Yesterday we welcomed students and faculty from Western Carolina University in North Carolina to the offices of Youth Opportunities Unlimited. After a presentation about what YOU does, we headed down to Jacques Road in Mountain View to meet with Ann-Marie Lynch and Francena Pryce of the Jacques Road Parenting Association. They kindly took us on a tour of the small community, including the Learning Centre, which we helped to refurbish last year with the help of the Canadian Navy. We then visited with several women in their homes and chatted with people on the street.

Some of WCU’s nursing students came equipped with their cuffs to measure blood pressure so they tested some residents, and only one individual had high blood pressure. Everyone else was healthy, including a smiling elderly woman named Miss Mary. Our tour included a game of dominoes and then a quick stop at the beautifully restored Internet Cafe and the presentation of a Certificate of Appreciation for the students and faculty in honour of their visit to the community.

These students and faculty visit Jamaica every year and for the past few years, YOU has taken them around the communities we work in. It is always a lovely day and provides an opportunity for people from very different cultures who would otherwise never encounter one another to meet and talk about their lives and experiences.