Soles4Souls Jamaica Blogs – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/12/2016 12:00:00 AM | General
May 12, 2016
Photo Gallery
Soles4Souls Student-Athlete Blogs
Michelle Burns | Tyler Kidwell | Asia Doss | Christian Lampasso | Raekwon McMillan | Liz Buerling
Navigate by Date
Wednesday/Thursday | Friday | Saturday
We’ll be providing live blog updates from Jamaica courtesy of the 11 student-athletes here with Soles4Souls.
Wednesday/Thursday
Michelle Burns, women’s gymnastics
Hi everyone! We’ve already been having a great time here in Jamaica, and we’ve just gotten started on our trip. It was an early start on Wednesday, arriving at Fawcett Center at 3am. We were all ready to head to the airport when Asia realized that she had left her passport at home–but don’t worry we all arrived to the airport in time! After our first flight and a quick layover in Atlanta, we were on our way to Jamaica. Greeted by our tour guide, Patrick, we headed to a local restaurant and got a taste of authentic Jamaican food–and the heat of Jamaican weather. After checking into our hotel, Verney House, we sorted and picked up the shoes that were to be distributed on Thursday. We ate dinner at Verney House, where Patrick gave us some background of the culture and common used phrases in Jamaica. We ended the night by playing an ice breaker game as a group. It was fun to learn about the Jamaica and a little more about each other!
Exhausted from a long day of travel, we were all in bed before 10pm. We woke up today to a tasty breakfast at our hotel, then we the headed out to our first distribution which was at Glendevon, a primary school. It was such an amazing experience seeing the kids’ faces light up when they saw us–and light up even more when we put the shoes on their feet! One little boy jumped into my arms before I could finish asking him if he liked his new shoes–it was such a humbling experience and a reminder of how privileged we are, especially as Ohio State student-athletes! Most of the kids love soccer and racing/running, so as an athlete, it was fun for me to see them get excited to talk about the sports they enjoyed. I had a really cool conversation with a little girl named Aquema (Ah-key-ma). She is nine years old but already has five younger siblings. When I asked her what she was learning in school, instead of telling me about adding fractions or learning about the history of Jamaica, she told me that she learns how to take care of her family. I had to pause for a second to just look in her eyes–as a nine year old she probably has more responsibilities than I have ever had, and to see this selfless little girl’s face light up when I put her new shoes on her feet was something I will never forget. After distributing the shoes, we were able to play with the kids at their recess, I don’t know who was more excited, us or them! The boys loved showing Raekwon their dance moves, and Christian was having a blast racing the kids. Tyler and Lindsay brought the kids a soccer ball to play with, and the kids loved showing me their gymnastics skills–along with showing me up in a handstand contest!
It was hard to say goodbye to the Glendevon kids, but we had to head to Rose Heights Basic School where we met kids ages 2-5. They were so excited to see us and to get their new shoes. Lindsay and Liz were putting stick-on tattoos on their hands which they absolutely loved showing off! We were able to play a little bit with the kids at Rose Heights Basic as well–they all loved being held and were very intrigued by Kylie’s hair. Again, it was difficult saying goodbye to the kids but we were happy to have been able to give them a new pair of shoes to take home! After the second distribution, it was lunch time!
It’s been such a great experience so far and I can’t wait to see what the rest of our trip holds!
—-
Tyler Kidwell, men’s soccer
Hey everyone. My name is Tyler Kidwell and I am a rising senior on the men’s soccer team. So this is my first service trip and I can honestly say it has been one of the most life-changing experiences of my life, and we are only one day in.
The day started off with a great breakfast consisting of eggs, bacon, toast, and some other traditional American breakfast food. After we ate, we were off to our first stop: a primary school in the city. The drive in itself was an adventure, as the roads are very rough and drivers are constantly honking and swerving to avoid each other. When we finally arrived, I have to admit I was a little nervous. I did not know what to expect, and once I got into the school and got set up I felt right at ease. My first job was to be a “runner” who runs the shoes over to the kids once they are properly sized. Although this wasn’t the most interpersonal job, it was good to get an understanding of how the whole operation ran. At first, I was a little hesitant to wave to the kids and smile at them, but that changed very quickly.
After I was done doing the “runner” job, one of my most exciting jobs occurred. I became the tattoo artist for the kids after they were done getting their shoes. Once they were done getting fitted for shoes, we gave them a chance to get a temporary tattoo or a sticker. The coolest moment for me of the day happened while I was doing the tattoos. I would wave the kids over with a smile and almost all of them were very shy at first. While applying the tattoos, accompanied with some small talk, I would finally countdown to when I released the tattoo. When I did, and the kids realized the awesome design on their hand, their faces always lit up with the biggest smile I have ever seen. It was truly awesome to just see how happy something as simple as a 5 cent tattoo could produce.
