Dear FRIENDS of the Real Jamaica School Project e.V., 

Thank you very, very much for all your support!

It is urgent time for us to give you a full feedback of the great work done by Mrs.Devon Smith and her students in Linstead, Jamaica.

Last time I (Cornelia) was there was in February / March 2020 where the following pictures were taken.

Here you can see Curvin and me talking to Mrs. Smith:

She is currently teaching 8 children of different ages and with different learning difficulties.

It was refreshing how lovingly she treats the children, motivates them, encourages them individually and always finds creative solutions so that the subject matter is understood.

The students showed us how to count with full physical effort and a lot of fun and they sang a song about “nouns” that Mrs. Devon had created for them.

You can see the video below and more on the website under "Videos":

Look at these chains made of bottle caps for teaching them to count:

In 2019 Mrs. Smith received an award from the City of Linstead for her work.

Congratulations!

Here she shows it to us:

Linstead Black Togetherness, Lifetime achievement Award presented to Mrs Devon Smith (unfortunately I can't decipher more, but it was about her commitment to the students).

Now I would like to tell you about the children whose schooling you are promoting.

They all have massive learning problems and would be completely lost in normal school life. Mrs. Smith teaches them the basics so that they can go to normal school afterwards if possible. Nevertheless, she often supports them further.

R.: He never went to basic school. Now he is learning to write his name and is learning to name and write the letters.

S.: She never went to school either. Now she can write her name, name the sounds of the letters and read some words. She can now also calculate to a limited extent.

K.: He dropped out of normal school early. Now he knows a few words, can identify the letters and name their sounds.

R.: She can't go to primary school, she's autistic.

Z.: She was unable to complete primary school because she was unable to study and understand in class. Now she can read and spell much better, she knows the numbers and can do some maths.

T.: She couldn't learn the basics of reading and writing in basic school. Mrs. Devon is trying to prepare her so that she can start primary school in September.

O. and T.: They now attend Linstead Primary School, but they can still come to Mrs. Smith to do their homework with her in the evening, and she also gives them further support in reading, maths and spelling.

A look at what is happening there:

The Real Jamaica School Project supports these 8 children at the moment.

The donations are mainly used to pay for the tuition, as Mrs. Smith is paid privately to support the children, the parents (mostly themselves illiterate) cannot raise the money.

A former neighbor made the classroom (in a very dilapidated house) available to her free of charge.

Unfortunately, the condition of the room and the whole house is so bad that we have had a few repairs done. Nevertheless the rain pours in again and again and it has been broken into several times. We had thought about renovating the house more fundamentally. But that turned out to be very costly.

In addition, the ownership of the house is unclear, so we had to look for another solution. Mrs Smith has now rented a container nearby for teaching, well secured and dry, with electricity and water. However, this will increase the school fees.

Still, we consider it an important measure; it creates security for everyone.

We also decided at the last Annual General Meeting that we want to have new school furniture (tables and chairs) built piece by piece.

All in all, this means that we are now supporting the schooling of each of the eight children with more money per month.

Current situation (Covid 19)

In the middle of March I got the last regular return flight back to Germany. Jamaica had closed the borders and ordered a lock down until mid-June.

Even now, the entry and hygiene protocals are very extensive. The schools have been closed since March and should reopen in September, which has now been postponed to the beginning of October.

The number of those who tested positive is currently increasing sharply every day (highest number per day since the beginning of the pandemic), so that many questions remain unanswered as to how and when classes can start again regularly.

I spoke to Mrs. Smith on the phone in April. Classes should also take place online in Jamaica, which is not feasible for our students, since the parents' homes usually have no online access, let alone a laptop.

She has now transmitted a lot of conversations and tasks to the students via WhatsApp (where possible). She also copies assignments and personally brings them to the children. 

In the future we hope to have the financial means to further support these 8 children. And of course, we would be very happy if we could add more children.

The need is great, the new room is much better suited for this, and Mrs Smith would also have someone in view to help her teach if there were more students.

Again: 1000 thanks for your donations! And please: continue and TELL YOUR FRIENDS 😉!

Cornelia