Drury students help a fisherman’s association through their service-learning project in Jamaica

Jamaica sounds like an idyllic vacation spot for study abroad. Sun, sand, no worries, mon.

In reality, it was an eye-opening experience for the seven students who traveled with Assistant Professor Erin Kenny.

Dr. Kenny had the students do a bit of research while on the plane: She handed them 10 different pieces about Jamaica to read. Among the research were details on Jamaica’s history, its economic importance in the Triangle Trade and how it was involved in the global economy 500 years ago to the present.

The trip was what they would make of it, Kenny explained. She told them they would have to do ethnographic research with each project they did. There were two class requirements: “Treat everyone respectfully and assume everyone can teach you something.”

The students arrived in West Moreland Parish on the southwest end of the island. This area of Jamaica is not part of the tourist areas; it is an undeveloped fishing community trying to eke a living from the sea. The fishermen in the Bluefield Bay Fishermans Friendly Society go out in boats and line fish, pulling in the catch hand over hand.

“It was totally different when I got there,” says Lane Schrock. “I was expecting the city we were to be in to be more run down that it was. People were extremely friendly where we stayed.

“The guys went out with fishermen and did fish with fishing line, which was comparable to WeedEater line, and no pole. You throw it out there and hope you catch something.”

Lane and other students went out with the fisherman to research exactly how the business worked as they developed a business plan and feasibility study for how the society could afford to purchase a cooler to store fish. Once the cooler is purchased, it will allow the fisherman to store fish and sell them on days when there are higher market prices.

The society is a nonprofit cooperative (much like our farming cooperatives in the U.S.). The fishermen pool their fish and sell it as a bulk, thereby getting a better price.

“I was dazzled by the students – they were all business majors – they knew what to do,”

The students were asked to do a feasibility study: To look into what it would take for the society to afford an 18x24 foot cold storage facility. The students had to consider how much each fisherman could bring in each day, the price of petrol (gasoline), the price variations per pound on different types of fish, and use physics to determine how much drag a full load of fish would have on the boat and how much additional petrol would be burned.

They also had to estimate the cost of purchasing and setting up the cold storage unit, the amount of electricity it would use each month. The students developed three different scenarios for the fishermen.

“It is possible,” Kenny says, “but a lot of other things go into it. We didn’t do an environmental impact scan or market analysis. The fishermen, for example, would have to get health department certification.”

The fishermens society asked the students to investigate the feasibility of starting or encouraging a wholesale supermarket to come to Bluefields Bay. There are cart vendors, say for batteries or Red Stripe, in the area, but for any major retail consumer good, the residents have to drive to another town.

Kenney said the students decided to develop a survey to ask local shop owners and kiosk owners and restaurants how frequently they had to go on supply runs. The students discovered that the range was from once a day to once a week. They learned that cash flow was often a problem: Vendors would have to sell out of their goods before they had enough liquid assets to afford a trip to town and be able to purchase enough goods to make the trip worthwhile.

The students decided to establish a 503c nonprofit corporation, The Bluefields Bay Trust Friends of Bluefields Bay, which can offer microloans. Each student contributed $100 as a part of their study abroad tuition to help establish seed money for the corporation.

“People are entrepreneurial, they just don’t have the resources,” Kenny explains. “Credit is nonexistent.”

For example, the students talked to a boot maker who did phenomenal work. He travels to Kingston for supplies, then he makes the pair of boots. He can’t afford to do more than what he has been contracted to make. With credit, he would be able to have some boots “in stock,” as well as do custom orders.

“It was good to see a less fortunate culture,” Schrock adds. “I noticed that they people don’t have as much money as we do. They are up on politics and up on fashion. Almost everyone there was dressed very nice. It was interesting how much like us they really are.”

It wasn’t all work and no play. Fishing trips aside, the students threw a beach party for the town the last night they were there, hiring a D.J. and spending their money in the local area to supply the event.

The students also spent three days and two nights at an all-inclusive resort on the west end of the island.

“They had to stop thinking like a Drury student and start thinking like a global citizen,” Kenny says.