SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland — Kait Fairchild, who has been an American educator for the past eight years, proudly tells anyone who will listen that she has Jamaican teachers to thank for her chosen career path.

“I owe Jamaica a big debt… I may be from the United States but Jamaica is my heart. Anything I can do to repay that debt, I’m happy to do,” she told the Jamaica Observer.

Fairchild first visited the country for the music festival Reggae Sunsplash in 1992. She returned as a volunteer with Great Shape! Inc in 2014, working with the non-profit organisation to provide education and health care to the country’s needy.

Two years later, with the lessons learned during that experience, she transformed herself. Today, with a master’s degree under her belt, she is pursuing her doctorate and is a co-director of Great Shape! Inc.

“I went home and changed my entire profession. I became a teacher because [Jamaican teachers] inspired me so much,” said an emotional Fairchild, almost in tears.

“They really love their students. They try every day, and they have a lot to handle and deal with every day — from the environment in the classrooms to the students they deal with. Sometimes teachers have 40 kids in a classroom, and that’s difficult. They inspired me to want to do that because I could see their love,” she added.

Fairchild, and a team of approximately 75 volunteers — mostly from the USA and Canada along with a few Jamaicans — was recently in Westmoreland on the Teach a Teacher’s Project. The three-week-long Great Shape! Inc initiative which began on July 11 was supported by Sandals Foundation. It cost roughly $2 million to stage and more than 100 teachers and students benefited.

This year’s project consisted of lessons in behaviour management, literacy training, and numeracy. Volunteers also introduced a new summer readers’ programme and a fix-it team that handles minor but very important repairs.

The summer readers’ programme, held at Savanna-la-Mar Primary, focused on struggling readers in third, fourth, and fifth grade, some of whom are having issues pronouncing letters. Fairchild said parents of struggling children commended the group for the initiative, which was free of cost to them.

“During our behaviour management portion we had an autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, [and] dyscalculia professor here teaching everyone, as well as special ed [education] teachers who are teaching what can work in the classroom: the different kinds of techniques to use with students, and ways to motivate students who have special needs as well,” she explained.

The American educator said the behaviour management segment was well received locally, and Jamaican teachers were asking for more techniques to help them cope.

“There has been a big increase since COVID in [unacceptable] behaviour — both in the United States and in Jamaica — so it’s wonderful to see that collaboration happen between the US, Canadian teachers, and the Jamaican teachers because we’re learning from each other and we’re teaching,” stated the co-director.

“Students are not going to learn if they have too much [unacceptable] behaviour. These are techniques that they can use to help children become better readers, writers, and thinkers. I know that the Ministry of Education is really promoting anything that has to do with conflict resolution and non-violence. It’s a whole big push. I know that the prime minister has been pushing that as well for every Jamaican school to implement that, and we are just really pleased to be a part of that,” Fairchild added.

Among the institutions which benefited from the various initiatives provided by the volunteers were Godfrey Stewart High, Savanna-la-Mar Primary, Broughton Primary, Grange Hill Primary, Revival Primary, and Sir Clifford Campbell Primary schools.

The Observer caught up with Great Shape! Inc founder and co-director Brad Adams at Godfrey Stewart High, where he revealed that the group intends to paint seven classrooms at the school.

“We also did some plumbing. We built some backsplashes for some sinks. We repaired some doors. We’re working on Grange Hill Primary where we replaced about 45 light fixtures with LED lights; we also have done some basic electrical repairs. We fixed a lot of doors. We painted some exterior. At Sir Clifford Campbell [Primary] we did a lot of different sorts of small repairs. We’ve been fixing some louvres at Broughton [Primary], as well as just basic maintenance on some desks and things like that,” he said.

Volunteers showed up with basic hand tools and supplies from overseas, with the rest of the material purchased locally. Schools also provided paint.

Great Shape! Inc was founded 36 years ago and has been providing support to a number of Caribbean countries. Through another of its projects, called Super Kids, computers were placed in classrooms across Jamaica.

“We’ve placed, over the last few years, let’s say maybe 60 or 70 computers at this school, as well as about 50 or 60 other institutions in Westmoreland, Hanover, up in Ocho Rios [St Ann], and then a couple in St Elizabeth,” stated Adams.

The education-related projects are only in Jamaica, while eye care and dental care is done in St Lucia, Grenada, and Turks and Caicos.

“I would say Great Shape is in love with Jamaica, and we are in love with the people of the Caribbean. We love being here, we love to make a difference, and we just love our Jamaican partners. We realise that we can bring some of our expertise but Jamaica gives a lot back to us, and we appreciate that,”” emphasised Adams.