In late June I am headed back to the Port Morant area in Jamaica. I will be working with the group Isaiah Six Eight from Birmingham, AL.
Port Morant is located on the eastern tip of Jamaica. This area would be considered poor by US standards. Homes are small and made of concrete and wood. Air conditioning is non-existent and re-bar replaces glass for windows. The town is small and walking is the primary form of transportation.
Getting to Port Morant requires a drive east along Jamaican road A4 from Kingston. A4 hugs the coastline as you bounce through towns like Yallahs and White Horses. To your right scenic views of the Caribbean crashing against the coast come in and out of view while the misty Blue Mountains rise above forest on your left.
The bumpy taxi ride from Kingston to Port Morant is about 60 miles but can take nearly two hours because of the road conditions.
For several years Isaiah Six Eight has worked around Port Morant working in local schools, churches, orphanages and even rebuilding homes.
During June and July Isaiah Six Eight will host several mission teams who will hold bible school, help with construction projects and install a computer lab.
Have you ever ventured off your path in life and wondered why? In 1993 mountaineer Greg Mortenson ventured off his path, literally, and changed not only the course of his life but thousands others.
The book “Three Cups of Tea One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace… One School at a Time ” tells the incredible story of how one man’s failure to summit K2 led to a passion for educating children in Northern Pakistan.
Greg’s journey begins with a failed attempt on the world’s second tallest mountain, K2. Upon descent Greg gets lost and wanders into a small Pakistani mountain village. The village took in the weary American, and before leaving Greg vowed to return one day to build them a school.
Greg did build the school and in doing so found a new path in life. In 1996, with the financial support of Swiss physicists Jean Hoerni, he started the Central Asia Institute or CAI. The CAI focused on building schools in the small villages of the Karakoram mountains in northern Pakistan.
The book paints a pre and post 9/11 picture of what life is like in the region. In his quest Greg learns many hard lessons about the culture and even finds himself in life threatening situations.
In mountains where Taliban fighters train and Osama Bin Laden may be hiding, Greg has built school after school promoting education as a pathway to peace.
If you ever questioned you path in life, felt a need to contribute, need inspiration, or wanted to know more about a culture so many Americans know little about, this Three Cups of Tea is a must read!
Dengue Fever is a serious disease passed on by mosquitoes. Though it is not common in the US it is a serious disease in many tropical countries.
Why do I care about dengue, (pronounced Den-gee)? I’ve had it and still feeling the effects.
In September of 2007 I was working in eastern Jamaica after Hurricane Dean. Water was still standing and mosquitoes and insects were really bad.
A few days after returning home I got very sick. I had fevers of 105 and my body was in incredible pain. At first I thought it was malaria. After some research I learned there was an outbreak of dengue in eastern Jamaica. I went back to my doctor for tests and tested positive for dengue. Note: The test is simple blood work test and mine was sent to a lab so I found out a few days after test.
Knowing what I had brought some relief. After researching the disease further however, I saw that recovery takes a long time.
My acute phase lasted a little over a week. I probably should have been hospitalized but did not test positive until after the acute phase.
Once the acute phase is over you still feel the effects. I learned that this is somewhat different for each person. For me the pain in my joints, especially legs, made it painful to walk. Extreme fatigue, sore eyes, and sometime confusion (yes more so than I am now) are common.
It’s been nearly ten months since I contracted dengue and I still have pain and fatigue. It is not as bad and seems to be “slowly” getting better, but it does effect how I live. I really cannot eat a lot during the day because that seems to increase the fatigue and pain as do certain foods. I am still experimenting on if high carbs or protein make it worse. Also if I get a cold the symptoms get much worse.
Through the Internet I have found people who have finally recovered from dengue but they said they endured its effects for months or years afterwards. They also had to make lifestyle adjustments.
There is no vaccine for dengue just prevention. Always check the CDC site to countries you are traveling for disease news and outbreaks. Mosquito repellent is a must! If possible stay in air conditioned rooms.
Below is an excellent article I came across on Dengue Dengue Article
In the Hotzone, by Kevin Sites, is a collection of stories from the author’s travels to conflicts around the world.
Kevin teamed up with Yahoo as a reporter and created “The HotZone”, a website documenting his travels for one year to conflicts zones around the world. From India to Africa to the Middle East Kevin tells the story of how war is affecting the people in these areas. Many of the stories focus on individuals and their struggle in these conflicts.
The book also contains a great documentary about his travels. He also talks about his filming and handling of the footage during highly publicised 2004 mosque shooting in Iraq.
There are plenty of great reviews so click on the link below to see more and Order the book! Click Here - In the Hot Zone
I am currently making some changes to my site without breaking anything. If you find a broken link or something else wierd please let me know. Hope to have everything done in a few days.
The first half of March I went back to the Philippines with the group Mission Love Seeds. Click on the
dispatch page below to see daily dispatches and further updates.
If you remember last March I was working in the Philippines and visited a small village called the Dumpsite. It got it’s name because it is located at the Antipolo city dump.
