micro-business | American-Caribbean Experience

Our Community is Transforming

by American-Caribbean Experience | May 23, 2022 | Book A Trip, Community, Discipleship, Education, Outreach

ACE’s vision from the beginning has been “changing lives and transforming communities” one person at a time. One of our most needy communities that lines our farm property is Hampstead, and one woman we met there through our sponsorship program is a testament to that transformation.

Meet LaToya Newell, a sponsored child’s mother who received a home several years ago with her four children. LaToya used to be what we call a haggler. She would buy our things from thrift shop and other shops, then flip them to make income for her and her family. Hard times fell on LaToya, who also has a special-needs child, and much of her income shut down.

Until…

ACE needed an animal caretaker at our micro-business, Green Life Llanrumney Farms. For those of you who don’t know the story about the farm, in short, it’s for ACE to incubate small agriculture businesses for our local families who are unemployed and want to work but have no training or ability to compete in the tourist trade market miles away.

That’s where Ricky comes into LaToya’s life. Ricky is one of six horses GLLF has on property to be trained to round up cattle when they get “way up in the bush” and LaToya is going to teach him! At first, she was very nervous about being close to such a big animal (her first time). But after the introduction, the bathing, the saddling, and then the riding, she’s getting to be a natural – a real “Jamaican Cowgirl,” says LeRoy, our horse trainer in St. Mary who is working with her.

LaToya said it is great therapy for getting back to the simple things that really make a day at work fun and fulfilling. It started with a sponsored child, then a family, a home, a skill, a future. Thank you, sponsors, for changing this life and ultimately transforming our community one person at a time.

Click image below to scroll through gallery.

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ACE goes DEEP and not WIDE

by American-Caribbean Experience | May 23, 2022 | Book A Trip, Community, Discipleship, Education, Outreach

How many times have you heard ACE say “ACE goes deep, not wide” about the way we do life with our community? In three decades, we’ve never changed that direction of depth vs width. We can’t reach every single person in St. Mary, but we hope that those we DO reach and invest in – emotionally, spiritually, financially – will be changed for the better as they then go out to help others.

Do you remember little Orlando from Bonny Gate? We remember meeting him when he was in third grade at Jackson Primary, one of our first sponsored schools. Orlando would run up with eggs in his hand to give us from some of his wild chickens in the yard.

As you may know, that little boy grew up and became the caretaker of Pastor Kermit until he passed earlier this year, and now Orlando’s farming again.

He was one of ACE’s first recipients of a loan with which he purchased his first cow named Betsy. Orlando now owns thirteen cows and sells them to grow his other farm business – pigs. Just this month, he called and asked if we needed any piggies as his pigs Penney and Peggy both had 14 babies each. Now that’s a record!

The farming experience has not only been educational and profitable for Orlando, but it’s been a spiritual journey as well. When Orlando first began to raise pigs, he had a big beautiful one named Tamarind. A man in the community with a reputation for being cruel poisoned Orlando’s pig out of jealousy. Tamarind died a horrible death, and Orlando was devastated and very angry. Years later, as the wicked man lay on his death bed, he asked for Orlando to visit him. Orlando didn’t want to go, but his curiosity got the best of him. The man asked his forgiveness.

ACE provides the opportunities, and opportunities provide life lessons and purpose. We are very proud of our young men like Orlando; no matter how many challenges pull them off the path, they get right back on and do what they are called to do. In Orlando’s case, that’s farming, which creates a business for him and food for others. Our investment in relationships runs deep, and that will make all the difference.

Please keep Orlando in your prayers as he still struggles with the loss of Pastor Kermit whom he called “father”. He still has us and we will be there for the long haul.

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New Year, New Faces

by American-Caribbean Experience | Jan 27, 2022 | Book A Trip, Community, Discipleship, Education, Outreach

ACE is always changing! That is to be expected when people are involved in the lives of others, and this year will be no different in Jamaica.

Remember our own Anthony, the beekeeper? Well, Anthony is all grown up, out of school for the moment (he graduated), and he lives with his sister in nearby Hampstead. Always ready to learn a new skill, Anthony works with one of our men who repairs our pumps at the farm and makes a nice living. But what about the bees and the honey he left behind?

