Day Seven by Priscila Silva (Barueri, Brazil)

One more exciting day in Jamaica! We woke up early, had breakfast and waited for Workshop 6: Junk Attack at 9am. For me, it was amazing! An artist, Nancy Burke enchanted us with her work...she makes objects using recycable things! You can imagine that she can do anything.

Later, all of us had time to show our art! Believe me...we have many artists from around the world here! Then, Nancy chose which ones she liked the most. Morgan created a book stand from wine bottle corks which was really interesting and he won first prize (a t-shirt)! Hanna made a beautiful bottle of wine using five recycable elements. Nancy really loved it! A Jamaican, Alecia made something similar to a toy...it was a friendly puppet made by re-using a plastic bottle and some newspaper.

So, everything finished...all of us happy...we had lunch and then did the last formal presentation in Power Point about our projects, promises and everything we intend to do when we come back to Brazil and the other respective communities.

Aham! After these presentations it was was time to cook! Yeah...the kitchen was burning! Fabio and I prepared some snacks and the famous caipruiriha, a traditional Brazilian drink. It was fantastic! Everyone tried and liked it.

Time to show how many artists we have again! It was about 8pm and we had wonderful presentations! Ian sang for us, Morgan too! We had a play, dance performances and a lot of fun! We really enjoyed this night...some of the Jamaicans are leaving tomorrow. So we will mis them!

No problem Jamaica!

PS. I am really happy, because I have met many special people here...I loved this place and the weather. I must thank all of them for everything. These ten days were unforgettable.

God bless you.

Final Farewell Evening

Footstep 11 is sadly coming to a close. Last night we held the Final Farewell Evening, in which the youth were presented with their certificates. Two participants (Jeff Murphy from the USA and Harvel Gibbs from Jamaica) were awarded prizes (fair trade t-shirts) as a recognition of their special achievement during the conference.

After the formal proceedings, the group enjoyed a lavish multi-cultural meal prepared by the youth. We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from the USA, kisiel from Poland, pate from Brazil, coconut rundown chicken from Jamaica, pancakes from Russia and much, much more!

This was followed by great entertainment prepared by the youth. Much fun was had by all!

Glenn Standish (Global Footsteps Chief Executive) addresses the group

College Principal Howard Isaacs talks to the youth

Edith Hibbert presents a certificate

Harvel Gibbs (Saint Ann, Jamaica) receives his certificate from Glenn Standish

Moneague College Principal Howard Isaacs presents Koome Kirimi (Kenya) with his certificate

Anna Moss receives her certificate from Glenn Standish

All the scrumptious international food (prepared by our youth)

The Jamaicans serve their food

The Footstep 11 youth enjoy all the multi-cultural food

Piotr, Basia and Tatiana try a sweet Jamaican delicacy wrapped in a banana leaf

Anesta Mathurin and Katie Johnson enjoy their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (from the USA!)

Edith Hibbert and Ania Standish

Fabio prepares caipruriha a famous Brazilian drink

Priscila and Fabio prepare the Brazilian drink

Morgan Phillips sings some Billy Bragg
Bottom (Glenn) and Titania (Anesta) in a scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream

The UK team perform Shakespeare

Titania and Bottom (aka Anesta and Glenn) in a scene from A Midsummer Night's dream

Sule belly dances for everyone

Sule sings a traditional Turkish folk song

Koome Kirimi performs the famous Jambo song from Kenya

Preparing for the Final Farewell Evening

Sule prepares some Turkish food
Careen and friend prepare some local Jamaican cuisine

Tatiana from Sochi (Russia) shows off her pancake tossing skills

Tatiana unveils her Russian pancakes

Ian hangs out with some of the college staff

Workshop 7:Presentations of Local Footstep groups

The final workshop today was led by the participants. Each community gave a presentation about their respective Local Footsteps groups.Local Footsteps Gloucestershire presentation

Anesta Mathurin gives the Local Footsteps Gloucestershire presentation

Anesta Mathurin talks

Hanna and Basia present Local Footsteps Torun

Workshop 6: "Junk Attack!"

This morning, Footstep 11 welcomed renowned Saint Ann artist Nancy Burke to lead the JUNK ATTACK! workshop. Nancy exhibted some of her own work, which was mostly made from recycled materials. The youth then spent 2 hrs creating their own masterpieces. The results were impressive.

Nancy Burke

Local artist Nancy Burke (aka Inansi) introduces herself to the Footstep 11 group

Ian Goering (USA) discusses music with Nancy

Priscila Silva fromBrazil prepares her art creation

The youth at work

Junk Attack at Footstep 11!

