Education/training

Seneca students help out

Pamela Dennis and Sarah Young, early childhood education students at Seneca College, leave no doubt that their trip to Jamaica was worth every penny of the $1,800 each that it cost them.

DAVID CHILTON


[ 2006-05-03 ]

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Brooke Tolman, an ECE student at Seneca, is surrounded by students from a Jamaican grade school.

But this was no sun and sand, rum and reggae stay at a resort catering to foreigners. This was two weeks working without pay in the Kingston shantytown of Riverton.

"It was worth every dollar," says Dennis, 24. "Absolutely, I would love to go again. I didn't want to come home."

Young, who turns 21 at the end of the month, was equally taken with the Feb. 25 - March 11 visit. "I thought it would be a life-changing experience, and it was," she says, and points out she's going back for another two weeks in July, again at her own expense.

EVERYONE WELCOME


The organizer of Seneca's working visits to Jamaica is Lynn Caruso, first year co-ordinator of the ECE program. She says the trips began three years ago when they were opened up to everyone -- Seneca student or not -- following their history as a high school credit in the Catholic system.

"I had a mixed bag this year," says Caruso about the students and others who went with her this year. "I had mostly early childhood students, but we also had students from the building systems engineering program, and I had a business student, some (Seneca) graduates -- one was a graduate of the social services worker program -- I had some people from the Lab School, which is our child care centre that's on site, and I had a couple of people from outside (the college)."

In all, there were 28 people who travelled to Jamaica, staying at St. George's College in Kingston, the capital, and working through the Mustard Seed Foundation.

There was plenty for everyone to do once they got to Riverton, a community of about 5,000 presided over by Junior Rowe, its unofficial mayor, a go-between and the man who decides what needs to be done and who gets what. This year, using the skills of a locally hired carpenter, the Seneca students built a house -- Dennis and Young helped paint it -- and it was Rowe who decided who would live there.

Dennis says she mostly worked at a school for two to six-year olds on small group activities, and provided lots of one-on-one attention, something the children of Riverton seldom get.

She also worked in the HIV hospice there, as did Young. She worked as well on the after school program for older students and in the home for teenage mothers.

Despite the appalling conditions -- "It's really overwhelming to see the places they live in because Riverton is built on a garbage dump" -- Young says, the community, and its children especially, are warm and welcoming to the Canadian visitors. The reception is "generally wonderful," adds Caruso, but she concedes there's some resentment towards the group, "and I can't blame them."

Looking to the future, Caruso says Seneca wants to do some community development work and look into setting up a cottage industry of some sort in Riverton.

As for Dennis, she graduates from Seneca in December and is considering a B.Ed at York University, and has already applied for a job teaching ECE in Singapore. Young has just finished her ECE training and in 2007 is going back to school to study Montessori teaching. Both say, nevertheless, whatever they do in future will be shaped by their experience in Riverton.

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QUICK FACTS

- The working visits to Riverton, Jamaica, are open to anyone, not just Seneca students.

- Another trip to Riverton and Montego Bay is planned for July 7-24.

- The inclusive cost of the visit to Jamaica was $1,800, which students and others either pay individually or through organized fundraising. Donors get a tax receipt.

- Visitors stay at St. George's College in Kingston, but should be prepared for many fewer conveniences and amenities than those available in Canada.



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