Please Help Us Help Hagley Gap

15 Aug. 2011

The Blue Mountain Project has achieved so much over the past year. Our water program started from nothing but the desire and demand from the Hagley Gap community for clean safe, fresh water. Now we know what we need in terms of clean water and how to get it. We just lack the money. Our health clinics are working 4 days a week instead of 2. We are restarting the After School Program in Hagley Gap. The After School Program in Penlyne Castle is going gangbusters. Our clinic in Penlyne Castle now has a working bathroom and a covered outside waiting room. The Women’s Group has a much better idea of their market. Fun Camp is occurring as I write helping a 100 or so kids prepare for the upcoming school year. This year we added math sessions and have a Hagley Gap teacher, Tessa, as our Fun Camp Leader.  Read more... (267 words)

Rocky Dawuni Appointed as Ghana’s Tourism Ambassador

The Ministry of Tourism has appointed Ghanaian music star and NAACP Image Award Nominee Rocky Dawuni as Ghana’s Tourism Ambassador. In a letter of appointment to Dawuni, Ghana’s Minister of Tourism, Akua Sena Densua, praised the Ghanaian artist for his excellent achievements in music both home and abroad and his continuing positive projection of Ghana in his concerts. The ceremonial appointment which comes with no financial entitlement took effect on 11th April, 2011. In accepting this new role Dawuni stated “The arts, especially music can not only bring tourists to Ghana, but create an appreciation for the rich Ghanaian culture outside of Ghana. I am prepared to do my utmost to broadly portray Ghana and itsrich heritage through my music, concerts, humanitarian work and appearances worldwide.”  Read more... (303 words + 2 images)

International Women’s Day in the Blue Mountains

Last month, on March 8, was International Women’s Day, a day of celebration that I am particularly fond of. Women in the US have made great strides since the days that we were considered chattel belong to our father or husband. We have more freedoms, more economic opportunity, more social opportunities, and more equality. But in many parts of the world, women do not enjoy these same advantages.  Read more... (188 words)

Grandmothers Will Share Their Wisdom About Sustainability

Berkeley/Oakland - April 21 & April 22, 2011

The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, a group of women who represent a global alliance of prayer, education and healing for Mother Earth, is featured in a documentary called “For the Next 7 Generations.” The documentary, which took four years to make, is the story of these thirteen women coming together and their work to protect diverse cultures: lands, medicines, language and ceremonial ways of prayer, and ways to raise children. The film was shot in many locations across the globe – from Africa to the Amazon, Alaska to Nicaragua.  Read more... (292 words + 2 images)

2011 – Exciting Times for the Blue Mountain Project

Blue Mountain Project helps the Hagley Gap District of Jamaica, including its children.

I just spent a delightful two weeks in Hagley Gap working with Zadie, our new Program Manager, and gaining new energies to meet the challenges of the new year: finding funding to build the water system that Gwion, our Water Ambassador, has been designing; working with all the new Service Learning groups that Haley has brought on board; choosing and mentoring new LIGHTs; planning for 2011 Fun Camp… The list, as always with a growing organization like Blue Mountain Project, is never-ending but always exciting as new doors open up for us.  Read more... (249 words + 1 image)

Welcome Zadie, Blue Mountain Project’s New Program Manager

Zadie Neufville

I am pleased to announce that The Blue Mountain Project ‘s long search for a new Program Manager is over. Zadie Neufville will join the Blue Mountain Project in January 2011. She brings a vast experience in the media and a strong interest in development issues. You can read all about her on the “our team” page. And those who make the trek to Hagley Gap will be able to meet her in person.  Read more... (219 words + 1 image)

Wisconsin Snow In Contrast to the Jamaica Sun

My area of the world, Wisconsin,  received seven inches of snow the weekend of November 13-14. We went from an Indian summer with temperatures in the 60s to the low 30s overnight Friday. As I was shoveling out the driveway, I patted myself on the back for the purposeful exercise I was getting but I was also sad to see the end of green until April or May.  And I became jealous as I checked the weather report for Jamaica – 80 degrees and sunny.  Read more... (207 words)

Hagley Gap and the Floods

Jamaica was hit by an enormous amount of rain last week – 12 inches of rain in 36 hours, according to  Gwion, our Water Ambassador, in the rain gauge at the Ambassador house.  Read more... (262 words)