When you travel they say you should always take an empty bag for the things you buy while visiting. Well I have chosen in the past to instead pack things that can help give back to the community where I am staying. This june I will be having my honeymoon at the couples resort in Negril. I hope this will catch the attention of someone who lives in that community. What do the local schools need? Do they have sufficient lab equipment for science classes? Or maby a spacific type of educational tool the schools need to help support the comunity? Also what western items do the locals find hard to get? Someone told me once during a visit everyone wanted his cowboy hat for example. I love to barter and love to pack items the locals want or need to barter with aswell.

Hi Todshaw. Welcome to ETJ. I'm not a Negril native, but perhaps you could make contact with the Ministry of Education and obtain a list of schools in the area you would be visiting, then make contact with them to see how you could help out?

In general, I'd say most schools would appreciate monitary donations. Also things like stationary (excercise books, pencils, crayons etc.), learning toys (for the younger set), text and reference books (for stocking libraries and reading centres) and computers.

I'm sure that whatever you can contribute would be appreciated. It's very thoughtful of you to consider making that kind contribution on your honeymoon. Big up for that.

__________________
"Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake." - Matthew 5 v11 KJV

Very waggish indeed.

I used to do this a lot when I travelled, not so much now that my bag has stuff for my husband now. It is the rural areas outside of negril that need help the most, because they recieve little or no donations from tourists. The best thing to do is to contact the school directly to see what they are most in need of, and how to deliver it. They need the basics- pens, paper, glue, notebooks. You can hire a driver to take you to the school to deliver it. The students have to buy their own tablets (they use the composition books) and backpacks- I recommend contacting a church if you are interested in giving directly to students and not to the school. I don't recommend giving cash as there is too great a chance that the students and school will never see it (this is anywhere in poor countries, not just Jamaica).

Regarding what locals want- urban and sports name brand apparel and shoes(Echo, Sean Paul, G-unit, Nike, etc.). T-shirts are the easiest and best way to go- just make sure you know your brands.
Enjoy your trip.

check out Selina on Negril.com she regularly collects items for the rural schools in Negril and Lucea and has a list of needed items. (I think) She can even arrange to take you to a school to do a drop off in person if you so desire.

There is also a group who is collecting digital cameras...soon come wid di link