team-building | Jamaican Journal

On Thursday and Friday of last week, all but one of Cuso’s Jamaica volunteers gathered in Ocho Rios for a ‘call-back’ workshop. The intent was to share our experiences and expertise and do a little morale building. We are a diverse group with a lot of different focuses, talents and backgrounds, so it is always interesting to get us all together, sharing about our time here in Jamaica. We opened the workshop with presentations from Tarik, who told us about Cuso’s plans for Jamaica and the larger Latin American and Caribbean region. Lots is going on right now, especially as CIDA plans the disbursement of its next funding envelope. The focus continues to be youth and gender and economic sustainability. (Indeed, there is no doubt of Canada’s commitment to Jamaica- Stephen Harper recently welcomed Portia on a five-day visit, although it was cut short by Sandy.)

We also heard fascinating presentations from each volunteer, detailing what they do at their placements. There are 15 of us right now spread out among six organizations. Other workshops included stress management techniques, and some less serious topics, including a “Best of Jamaica” guessing game and some team-building exercises that had us making sandcastles, hunting down drink garnishes and running relay races. So much fun! We ended both nights with dinners all together, the first at a restaurant where they cook the food in front of you (Odain was our server, a young Jamaican with all the jokes), the second at an outdoor restaurant that had everyone sitting on a pier. It was a gorgeous setting, overlooking the ocean, lit by candles and enhanced by delicious food.

The next day was time to travel home, but not before Wendy and I got a swim out to the reef in. We are all back at work today, hopefully refreshed and with boosted morale and belief in our team and what we are all doing here.