The first impression

Batey 8

Upon arrival in Batey 8 I went quiet for a while. While walking through the mud roads, looking at the poorly lid golf-plate accommodations, the dogs and their cloud of mosquito’s around them and all the kids who are still awake running around naked, I felt like an alien. In the days after that, I’ve met Rosemary, 17, who is mother of 15 year old Jorge. I’ve taken a shower with a bucket of water, doves walking next to feet and children peeking through the walls. Brushed my teeth with bottled water while listening to the community praying in a shed: the church. Children with no belly button because the doctor did not cut the umbilical right, and now they walk around with scars across their stomach. Water, is being distilled with chlorine to kill the bacteria’s. Electricity is only available during the night, and half of the children in the Batey only eat once a day. It is not strange to have your dinner with 4 or 5 boys or girls around you: they all would like to have the left overs.

I thought I have seen something of the world, but this beats all. During a little walk through the Batey, I get the chance to see different houses. Some are so crooked, they're just wood and golf-plate. Others are a bit more luxurious: they have some walls and sometimes even a couch. None of them have a bathroom or toilet: you share those with the rest of the community outside.

It is so incredible to see a person can switch quickly; When you see a person has nothing, you become so glad with the things they do have: a small cooking station, a chair with a pillow, a curtain to block the sunlight.

Batey 8, Batey 7, Los Blocks and soon Cuchilla, where I will be staying.. Its all the poorest of the poor. The children are wonderful however, they are eager to learn, want to touch you, hold your hands. The elderly are so beautiful and incredibly kind. And all those laughs and remarkable moments just wash away the fact you have to pee above cockroaches, sleep in poor beds, stink continiously, and eat rice and beans all day…