After this, the kids had their recess time which they call “break”. Because I play soccer, I brought out my soccer ball and kicked around with them for a while. They kept asking me to show them tricks (which I’m not the best at, by the way) and they even brought me up to their field to play in the big kid game. One of the most mind-opening things happened while playing in this game. These little kids would fall face first on cement and gravel and even get smacked in the face point-blank by the ball and not even one kid shed a tear. This kind of opened my eyes up to how tough and care-free these kids are.
Next up for the day was a visit to a local Jamaica preschool. These kids were much younger than the first stop, and they were even shyer. At this stop, my job was to fit the shoe on the kids, and this job is considered the most interpersonal between you and the child. Although the kids were pretty shy and didn’t say much, it was awesome to be able to share such a close moment with them.
Finally, to round out the day, we all got our butts kicked by some local “14-15” year olds in soccer. I put the 14 and 15 in quotations because half the kids on the field had facial hair and out of the two kids I asked, one said he was 17 years old and the other 18. Although we got our butts kicked, it was a very cool experience to play the sport I love against some local competition, and have to admit they were pretty good. We even had a little crowd watching us while we played. After the game, our group ate dinner and talked about our experiences, which was interesting to hear everyone’s views on things we all experienced.
Anyways, probably need to get some sleep as we have to wake up at 6:30 AM! Stay tuned.
Friday
Asia Doss, women’s basketball
Hi everyone my name is Asia Doss and I am on the women’s basketball team. This is Day 2 of our Soles4Souls trip here in Jamaica and so far it’s been amazing. It began early in the morning with a more traditional Jamaican breakfast which consisted of: cabbage with crawfish, dumplings, boiled bananas, and watermelon. After that we were on the road for 2 and a half hours through the mountains to Manchester parish. One of the highlights of the day was the drive up the mountains. The cars drive so close and the turns are so sharp, personally I know I would probably crash a car here in Jamaica they’re real driving pros here.
When we arrived at the school in Manchester all the kids were pumped! In Manchester the group had the chance to wash the children’s feet for the first time. This was a really cool experience because they would just light up when you put their feet in water, some would rub their toes together in it, it was all around a cool experience. A very specific experience I remember at this school were three young girls names Aliyah, Halie, and Nakensie. They were in the third grade and they liked to play “net ball”. It’s very similar to my sport, basketball, and so we all went down and played. At first it was pretty hard because net ball doesn’t have a backboard and my coach always tell me the backboard is your best friend so I was a little hesitant because I didn’t want to look bad on my first shot but no worries I actually made it. We were only able to play for a little while and it was fun while it lasted. I lost track of time and one of our tour guides, Junior, had to come get me. They were all sad but they walked me up to the car giving me big hugs and they waved to me in the car until we left the lot. Those were three girls I will never forget because they were some of the only girls so far that I’ve meet in Jamaica that didn’t like soccer instead they liked basketball.
After we left that school we went to our next school in Manchester. This was a school in which our trip leader Kristen’s boyfriend’s mother works at. The school was very nice and they fed us lunch. They greeted us at the car, they had big smiles, and the best part was that it was career day for them. A lot of the children wanted to be teachers, some nurses, and what I found to be interesting was that there were a lot of boys that wanted to be soldiers. They said they wanted to be soldiers because they want to fight crime and protect all their people from “the bad guys”. We were able to give out a lot of shoes and give a lot of smiles. We even had the chance to dance with them. I was all into the dancing.
Overall Day 2 was a success for Soles4Souls!
—-
Christian Lampasso, men’s ice hockey
Today the team woke up at 7am for a 3-hour bus ride to Manchester Parish. Stepping on this bus at first seemed like a meaningless trip: having to be crammed against the window next to Keita’s 6’7 legs, and everyone half asleep. But for those hours while I stared out the window I ended up coming to some realizations about the world around me.
The scenery was absolutely impeccable, as we snaked through the valleys and mountains of Jamaica, all you could see was green grass and blue sky (with the occasional goatdog). Every once in a while we would stumble past a few poverty stricken homes. When I say poverty stricken, I mean as an American who grew up in a suburb, but first thought is “oh, they must have it hard.” Every house had boarded up windows, rain buckets to catch rain for fresh water, tarps to cover up holes in the roof; trust me the shape of the houses I saw today were rough. All I could think about was “I wish I could do something to help them.” Then I started to notice something, as we would drive past the natives in our bus everyone would wave to us. At first I thought it was a joke, like “ha ha let’s just wave at the tourists.” But as we were wheeling around a deep turn over looking a valley there was a pretty damaged house sitting at the bottom. Outside was a mother holding a small baby in her arms, an older male, and a young daughter. I poked my head out the window and waved to them, and every single one of their faces lit up and they waved back, even the little baby popped his head up and waved (kidding, the infant didn’t wave). All jokes aside that touched my heart so much that even in the position of not having a fraction of the things I have, they were so happy to see me wave. In America if someone waved to you without a doubt you’re going to be “okay, what is this guy doing.” But here in Jamaica, everyone seems to be so happy regardless of the material possessions they have.