Introducing Romario, our new beekeeper! Romario was just beginning to start his own beehives in the Bonney Gate community, close to where Pastor Kermit lives. As Anthony was transitioning to a full-time job outside of ACE, he and Romario started working together at the Campus. While Anthony has the long-term training, thanks to local and foreign volunteers, Romario has learned to breed queen bees at lightning speed. We’ve been told by Mr. Haywood the Bee Master that this is quite a skill to do as the production of honey triples.

All we know is more bees means more honey and more honey means more sweetness pouring out of ACE! The business of bees continues for another passionate young man, and we already see him buzzing with success!

Thank you, David and Valerie, for donating the extractor. We have it set up in the Campus living room looking like a new piece of furniture. You get the first bottle we will harvest this spring.

This is what Changing Lives is all about for ACE. We are so proud of these young men growing up and pursuing their passion, learning new skills, and always changing for the better. And thank YOU for supporting our honey business. It’s just sooo sweet!

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Marla’s Minute: Change is Good!!

by American- Caribbean Experience | Oct 25, 2021 | Book A Trip, Community, Outreach

If you’ve ever been on a volunteer trip with Marla or her staff, you will hear almost every day, “Change is good!” The rain might come and the outdoor work may stop – no problem, because ACE always has a plan B… and C…and D…and so on.

ACE is a friend to change and that’s why we believe we have survived these challenging few years. Long before COVID, we had in our Trip Guide what we called The 5 Statements of ACE.

Let’s review and see if any of these foundation quotes have been used in the past few years of change… and how these also may have helped you in your everyday life!

I’m here to serve and not to be served. This has been the real test… are we still serving God and each other versus having a pity party and wanting things to be back the way they were?
You can’t make it tough enough for me to complain. Anyone complain recently or at all this year?
I left all my expectations at home. Did you expect things to get back to normal sooner than it is? We sure did.
It’s just the way I like it! No matter what is served up, are you ready to change your outlook to enjoy the experience?
And finally, the one we love the most…
Flexibility is the key to success! My favorite tree is the palm tree. I’ve watched it bend when a hurricane hit us, and it almost touched the ground as it took the battering of the wind and the rain. After the hurricane passed, it looked sort of like me on a bad hair day… perfectly fine and all there but looking a little worn.

With each month that passes, we find we are more and more flexible to the changes that come through our doors, onto our island and through the news. It’s such a strong reminder that God is still in charge. He loves us more than we love each other and, most of all, He reminds us through unexpected change that, through Him, “it is well with our souls.” I hope you come to the same conclusion during your seasons of change, always remembering that peace comes from within, not from what surrounds us.

Oh, one last change to point out, one that we love: Galina Breeze Hotel has a new look! We decided it was time to upgrade our image at the hotel with a new brand logo and new colors. When you come down, let us know what you think of the rebranding. It’s just the way we like it… and we hope you’ll like it, too!

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ACE Micro-Business: A Vision of Success

by American- Caribbean Experience | Sep 28, 2021 | Book A Trip, Community, Discipleship, Education, Outreach

How can a not-for-profit invest in for-profit businesses?

This is a question that comes up from time to time when our readers see the impressive businesses popping up through the ACE ministry in St. Mary. ACE calls them micro-businesses as they are small and only have between two and five Jamaicans working together to produce a product that can be turned into income for their families to live. The best way to answer a question like this is to go back to the beginning of ACE three decades ago and understand how we, as a non-profit, started having an impact in Jamaica.

HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

The ACE focus back then was to meet the needs of the Jamaican Nationals in our area who appeared to be in poor health, mostly uneducated, unemployed, and, for a lack of a better word, lost. In order to treat the whole person, it was important to bring in professionals to assist in wellness treatment and prevention to strengthen the body as well as to provide educational tutoring and literacy training to strengthen the mind. ACE began to seek volunteers – both local and in the U.S. and Canada – to lend their talents and expertise to our community in these areas. This worked out great through the early 90’s and 2000’s.

