After a slightly less wonderful night of sleep, we were once again on the road bright and early as we had a very busy day ahead of us. To start, we drove out to a slight mountain, looking out over a beautiful valley. We were waiting to meet up with Paul Reece so we could drive out to his farm. We arrived at 8:30 a.m., and we waited.

The clouds rolled in, it started to rain, and we continued to wait. At 9:15 a.m., we decided to drive back to a small town nearby to see if we could get a signal on our phones to call Paul. Sure enough, there was a miscommunication, and we were waiting in the wrong spot; Paul found us about 15 minutes later; we followed him further into the country and turned down a pitted dirt road, lined with farms both left and right. On the right were probably 100 head of cattle. They were beautiful cows: clean and fat, just the way you want them.

We finally arrived at Paul’s farm and got to see some of the damage that he sustained. He has 15 head of cattle, a corn field, a field with pumpkins planted, a terribly damaged papaya grove, and an empty field awaiting planting. Paul talks about farming with such passion and love. He views farming as his calling. Before working his small farm, he worked with the government as an agriculturist. He’s talented, but he’s been dealt some tough blows. Just last year, he lost his entire papaya crop to a hurricane, and once again, his papaya grove has been devastated.

He’s optimistic, though, that things will improve. Currently, he has five water tanks that gravity feed his irrigation system. With these tanks, he must pay to have water trucked in to fill them. We floated the idea of building a structure (not a building, per se, but something sturdy) that could be built in a way to funnel water to one (or more) of the tanks. Paul was very enthusiastic about the idea and will have plans drawn up.

After leaving Paul’s farm, we met up with Clive Brown and Neil. They are members from South Florida who have been helping to deliver food and supplies and spearhead the construction side of the Good Works relief efforts taking place here in Jamaica. They took us to meet Gloria, so we could deliver a generator to her and to check out the work being done at her home.

After leaving Gloria’s home, we had to (and by “had to,” I mean got to! it was a stunning place) drive through an area called Fern Gully; a beautiful downhill drive through a forest, with trees lining the edge of the road, sometimes blotting out the sun, and (surprise!) ferns carpeting the forest floor. Jamie captured video of the drive, but (being in the back seat), I didn’t have a great vantage point to capture it, so I just enjoyed the drive. This road took us to Ocho Rios, and we stopped at Pineapple Craft Circle. It’s a market with craft stalls mostly catering to tourists. Thankfully, the market was relatively untouched by the hurricane. But it was here that we met Tommy Humphrey and Deneshia Douglas.

Tommy owns a small shop where she sells souveniers, her mom had run the shop before her, and it was a delight to speak with her and her youngest daughter, who had just come from school (her favorite subject is math, and her favorite animal is a panda, and she had the most adorable dimples you can imagine). Deneshia is a school teacher who popped over to the market to meet us; we were able to give her a Starlink to use at home and interview her about her experience with the storm, and the challenges she’s faced as a teacher in the aftermath (many schools are closed due to damage, so they’ve had to increase class sizes and institute a teaching rotation).

Our second-to-last stop was the workplace of Paulette. We picked her up and drove her to her home, where we met her son, Dayne. They very graciously sat down to talk to us about their experience with the storm and to show us around their home and garden. Paulette and I bonded over her beautiful plants. She found caterpillars on her scotch bonnet plant, which she proceeded to massacre (I wish I had thought to take a picture of the aftermath of said massacre, but alas, you’ll have to imagine the fat bugs squished between a leaf and the tile she used to crush them, and the surprisingly neon green blood (?) that splattered the concrete walkway). She was so passionate about saving her plant because much of the scotch bonnet crop was destroyed during the storm, and as you may or may not know, Jamaicans are serious about their scotch bonnets. But not all of the plants we looked at led to death. We looked at her pumpkin vine that had about four beautiful flowers on it, and talked about making pumpkin green relish (that’s what they called it in Malawi). To make it, you take the leaves from the plant (carefully, they’re prickly) and strip them, chop them up, and then cook them with onions, garlic, salt, pepper, tomatoes, and oil. And it is a delicious accompaniment to most any meal, but particularly with roasted goat, if you ask me. It was delightful to see the same foods enjoyed by two cultures so far apart.

By the time we got back in the car to go to our hotel, the sun was getting ready to set, and we still had over an hour drive to go. We were very ready for dinner and for a Sabbath rest.