Last week I was having a beer at the Waterloo guest house as per my typical evening routine, when I overheard a large group of what I thought were tourists talking about Canada. On my way out I happened to bump into a guy from the group, and being starved of Canadian companionship, started up a conversation about Canada. Turns out the group was actually from Brandon University in Manitoba and on a study tour, part of a class that Geography and Disaster Management students can take as an elective....pretty sweet class....the farthest I ever got to travel for school was Chicago... although I suppose some programs don’t get to travel at all so I shouldn’t complain. Seeing as how I’m working in a geography/development field, and regularly interact with the Disaster Management Department here at Parish Council, I thought it appropriate to invite the team of professors and students by the next day for a visit. Of course I really didn’t think they would show up,....they seemed to have a pretty intense schedule and I really only spoke with one of the students in passing. I also didn’t know if the Disaster department would actually be around or free to chat with them. If they did show there was a good chance it would be me trying to lead an impromptu discussion..I’ve never been good in front of a crowd even when I’m prepared.
The next morning however, I was greeted promptly at 9:30..I say promptly because lateness is something I have become quite accustomed to in Jamaica, you know the old saying “Jamaican time”..with a knock on the door and 20 people that had piled into our 10 x 10 office. Thankfully Renee Brighton, the Disaster Management Coordinator and 2 of the Projects Abroad volunteers Fanny and Judith, which are in her department, were available to help me out and chat about disaster strategies that are employed in the parish. I was also able to talk about the Greater Treasure Beach Sustainable Development plan, which initiatives fit well with a number of the student’s research projects. As it turned out Jason Henzell, chair of the PDC, was around to elaborate on the PDC and Treasure Beach initiatives, as was Phil Rodriguez, Jamaica’s CUI representative. What started as me giving a quick talk about parish council and the development project had quickly turned in to an informal workshop of sorts with multiple speakers and what I would call a highly interactive and informative study session (if I do say so myself).
So the cool thing about this story is the lasting relationships a random encounter like this can create. Brandon University has been sending a study group to Jamaica for almost 20 years, with students examining a number of different research areas each year. The two Prof’s leading the tour expressed an interested in the development program and after establishing connections here in St. Elizabeth, plan on following up on an annual basis, even aligning student projects with the mandates of the plan.
