A week ago 12 girls from Ingrid a.k.a. Charm’s Girls Group came with their Sherwood Forest School Principal, Claudine and had their Skate Invitation with Our Director of Sports Remi Walter, his daughter Melody and our skating Volunteers Curley and Lucy. It’was a beautiful experience for everyone , great fun and more sessions to come soon!!!

Set in an ideal location for relaxation and creativity, we had a blast writing stories and poetry at this amazing workshop held by Great Huts Jamaica!

German-born Nishan Mayer has lived in diverse places. She has demonstrated that she has no fear of upping sticks and moving to a new country. She’s been doing that since she was 16. Nishan has lived in Morocco, France, Canada, Italy, Mexico, Belize, Russia, India and Jamaica.

For all her globe–trotting, it is this little rock that appears to hold the greatest allure for free-spirited Nishan, artist, educator, world traveler and holistic health professional. She is now awaiting her Jamaican citizenship.

If someone tells you they are in Boston, Portland, for authentic jerk pork, believe. It is what has placed Boston on the culinary map of the world. However, while jerk is an enticement for many, the lushness of Portland is also a huge magnet for scores of people who love to bask in the green glory that epitomizes this most eco-conscious parish in Jamaica.
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Nishan has lived in Portland since 2006, and no, she didn’t go there for the jerk pork. “Jamaica for me has been a place of peace and freedom,” she explains.

Six members of our BBCC family joined PAVE graduates and their current class of 12 volunteers for most of the day in a massive roadside clean up from Titchfield to San  San.  It was an amazing day of cleaning and exercise for all of us! Organized by PAVE, we all met at the Alligator Head Foundation, where we were welcomed, got our PAVE shirts,  gloves and garbage bags as well as a bit of educational lessons on the misuse of garbage. For example, sea turtles eat jelly fish, and can sometimes can mistakes clear plastic bags for jellyfishes, eating them and ultimately starving to death.

Our entire team cleaned the roadside-from Titchfield School to San San and collected thousands of plastics & glass bottles, Styrofoam food containers, plastic bags filled with garbage that people just throw out of their car windows unto the side of the road and even a washing machine, an oven & a microwave!

Overall, it was great fun! PAVE is an Organization which offers free skill training to our graduates here in Portland. From Hospitality training, food and beverage, carpentry , computer skills , arts etc. Their mission is really to impact Portland's future! We are very grateful that BBCC was a part of joining their efforts and looking forward to further collaboration! 

From pizza-making to dance rehearsals - we try to keep our extra-curricular activities fun and educational for the BBCC children. After-school activities include cooking, baking, decorating, drama recitals, singing, painting, swimming, surfing, skating, farming, outdoor games, indoor games and much more as we work to build positive and essential life skills as a foundation for our youth.
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Psalm 91
1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. ​2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

October has rolled in fast and schools have started to host online classes for their students. E-learning is now a thing. With limited access to internet at home, most of our BBCC students and their friends come by the community center on their school days to utilize and make use of the free wifi and to work in a constructive and supportive environment.

"We first started with seven students and now we get up to 12 on a daily basis. Mornings are spent getting them all set signed in to their Zoom classes 😅They all are at different grades and school levels and each of them sitting at their own table, far from the others, with earphones in order to focus. Some teachers are great and super prepared and others our volunteers have to help with. Some kids are already reading and writing very well while some others are still learning and need more help. One mother was there all day to support👍 ( we got three of her children!) She comes by all the time and sometimes cooks for us all and support.

It was an amazing day yesterday. Checking all in . Class time, painting and afterschool dancing. Best school day ever! Our volunteers are always there and happy to help with schoolwork, homework and offer fun activities when classes are finished. A few parents even come by to check on their children and join in on the learning too." - Nicola Mayer (Nishan)
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John 3:16
New King James Version
​16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Sending the right message is key. Our team decided it would be a fun idea to post a bunch of positive messages in and around the Boston Bay area as a form of upliftment and encourage for community members during this time. Signs are also posted in the new skatepark in Boston Bay where the kids hang out most days. 
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Proverbs 22:6
​Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.

It's summer time and there's nowhere we would rather be than outside, keeping cool and painting benches (and skateboards too)! Come and join us :)
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Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him,
​so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

"We closed BBCC community center and stopped all activities in keeping with new local policies due to Corona since a few weeks ago. We have to keep explaining to children who want to come by daily about “social distancing “ and why we are practicing safety. Besides this, with remaining 5 Volunteers we do our best to remain creative, using the time to beautify our community center and be creative in the kitchen with our growing vegetables garden, which we plant more and more in.
 
Boston Bay is still quite chill; everyone keeping a more or less healthy distance, skaters and kids less so. The Bank securities almost jumped into my face while asking me what I want inside. 60 People line up tight, to be allowed one at a time into the supermarket where not more than 20 are allowed inside. Your Hands are sprayed when entering.  on the taxi other passengers are ready to spray disinfectant on you too.... beach life is less but still on. Kathi, Zarah, Nathalie  and Mckenzi went to Winniefred Beach yesterday ! And even Gee is still open. Port Antonio life is almost normal again after the peak of the first hysteria." - Nicola Mayer, Founder of BBCC

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Psalms 121:1-2
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.