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.

There is so much going on these days:

We just received a small grant from the Grace Kennedy Foundation, a Jamaican foundation, to provide marketing support for the Women’s Group. Now they can contact potential vendors for their Eco-Weave bags and take trips to Kingston and the north coast of Jamaica to market their beautiful products.

Gwion, with the assistance of Chris Skrabak, a recent volunteer, just finished surveying a major portion of the proposed water pipeline. With this information we will be able to formulate a good budget so necessary for grant proposals.

Zadie is hiring a new nurse who will be a permanent employee. Our previous nurse was a LIGHT but the community requested a permanent medical representative versus someone who was only there for one or two years. There are so many good things to do over the coming months!