Americans can have everything in the world and still not be satisfied. While observing these houses at first I was looking down upon their situation, but now I am coming to realize that these people are content. Yes, they can definitely be in a better situation but the people themselves are so pleasant and genuinely happy. I work with kids in the states and they are nothing like the kids here. Every single kid I interacted with today said thank you, smiled, and was truly appreciative for just getting a pair of shoes. They would always address me as `Sir’ or `Mr’ and there was such a respect for their elders that is completely different from the American culture of children getting mad they didn’t get the newest iPad. The hope and inspiration I see in this kids’ eyes makes me want to become a better person. Even though these kids think I am helping them, they are helping me even more.
The team is two days into this trip and I feel as if I can speak for everyone, we are coming to realize how grateful we need to be for everything we have in life. Be thankful for our family, a place within Ohio State Athletics, and the opportunity to work with Soles4Souls to have this experience. Honestly when people would tell me about their service trips in the past, they were just words in my ears and I didn’t understand. After being able to see and live it, I have an entire new understanding of what it’s like to help people, and a new understanding of myself.
Saturday
Raekwon McMillan, football
Today was different from the last two days on our mission trip to Jamaica because it didn’t consist of distributing shoes to needy children and families, but it was a day that we took to relax and enjoy the views of the ocean and have an excursion in Ocho Rios. This morning we found a nice Jamaican restaurant with great service right down the street from our hotel that served American breakfast that was actually better than most Americans can cook. Once we got done with our breakfast we headed to Dolphins Cove to begin our excursion.
In Dolphins Cove, a water resort/sea animal attraction, we got a chance to pick from many different activities and interact with different sea animals. We got to swim with the dolphins, watch a shark display, kayak, and also relax on the beach side. Going from distribution to excursion was definitely impactful to me because it gave me the ability to appreciate the little things and make sure I take advantage of every opportunity I had. I took an open mindset to everything we did at Dolphins Cove because this might be my last chance to ever do this and also tried to not be wasteful with anything because their are people who don’t have and wish they could have a small portion of ours.
The second portion of our excursion was going to Dunn’s River Falls and climbing up the waterfall with the Soles4Souls team. Just about 3 days ago we were a group of foreign people to each other that never really spent time together and then when today came we were working together in groups to get past this challenge. The Dunn’s River waterfall climb gave all of us a chance to get active and even gave some of us a chance to face fears and make leaps and bounds in our lives that we usually wouldn’t take risk. But since we were apart of a team we couldn’t let each other down and at the top of the waterfall you could see smile of accomplishment and big pillars and many peoples’ lives being knocked down because they overcame a fear or obstacle.
Today was an overall success and a day of well needed rest after putting in so much work during the distributions. Although we had time to relax it was actually a good time to reflect and think about how blessed we truly are to be in the position that we are in.
—-
Liz Buerling, pistol
Today was our first day waking up in our new hotel in Ocho Rios. We started our day of adventures by going to a local breakfast stop right around the corner from our hotel. After eating our hot breakfast in even hotter weather we were all ready to hit the water.
Our first stop was going to Dolphin Cove, where we got to lay on the beach for the first time while since arriving in Jamaica; we were all happy to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery. The hightlight of Dolphin Cove, however, was being able to swim with the Dolphins. For me personally this was a new experience, and it turned out to be everything I imagined and more! Being belly to belly with an animal as they a moving faster then I could ever swim is an incredible feeling. We finished up at Dolphin Cove by swimming with sting rays, holding birds and grabbing lunch.
We then headed to the iconic Dunn’s River, however this name is very deceiving in that it is more of a waterfall then a river. We all got our water shoes on and headed down a long set of stairs to get to the bottom of the waterfall. We all were at the base of the waterfall ready to climb up, looked up and thought “what did we get ourselves into?” This seemed like a much more daunting task then we realized. After many falls, hearts skipping beats, and teamwork we all made it to the top in one piece, maybe just with a couple more bruises.
Next we got a true taste of Jamaican culture by going to a market. Here we got the chance to look around at local goods, while being haggled like never before! Finally our last stop of the day was eating at Mom’s Restaurant in downtown Ocho Rios, where people finally fulfilled the craving of ox tail. With the ox tail falling off the bone I think it’s safe to say everyone had a happy tummy.