So many of our families began to thrive from just feeling good, both physically and mentally. Children began attending school with confidence and performing well. ACE started small groups and book clubs for parents. Volunteers hosted Vacation Bible School weeks in the summer for students and our Men and Women Conferences for adults in the winter months to focus on the other building block of health: spiritual health. Once people’s bodies were stronger and their minds sharper, they began to hear and comprehend that God loves everyone and has a purpose for their lives. They could see the changes being made in their lives, thanks to our staff and volunteers working through Him.

(Click image to scroll through Health & Well-being Gallery)

EMPLOYMENT

As our community began to mature, it became obvious that there was very little employment for a young adult or family provider. Many times, a family member would leave the country for years to work abroad in the States so they could send money home for the rest of the family members unable to work or find jobs. The separation of fathers and mothers from their children was devastating on the family dynamic. In addition, just when many young adults were gaining the confidence from their educational and spiritual growth, they felt discouraged at the dead end of job opportunities, seeing their dreams fading into the sunset.

That’s when ACE realized that part of the success of sustainability had to include a sustained economy. For ACE, this means we began to create and incubate a business from local resources, involving teaching, training, and building a product that would be appealing to customers and lucrative for buyers and sellers in the local market of produce, agriculture, or eco-tourism.

(Click image to scroll through Employment Gallery)

JOB TRAINING

One way we achieved this was through our generous ACE donors giving their time and treasure. We began to build an ACE network of “owners” who work and help create business that depends on other businesses developed within the ACE network locally. It sounds like circle talk but it really is a working economy using all the skills sets of our ACE non-profit and putting them towards profitable companies for families once the businesses can sustain themselves. And, in doing this, we are not laundering funds or side-stepping the rules of a 501(c)3. We are doing what every ministry in the 21st century should be doing: seeking to be a self-sustaining outreach program that can survive any hardship, like this current COVID experience.

(Click image to scroll through Job Training Gallery)

GALINA BREEZE HOTEL

A great example of this strategy is our Galina Breeze Hotel. Prior to 2005, ACE was paying a different hotel to house our volunteers when they came to serve with our ministry. As the story unfolds in our ACE book, The Mango Tree Gospel, God literally “gave” us an old hotel (called Trade Winds, now Galina Breeze) that required lots of work. Speed forward 16 years: the hotel (pre-COVID) employed 33 local Jamaican adults who were trained by ACE in all areas of hospitality and food management. While a non-profit provided the funds to purchase the building, the funds also hired and trained these families that had no work to be sustainable. These employees could now feed their children, afford better housing, attend their church, and eat well all while being a part of building a better community. Had it not been for ACE and our donors, the hotel might have been bought by someone else and not had the success we have enjoyed and continue to share with our volunteers today.

(Click image to scroll through Galine Breeze Gallery)

FARMING AND LIVESTOCK

Another example is our Green Life Llanrumney Farm. The hotel needed to buy food for the volunteers who come to stay. Instead of buying food from the supermarket (which we still do in part), we created smaller businesses for food production to prepare our meals at Galina Breeze. Chickens, pigs, vegetables, and fruits now come from the farm we established! Our community families work hard, learning to grow food they have never tasted before, all because of the many volunteers – the same volunteers who will eat the food at the hotel – coming down over the years to train and educate them on agriculture, farming and livestock care. In the process, relationships were built and small businesses were born. ACE calls this micro-business.

(Click image to scroll through Farming & Livestock Gallery)

We could go on and on, but the bottom line is when a non-profit focuses on the total picture of human need (mental, physical and spiritual), earning a living is part of that picture. And this is how we do it. Once ACE creates and trains, the time comes where the employees are able to sustain themselves and their business…and economy happens naturally.

Most importantly, it’s at this point, after years of personal investment, that we have earned the right to have those eternal discussions (or what ACE would call the God conversations) so everyone knows the why for all that we do. The Kingdom of Heaven is real and not just a story; our goal is to help others get there by providing opportunities to live good, honest lives, use their God-given talents, and become the best version of themselves for His sake. Through our micro-businesses and outreach programs, we feel God’s love reaching down and touching the tiniest souls in our little area of Jamaica.

Thank you for not only investing in our not-for-profit but for the many lives you have personally touched for profit.