Ian hard at work

Beautiful art!

Nancy Burke and the Junk Attack workshop

Morgan Phillips (Footstep 11 Workshop Co-ordinator) designing an ingenious book stand using bottle corks. Morgan won first prize for his finished masterpiece!

Sule (Trabzon, Turkey) creating an environmental montage

The Footstep 11 team at "Junk Attack!"

Viewing the participants' finished work

Viewing the display table

Glenn Standish and Nancy Burke judge the exhibits

Hanna Wisniewska from Torun, Poland with her bottle which won 2nd place

Joint 3rd prize

Nancy reads an environmental poem to finish the workshop*

Glenn Standish and Nancy Burke

* ONE LOVE WILLOW TREE poem by Stephen Matkin (as read by Nancy Burke at Footstep 11)

I've decided to be a willow tree,

That way I'll see what's good for me.

As a willow I am one with all,

As a willow I hear the universal call.

My leaves caress the water their gentle touch,

I drink of lifes joys ever so much.

Birds in my branches sing their melody,

I'm filled with enchanted happiness and glee.

As the sun shines down with its wondrous light,

It lets me know everything is alright.

The grass below me of emerald green,

Is truly a sight to be seen.

The earth at my feet so fertile and rich,

Fits perfectly into the overall nitch.

When the rain falls on me from heaven above,

I'm taking a bath in raindrops of love.

Wind embraces me and I begin to sway,

I dance to its music as I pray.

For the love and attention the bird gives its nest,

I'm happy to give it a place to rest.

Squirrels play in my branches running to and fro,

It tickles me all the way to my soul.

The moon graciously gives of its moonshine,

Assuring us all that everything is fine.

The blue of the sky so luscious and deep,

Tells of the love we all get to keep.

The feel on my trunk of the industrious ants,

Brings me the joy of their celebratory dance.

From larvae to caterpillar to beautiful butterfly,

Shows us what can be done if we try.

The turtle who ambles by ever so slow,

Is in no hurry for he's in the know.

We're all part of nature we're one and the same,

Under my shade the child plays its game.

Its mother is there to guide and protect,

Never flinching, not even even for a sec.

Ever changing clouds pass by overhead,

All soft and cuddly like a feather bed.

Winter brings snow making everything white,

A wonder to behold such a breath taking sight

The sun rises and sets with such beauty and grace,

It brings a smile of joy to my face.

Fish nibble my leaves with such a sweet kiss,

It fills my heart with happiness and bliss.

Frogs on the lilly pad croak with joy,

The beaver painstakingly builds its dam,

The Shepherd lovingly cares for the lamb.

Deer stroll down to the water to drink,

Such a gentle creature, don't you think?

All my neighbours who live in the grass and below,

Help to make up that which is the whole.

We are all connected in every way,

That's why we're all ONE at the end of the day.

Day Six by Debbie Hall (St. Ann, Jamaica)

We woke up this morning very tired after a long excursion of the previous day. After the fun and excitement of wednesday's field trip we now return to serious buisness. The first workshop conducted by Edwin Ochieng was on environmental education through teacher's training colleges. This workshop was designed to make participants aware that the school system is one avenue by which we can promote environmental awareness.
By creating linkages with schools within and outside our communities. Some possible benefits to be desired are: An exchange of ideas, and culture, it promotes teamwork and increases motivation. We were given a short break after which Morgan grouped us according to our communities and gave us a project.
On which we have to give a formal presentation on Friday afternoon. The project invoves each group identifying an environmental problem in their community and formulate strategies as to how we could assist the community in alleviating these problems.
In the second workshop for the day, Glenn and Morgan took us through a design and communication session. In this session, a representative from each community was placed in a special group to create a blog for his/her community. This blog will be the media through which the progress of the various communities will be tracked. The other participants met in their community groups and worked on their presentation. It was a progressive day.

P.S. Although our communities are in someinstances oceans apart, we do have some similarities as well as differences, however through partnership we can acheive our objectives.

The participants by the participants

Selection of pictures drawn by the participants during Sunday's Getting to Know You evening (see the earlier post)

Workshop 5: Developing Local Footsteps

On the afternoon of Thursday 12th July, Morgan Phillips and Glenn Standish got the youth to develop their Local Footsteps groups for their individual communities. Some individuals designed presentations which will be presented tomorrow. Other selected youth set up their own Google Blogger sites for their Local Footsteps groups. These will be updated regularly and will be linked soon to this site!

The whiteboard with all the new Local Footsteps URL links (they are now linked to this site)

The participants check out this website!
The participants in action on the World Wide Web


Some of the local participants design their presentation about their Local Footstep group