How to weigh a pig

This is Mr. Nash our pig farmer friend weighing one of the pigs we bought. He simply put the pig in a grain sack and hooked the sack on a scale. The pig weighed about 45 lbs and was sold to us for about $80.00 US. When the pig gets about 130 lbs., they will either sell it for meat or have the females bred for more pigs. Pigs have a 3-3-3 cycle for having a litter. Three months, three weeks and three days and they deliver after getting pregnant

Sorrel

This is a fruit bud called sorrel. The local people use it for a delicious drink mixed with ginger. Very tasty with a little bite from the ginger. The farmers on the 5 acre farm have about 2 acres of sorrel almost ready for harvest. They have to take a large pit from the center of the bud and sell the petals on the market for about one dollar a pound.

Corn and pumpkins

The farmers are growing some so called sweet corn (actually field corn) and some pumpkins in their 5 acre farm.

Cucumber patch

This is part of the first of the vegatables that were sold on the 5 acre farm. At least it was a start for them so they could start paying their own expenses.

Beautiful children

We went to a pre-school to give them some school kits and found these delightful young kids. They were really excited to get some school supplies from the church and we were happy to give them some. These kids have nothing.

Hair art

This young girl had her hair weaved by her mother. This process took about 4 hours to do and they leave it in for 1-2 months at a time. Very beautiful and artistic.

It works!!

I suppose the truck in front of us couldn't find a red flag to put on the back of his ladder so he just improvised with a bunch of flowers.

Pigs, pigs, and more pigs

You thought we were only building chicken coops. Wrong!! We are officially now starting with the pig projects. We have over 50 projects with pigs to do and then on to the goats. All of these projects will help the people here gain a little food and money if they do the projects right. All we can do is train them and leave them to do the best they can. Some of the people here are so hungry or have not money that we don't know what they will be when they sell their chickens, pigs and goats. We hope they will continue and buy more animals to start a new cycle.

Pig farm

Here we are touring a pig farm to get ideas about raising them. This picture shows Elder flake and some of the govt. people we have been using to train the local people going up to the sow pens. This farm was way up in the mountains and we were glad to have a 4-wheel drive truck to get there.

"Jerk"

Most of you have heard the term "jerk chicken or jerk pork" but don't know what it is. Jerk is simply the rub or spice they put on the chicken or pork before and during the cooking of the meat. Most of time the jerk seasoning creates a hot to very hot taste. This picture shows the way the Jamaicans cook their meat. They simply cut a 55 gallon barrel the long way, open it up with a pair of hinges and put a stand under it. They use home made charcol as the heat and the result is delicious. I just love the chicken and it's wonderful BBQ flavor. There are hundreds of stands like this over the island and are very popular with the tourists and native people

Member involvement

Whenever we do a project for an organization like a school or hospital, for example, we have the local branches do some kind of service project for them. This picture shows members and young elders repairing a parking lot for a school. It's good to see members come and work together on such projects because the members here have seldom worked together as a team or helped each other.

Young Single Adults

We had the young single adults on the island come and paint the emergency container we have in Spanish Town as a service project. We try to have members involved in such projects especially the young people.

Handing over ceremony

This is a special day when we turned over a gift from the church to a large hospital in Ocho Rios. We donated a portable anethesia machine to them and they were thrilled. Sitting by me are several doctors and administrators of the hospital. The hospital performs about 30 surgeries a day and their old machines are always breaking down.

Media coverage of special events

These are media people covering the handing over ceremony at the hospital. I was interviewed and asked a lot of questions about why the church does such things as giving equipment away and helping the people in Jamaica. It's good to have coverage like this but I don't like being on TV.

Three cute chicks

Corliss the chicken woman. Did you ever think you would see her holding chickens? These baby chickens are only about 3 hours old and are thirsty and hungry. We have to get them out of the crate and into the brooder area where they can eat and drink. It only takes 6 weeks for these chicks to grow to maturity. They will weigh about 5 lbs then will be slaughtered.