Jamaica travels-- reflection on my times in Jamaica

This is my 3rd time to Jamaica 🇯🇲.  I posted on social media that every time I have been here, it has been in March. The 1st trip was a short term mission trip with Bryan College and Covenant College, together on a spring break "Break for Change" trip in the 1990s. We were working with CCCD. We stayed in the mountains, on what is now the Jamaica Deaf Farm. We did construction work there and visited the school in Montego Bay. We cut bamboo for the septic system.

My 2nd trip to Jamaica was part of a cruise for our anniversary 6 years ago. We did a river rafting thing on bamboo rafts.

This 3rd trip is a family event with the kiddos, most of them. We are staying in Negril. There is bamboo all over the property. Every trip to Jamaica has been in March and has involved bamboo. Hmmm.

This trip has also involved Woodstock.  Who knew I would be in Woodstock a 2nd time, this time in Negril. 

I didn't attend the Woodstock festival in NY. It was a tad before my time. However, when I lived on Long Island, we did go tent camp there and explore the town. 

Woodstock Negril has a great vibe and was a great place to spend two of our beach days.

It has been a great trip. Maybe I will write more about this beautiful place. 

We'll see.

Now it's time for adventure. 

Deb

Beach and Bamboo

This get-away spot has the best of all the worlds-- there is beach, bamboo, breezes, sun, shade at times, good food, beautiful flowers, and a few cool birds and other creatures. 

Last night on the walk back from dinner, I saw a huge toad on the sidewalk. No photo.

I have only heard the woodpecker in the bamboo until today. It flew off and went to a tree. It was a red-headed one. Look closely and you might find it.

There have been some lizards.

I have listened to the wind blow through the bamboo.  I have heard the gentle waves on the shore. 

I have heard the gentle rain and the downpour. 

It has been a time to breathe in and breathe out.

Jamaican time. It is allowing my body to rest and my soul time to catch up. 

It has offered me time to walk, play in the water, rest (even taking naps), and time to simply be.

Good coffee has been a plus, as has good food. 

There have been some hearts seen. 

Grateful for this time away.

Here are some random pics of flowers.

My time here in Negril, Jamaica 🇯🇲 along the 7-mile Beach has been good for me.

Until next time,

Peace on the journey. 

Rev. Deb

Ash Wednesday-- 2025

Last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten Season. I was able to help with the service at Burks UMC, the church that sent me into ministry. It is always good to be able to participate and serve there.

Here is the Ash Wednesday prayer from the UMC Hymnal #353:

O God,

maker of every thing and judge of all that you have made,

from the dust of the earth you have formed us 

and from the dust of death you would raise us up.

By the redemptive power of the cross, 

create in us clean hearts

and put within us a new spirit,

that we may repent of our sins

and lead lives worthy of your calling;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

This service is a special one because it allows for reflection as we enter a season of reflection. I wore my special stole given to me by a colleague and friend in Massachusetts. 

I have plans to walk and pray the labyrinth at Burks UMC this Lent, but haven't made it yet. 

A few pics from last Wednesday:

Peace, 

Rev. Deb

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, AL

 Part 3 of 3

"True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice".
 ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

The first of the three EJI Legacy Sites we visited in Montgomery, AL was The National Memorial for Peace and Justice. This site was particularly powerful and overwhelming as huge steel markers show the state and county, along with the lynched. At first you walk through them. Then, as you go downhill, they are higher and above your head. There is something to craning one's neck to read the counties that wasn't lost on me. It was a humbling experience. As one looks for counties, one hopes to not find those one has lived in or currently lives in. But I knew Whitfield county, GA was there. I didn't know about Hamilton county, TN, but it was there too. 

After walking through these, there is another set of the markers laying flat on the ground. They are a bit easier to read that way, though they look like grave covers in that position, akin to the ones I have seen made of marble in South Georgia at the church cemetery where many of my ancestors are buried.

After making one's way through these, there are some statues and then replica markers.

As you make your way back to the beginning, there is much to contemplate. 

Near the entrance/exit, there are other statues and writings to read and absorb.

The educational offering is unlike anything I have experienced, though the Holocaust museum in Israel, Yad Vashem, comes close. That place was a huge educational experience for me too-- powerful, humbling, haunting.... Just like The National Memorial for Peace and Justice.

It isn't easy to see all those markers. It isn't easy to realize how horrible our society treated people. 

But it is important to know the true history, to honor lives taken, and to seek reparative justice.

I included a link for The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in the first paragraph.

Here are some other links with information:

• Mass Group (the group that designed the Memorial)
• U.S. Civil Rights Trail
• Video from Smart History (also below)
• NPR article/recording
• NY Times article

Here are my photos:

Here are two photos taken by our group leader that show me looking up at the Whitfield county marker:

I highly recommend a trip to Montgomery, AL to see The Legacy Sites. There is so much to see, learn, experience.... so much that I didn't hear or learn growing up. 

It's time to bring peace, justice, and healing to our society. This trip was a part of me doing so on the journey.

Deb

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The other two posts in this series:

• The Legacy Museum in Montgomery, AL
• The Freedom Monument Sculpture Park in Montgomery, AL

The Whitfield Remembrance Project:

• Whitfield Remembrance Project (Facebook)
• Whitfield Remembrance Project (Website)