In August 2023, Chloe will take the trip to live and volunteer on remote farms in in Mandeville in the parish of Manchester, followed by a weekend exploring some of the amazing beaches and waterfalls, as well as a plantation and rum distillery, followed up by time working with children in care centres and touring specific farms.
She will live with other Young Farmers with a local family in Mandeville and work with local youngsters in a care centre. As well as spending time developing the vegetable garden that is used to support the centre, Chloe will have time to teach and play games with the children.
The farms that the volunteers work on vary but all are used to benefit care centres, homes for the physically and mentally disabled, local schools, small farmers and farming cooperatives, and agricultural research facilities. These farms may be organic or non-organic farms, protected or open-door farms, or research-based farms.
In the evenings there will be time to socialise with the group and with the host family over the many delicious dinners, as well as visiting the town of Mandeville. There will be opportunities to dance to traditional Jamaican dancehall music, sample the local rum and try the huge array of food on offer.
The weekend will give Chloe an opportunity to explore some beautiful beach communities, swim in crystal clear waterfall pools and take a tour of a rum distillery to see how Jamaica’s national drink is made. In the second week, after finishing the work on the care centre’s farm, she’ll be taken on a tour of certain demonstration farms that are being used as models to educate Jamaican farmers and show them cheap and sustainable farming alternatives to combat certain issues.
Chloe was interested in this trip so completed an application form; she was invited for an interview a couple of weeks ago in Leamington Spa on the Saturday at 9.30am and was delighted when she was later told she had been selected for one of the 12 places.
Chloe said: “I am very excited to be invited to take part in this volunteering project. Although August 2023 seems a long way off, I have to raise the funds for the cost of the trip which are circa £1,840.00 (which includes food, accommodation, insurance and excursions). I’ll also be expected to fund my travel, vaccinations and social expenditure so will be organising some fund-raising events in the not too distant future!”
Apparently, the language is fairly easy to pick up, so Chloe should find herself coming back with Jamaican Patois as her second language?!
Frah wha pawt yuh deh Chloe!