Overall I am overwhelmed with the amont of joy this trip has brought me. Being able to do something small by giving kids shoes and seeing the big smiles on there faces makes you realize you want to more. Proverbs 28:27 says ” He who gives to who is in need will never want, but he who shuts his eyes will have many curses”. This passage holds very true, by seeing what other people go through puts a new light on the way you live, and not wanting more but giving more. I am blessed to be here and can’t wait to see what else is in store for us. And Go Bucks!
Sunday
Keita Bates-Diop, men’s basketball
The last couple days have been so good in all that we have done for the kids, and for ourselves. Today was no different in that we started our morning at 8:00 as we walked to a local breakfast shop around the corner from our hotel. They served a typical Jamaican breakfast of ackee and saltfish, but they also served a typical American breakfast of bacon, eggs, and pancakes, which some of us also got.
From breakfast we walked back to the hotel in the warm morning weather to pack and get ready for the day. At this point I realized the bus rides have turned into one of the more intense bonding experiences of the trip. We start playing hard and frustrating games, incited by Christian’s game from the previous day, and since we are all competitive we all want to win and figure out the games first. Some of us were still tired and chose to sleep part of the way there while looking at the beautiful scenery surrounding us.
We get to the ice cream shop and everyone is so eager to get out seeing as some of us are pretty big athletes sitting on a bus for 2 hours began to wear on our knees and legs. So we stretch and begin our walk from the warm outside into the cool ice cream shop. There were so many flavors I had never heard of and the workers allowed us to taste most of them just to test them out and all of them were so good it was so hard to decide which flavor to choose from, I chose Rocky River and mango. So then we all chill outside eating our different flavors of ice cream and wait to go on our next excursion.
We then travel a couple more hours to the beach, and this bus ride was just full of mostly tired people, most of us slept for most of the way to the beach. So we get to the beach and everyone immediately gets in their swim suits and just dives straight in and just relaxes for an extended period of time. The two most exciting things about being in the water was the pyramid we tried to make with 6 people. What happened was me, Kwon, and Junior, stood in the water in a triangle type thing, and Michelle, Asia, and Kylie had to stand on all three of our shoulders and form a pyramid, it was almost like a workout for everyone involved having to balance and hold everyone up and at the same time trying not to fall on anyone. The second most exciting part was the music video most of us were involved in; I was pretty impressed with everyone’s dance moves honestly.
The dinner at the beach was absolutely too much, like it was too good, with the options of jerk chicken, burgers, and whole bunch of other options while also over looking the beach was such a pretty sight. Then we got a treat at the end of watching a guy play with fire and swallow it and spit it back it, it was mind blowing how that is even possible without causing actual physical harm to the person. but that was pretty much how the day ended after that we came right back to the hotel and that concludes this day.
Be back soon!
Keita Bates-Diop
—-
Lindsay Agnew, women’s soccer
Today was another excursion day since the distributions typically occur during the school day and it was still the weekend. We ate breakfast and after trying a lot of traditional Jamaican food throughout the week, most of us went with the typical American pancakes and eggs from a place within walking distance from our hotel. Then we headed to Kingston which was a couple of hours away, making a few pit stops along the mountains and rainforests for some “Kodak moments” as our bus driver Patrick calls them. Once we got to Kingston we got really good ice cream at Devon House and went on a tour of one of the two universities in Kingston. Our tour guide from Soles4Souls boyfriend’s brother (sorry that is a mouthful) who is attending medical school there, showed us around campus and we got to see the track that Usain Bolt trained on. Then, he showed us some dance moves and Raekwon tried to keep up with his Jamaican skills while Keita, Christian and I talked to a man who told us he was a millionaire from London, Ontario (which is where I used to live) who was dating Anne Hathaway. A lot of the Jamaicans we have met love to mess with us.
After the tour we headed back to Ocho Rios and went to the beach! The water was beautiful and we had a lot of fun swimming in the water, especially Christian, our very own “rastaman” or as we know him back at OSU “dreadsy”, who has conquered his fear of not being able to swim. Junior, one of our tour guides, also showed us how to do this pyramid thing in the water and Asia, Kylie and Michelle stood on Raekwon, Keita and Junior’s shoulders. It only took them a couple tries (and one failed attempt by me) to do it. We even made a music video as the sun went down and got shown up by a couple of Jamaican dancers. After eating dinner by the beach, the couple that showed us up earlier performed a dance by the bonfire and the boy did a fire dance where he ate and spit out fire.
Overall, we bonded a lot as a group today and had fun dancing and just being together. The trip is going by so fast and I’m excited to see the kids again tomorrow and do another distribution. Giving out the shoes and playing with the kids is really rewarding and my favorite part. They love soccer which is really cool for me and I love trying to make the girls play because normally it’s just the boys. I met a couple of budding girl soccer stars though and I told them the boys have to let them play if they’re better then them so I showed them a few moves that I hope they use on the boys. Anyways, I’m so grateful for this experience and I am sad it’s almost over. Go Bucks!