While there one of our groups goals was to locate and test their water source. We found the source, a small spring, and found it was not suitable for drinking. Over the past few months Mission Love Seeds has funded a project to bring fresh water to the village.
Two tanks have been installed so they can be filled with clean water from the city. Because the village sits on the side of a mountain PVC had to be run from the top of the mountain to the tanks.
Dumpsite villagers helped with much of the labor.
The project is now complete and I have received the following email from Fely, the MLS coordinator in the Philippines
The Installing of the water tank for the sitio dumpsite is already finished with delivered water yesterday, from the first day of digging soil to install the 240 meters of PVC from the top of the hill through the place where the water tank place was finished for 3 days with some rains, and digging to put the post concrete that will put the water tank which takes for two days, digging and put the post for the roof , and putting the metal roof for a day, do the concrete floor and putting the other side of fence for a day, and yesterday they do the finishing touch of putting the sign, the tarp which cover the tank to secure it from dust, and putting the fence in front and at the other side, the last is the delivery of the water. You can see the faces of the people there how greatful they are, that the Lord them Bless by means of this water tank, its really they are chosen.
The sitio dumpsite now has a water, the people there are really Bless that the Lord use The Grace Foundation of Destin and Mission Love Seeds Inc. this project fullfilled. In behalf of my family and the families of Sitio Dumpsite are really thankful to all people concern, I am personally thankful to all the people of dumpsite who really helps us to finished this.
Again thank you very much
God Bless You
My friend Aaron Jackson has made it to the final round of CNN Heros. He needs your vote! If he wins this round he will be featured on CNN on December 6 with Anderson Cooper. The winner also receives $20,000 toward their cause. Aaron helps de-worm children in Haiti and other third world countries. He has already de-wormed 1.5 million children and that money would buy another 1 million pills.
To vote goto CNN Heros and click on Aaron Jackson. You can also see his story there as well.
This will only take a few seconds but could save many people! Aaron’s website
A few weeks ago I was in Port Morant, a remote part of Jamaica. The area was recently hit hard by hurricane Dean and I was there surveying the damage.
Because the area is so poor it is difficult to see the extent of damage. Homes are small and can be rebuilt in a day or so and the roads were already in bad shape. I could tell however that there had been a 5-6ft storm surge and some parts of the roads were recently washed out.
A few days after I returned home I got really sick. Bad chills, high fever and night sweats. This went on for a week. Had I not gone out of the country I would have chalked it up to something like the flu but…take a look on the CDC site and you come across things like Malaria or Dengue fever.
Even though I feel it’s probably not, I have to treat it like it could be one of those diseases. I certainly don’t want to be the guy who starts a malaria outbreak in Florida.
Anyway, I talked with my travel doctor in Birmingham and he recommended a test for Malaria while my regular doctor thinks it maybe dengue fever. Both diseases have alerts posted by the CDC for Jamaica.
So far I’ve been lucky in traveling to these poor countries. As sick as I was at least I can get treatment and also know what I have. The people in the countries I visited just have to live with it.
Though I feel much better I will go tomorrow and get a malaria test and keep an eye how I feel.
When traveling out of the US especially to a underdeveloped country you should check the CDC website well in advance. You may also need to get some immunizations. I’ve had a whole range of them. We live in a well protected country and should not take it for granted.
Wow, it’s hard to believe it was two years ago when Katrina hit. For me it was definitely a turning point in my
Wow, it’s hard to believe it was two years ago when Katrina hit. For me it was definitely a turning point in my life. I would have never guessed jumping in my car two days after Katrina to document and capture images would change my life. I left not knowing what I would find, traveling along closed interstates, over debris and through completely destroyed cities. I finally made my way to what was left of Biloxi.
Since that initial trip I have traveled all along the coast watching relief and finally rebuilding efforts. I talked to monks who only survived by climbing in the roof of their new temple, I’ve met refugees from Laos who became community leaders among their people, and I met many who knew or found those who died in the storm.
My journey has also taken to unexpected places like Laos, Thailand, Jamaica and the Philippines. I traveled to Thailand to document a woman finding her refugee camp from 25 years ago and visited families that live and work in a dumpsite in the Philippines. There has been so much I could write a book on the people I’ve met.
Today went back and looked through pictures, videos, and dispatches from the past two years. It certainly brings up a lot of emotions.
For those of you who have been part of the journey, I hope the images have captured some of your memories. For those who have followed along, thank you! I have had so much outside support and I really appreciate it.
Below are some quick links to Katrina related projects I’ve put together.
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Port Morant is located on the eastern tip of Jamaica. This area would be considered poor by US standards. Homes are small and made of concrete and wood. Air conditioning is non-existent and re-bar replaces glass for windows. The town is small and walking is the primary form of transportation.
Have you ever ventured off your path in life and wondered why? In 1993 mountaineer Greg Mortenson ventured off his path, literally, and changed not only the course of his life but thousands others.
Wow, it’s hard to believe it was two years ago when Katrina hit. For me it was definitely a turning point in my 
