Bosco 2013 Day 1 and 2

     Well I arrived in Kingston around 2:30 yesterday.  It was a very smooth trip overall with little to no delays.  I was worried at first the night before because it snowed about an inch or so, so I wasn't sure how the airport would be with flight delays, especially at 6 in the morning.  It was fine though.  When I was in Miami, I did run into Bishop Neil Tiedeman, the Bishop of the Diocese of Mandeville here in Jamaica.  He was returning from the states to Jamaica on my same flight.  I recognized him, but I don't think he recognized me at first because it was out of context, but he eventually put two and two together and knew me because once he saw me on the plane, he asked if I was going to Mandeville and if I needed a ride.  I told him that Susan was sending someone for me, but thanks anyway.  I guess it's good to know people in high places.
     Customs and Immigration went well.  I sometimes get worried, especially when I am going through Customs by myself with 4 bags (2 checked and 2 carry-ons), but it never fails that they ask me what's in my bags, and I say "clothes", which is true.  There just happens to be mostly items that I am leaving with the boys as donations too.  They don't seem to question me further and they just let me through.  When I reached the outside of the airport, Sr. Mimi was there to greet me with 2 boys and of course Doogie. 
      For those who don't know who Doogie is, he is a 40-some-year old who is mentally handicapped.  He was found in Kingston many many years ago and looked like he was eaten by rats.  They first thought he looked around 8 or so, but dental records showed that he was in fact 18.  He has been at Bosco ever since. Apparently he has been asking/telling everyone he has seen for the past 2 months that he was going to the airport to pick me up.  I guess that's what kind of impact coming here for 10 years has, even on Doogie.  Now that he came with Mimi to get me, he doesn't stop telling me that he came to get me and how happy he is to see me.
     When I finally got to Bosco (did I mention for the 10th year now? My first trip was in 2004 with the Wright State Catholic Campus Ministry), I was pooped.  Even though my travels went smoothly, I think the fact that I have been so busy before my trip with work and only a day off between a 2 week trip with work and Jamaica, this is going to be a good rest time too.  Mimi told me that the count of boys is down to less than 120 boys.  They usually have 150-160.  I mentioned that in a way that's a good thing, right? But she said not really because they are staffed for 150 boys and since the government pays them per boy, they aren't getting as much money.
     Most of the boys who are here have been here at least since last year. I recognize most of them and they are thrilled to death that I am here, as am I.  If you would have asked me 10 years ago if I would still be coming back here for a decade, I would have laughed.  I barely wanted to come on my first trip, but it was a few of my WSU CCM friends who talked me into coming.  I vividly remember though that the 3rd day into my first trip I said to myself that I would do whatever I can to continue to come back year after year for as long as I can.  For a few years, I was treating my trip as if it were going to be my last one because I was never for sure that I would come back again, and that was hard.  Now, I just try to make the best of every trip and I know that I will always have family here.  There are even people who I don't know who know me and know what I do here, and that speaks volumes to me.  This place, even though I only come 2 weeks out of the year, is like a second home to me.  I am amazed year after year how that when I return it is as if I never left.  The boys pick up conversations right where we left off and tell me things that I have long forgotten.  I don't feel like I come here every year to visit these boys, I feel like I am here, living with them for 2 weeks.

     I slept in late this morning and was awakened by some boys who Mimi sent down to my house to have me help get the Christmas tree out of storage and put up with the boys.  So that's what we did.  Their Christmas decorations are getting a little worse for wear, but they are still working.  We only got the tree for the rec room put up, and tomorrow I hope to finish decorating the Rec room and then put up the tree in the Dining Hall and decorate that as well.  I didn't have the right things today to decorate and when it was time to put the tree up in the dining hall, it was lunch time, so I figured I would wait until tomorrow, plus I wanted to get re-acquainted with the boys on the playfield since I was put to work right away before I even got a chance to really see the boys.
     It's been really great to hang out with some of the boys who have been here since my very first year.  Yes, there are still boys AT Bosco who have been here for 10+ years.  I still do keep in touch with some boys who have aged out and are on their own, and some come back to see me at Christmas, but I even find it hard to believe that some have been here the entire time since at least 2004 or before and are now learning a trade and will soon get a job of their own.