Halfway Point!

After two weeks at Stepney and three weeks in Jamaica, this initial part of Project Nine Mile has reached the halfway point. The past week was spent providing a lot more training to staff and students on the computers, their uses and the possibilities they can open up. We also assembled the two crews of students that will be creating their own small documentaries that will be incorporated into the larger documentary about the trip ultimately. We’re a bit behind schedule because of a field trip that saw most of them head to Kingston on Friday, but this week we will hopefully put those projects into overdrive.

The theme we’re going to focus on with those documentary projects is the impact of the introduction of technology on their community and what that means for them. There were a lot of ideas I’ve had about the focus of their work but this makes the most sense, given the context of Project Nine Mile. That being said, we still have at least one brainstorming session remaining so anything can happen, it’s their project.

The students are certainly excited about the computers and the possibilities and I’m bombarded with requests for time on the computers throughout the day. Unfortunately, with only two computers right now and a lot of skills to teach they can’t always be accommodated. I use simple games like Solitaire to teach mouse skills (single click, double-click, right click, drag-and-drop), and we type up class lists to practice typing on the keyboard, making sure to learn how to save a file and find it again later. On the Mac, we play with the Photo Booth application, which allows them to take pictures of themselves and organize them in iPhoto, as well as figuring out how to use GarageBand to create our own music using provided loops and the keyboard instruments. We’ve even had a couple of chances to learn how to rip CDs and play them back and watch DVDs.

In my spare time I managed to go to both the Bob Marley Mausoleum in Nine Mile and the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston, both very impressive and inspirational tributes to the reggae legend. I met some cool people at both and hope to revisit both of them before I leave Jamaica. I also had the chance to go to Dunn’s River Falls on Saturday with some of the staff of Stepney, and it was as beautiful as they say and more. Climbed up the falls and swam in the sea and was generally thankful for my good fortune to be able to enjoy these opportunities. You can see my pictures in the Photos section above.

Heading back to Nine Mile tomorrow to continue working with my crews to get the documentaries underway and to continue teaching skills to staff and students over the week, as time permits.

Leave comments and let me know what you all think of the project so far and hit me with any suggestions you might have for stuff I should do with the students or as a tourist, while I’m still in Jamaica!

Respect. Until next time…