Not Just Tourists – Manitoba Winnipeg has a story and pictures to share from Travellers Tim and Jackie:
Jackie and I had not done a NJT Humanitarian trip in a few years and we had never been to Jamaica so this was a first time experience for us. When we arrived we had no idea what was where and it became an adventure for us and a very pleasant one that will keep us wanting to do this over and over again.
We started off by making arrangements with our shuttle driver (Omar) form our hotel (Samsara cliff resort in West end Negril , Jamaica : https://www.negrilhotels.com/samsara/samsara-cliffs-hotel.php )
He said no problem mon and we arranged to be picked up on Monday at 10:30. We showed up suitcase in hand and with the paper work and off we went. I told our driver, please take us to a local hospital for the local people that is in need of help and preferably the poor. He laughed and said none of them are well looked after but the one for locals is in worse shape so off we went to that one.
Omar (our driver) took us to a local small clinic not too far from our hotel maybe 20 min away. The clinic was small maybe 1800 Sq Ft but there was probably about 60 people in the waiting room with many small children / infants and many people with burns and other injuries waiting to be seen by the nurses and doctors. Once we explained who we were and why we were there, the staff had to get a hold of the director, or they asked if we could come back on another day as they would not be able to take the supplies even though they wanted them. They said they were sorry it was the clinics policy due to others dropping off old broken garbage and using their clinic as a dumping ground. So we left their location disappointed. Our driver quickly turned it into a positive and said forget this government BS and said no worries mon, I take you to the clinic in Little London (about another 20 min further). So we said ok let’s go and off we went.
We arrived in Little London Health center in Westmoreland and shortly after had a beautiful guided trip through the clinic that you would not ordinarily see. The tour was given to us by a local resident who helped us understand many things about Jamaica and the people.
It is also a small clinic around 2000 Sq Ft with many patients waiting inside and outside. It seems like it was a revolving door of people coming and going the whole time. They have many patients to look after, similar to the first clinic we were at. Many patients with small children / infants, many burn and other injury patients. Full waiting room of people all waiting to be seen and looked after.
The clinic had us wait a few minutes to speak with the head nurse as they needed to have her involved to receive our donation. We spoke with two nurses at the clinic and they brought us into one of the rooms. They called the director of the clinic who spoke with us via speakerphone and we had a delightful chat about donations. He wanted to know if this was going to be a regular thing and we explained that we send suitcases of aid with Travellers coming to various locations so we could not promise anything as we do not know who is going where or when. They were happy we came to drop off supplies and speak with them and we were very excited and happy to be part of this.
We recorded their clinic info (This will be posted on interactive map on www.njt.net shortly) so others can go there to drop off supplies.
It was a very heartfelt experience and a good reminder for me and the director as to why we do this and how it works. We hope this experience has encouraged you and others to contact us and to please take supplies to others in need.
Pictures attached are of the clinic (sign) and of the two wonderful nurses who were very pleasant and helpful. We hope to see you again and to meet with the director of the clinic next time as we were not able to this trip due to time limitations.
Till next time, next trip, please show / encourage others to be NOT JUST A TOURIST! Be a Humanitarian!!!!
