poorly dressed, we had to give the boys shirts and find dresses and shoes for the other children. I don't think I'll ever forget the look on that little boy's face when he proudly held out the shirt and said "this is a new shirt. a the first time me ever get a bran new shirt."
The project was repeated again for Christmas 2003.