Oh, yes, I am certainly back in the islands…

June 21, 2013

It seems that it must always come to this at least one time over the course of a project here. We started the morning fairly close to on-time, but then we were missing seven people.  Three showed up within the first half an hour, which is a decent percentage in short order.  The other four never showed, with indication that one of them had been there, but left before we even started.  Part way through the day two of the girls approached me about leaving at 2:30 to attend a funeral.  I okayed the request, despite the growing frustration of at least one person every day making such a request.  During our afternoon break, there was a small celebration for a birthday.  As the celebration ended 5 people took off to board the van to leave for the funeral.  We chased after them, letting them know our frustration at their lack of communication. One returned and one of the original two girls made the commitment to return, despite the trouble it may bring later.  Frustration was palpable and one of the staff, Malynn, stepped up to remind the others of the important of commitment. As she talked, a completely different student started to faint, and it took a small group to get into the air conditioned room.  Two boys ran off to report the incident, as another went in search of cool drink.  Another staff stepped up, Alik, and with occasional tears, shared his frustration over the commitment issue.  As that happened, the ambulance arrived, though decided to leave with the girl, as the faint wasn’t so severe.  So we attempted to get back into rehearsal, which went fine despite it all.  I should mention that this was the hottest day so far and that immediately across the street a new store was opening, so plenty of people were trafficking through getting free hot dogs.