Interviewing people is a great way to find information about a developing country if you have not been to one. If you ask someone who has been to a developing country you may get a more personal response and find out about more of the rural areas. Sometimes getting a personal answer is better than looking through a book. A book will tell where the place is, some different cultures, and how they live or more. But what most books will not tell you is about the personality of individual people. Here as a responses from a girl, who went to St. Lucia in 2004 when she was in Grade 11, and the founder of the missions trips Mr. Ness.  

Mr. Ness:

Mr. Ness is the creator of the Playground Team mission trips and he first got the idea when he went on his first mission trip in 1996 (one he had not planned himself). Mr. Ness loves to see smiles on the faces of people. When Mr. Ness went on the 1996 trip something there shocked him, the country he went to had no playgrounds! Mr. Ness had empathy for the children and said to himself "man.....I want to build a playground here for the children". Mr. Ness's dream had began; his dream was to reach out to the people in need. After he got back from his first missions trip, Mr. Ness began the process of putting together a missions trip and completing his dream. 

Putting together a missions trip was very time consuming. Mr. Ness had to make many reservations and plans. Choosing the students who would be able to go on the trip was not easy, so many students sign up to go. So Mr. Ness decided to judge on the way the students behavior was in class, the grades they are getting, and if they would have enough money to pay for their traveling ticket. He had to find a site to build the playground, then level it. Then he would have to search for accommodations for the team and make sure they have enough food, then schedule transportation for the equipment and the team. Then after the equipment was loaded up by the team and sent, he would have to make sure the container reaches it's destination by always checking the spots where it goes next to make sure it arrived; he would kind of virtually follow the container to its destination. He would have to call the government of the country to confirm with them that the playground would be received by their country; or hire a company that would be able to communicate with Customs concerning what was in the big box holding the playground parts. After the playground had been sent  and the team arrived, the team would then unload the playground parts and begin to dig holes and put  the playground together. 

Mr. Ness had to make sure that the team would not get bored or tired of constantly building the playground, so when he was putting together the trip he also scheduled a few site seeing days. During the days the team would go around the village, island or area that they are in meeting the people and learning about the culture, and the land and sea life.   

Rachelle Cameron:

Rachelle was suggested by Mr. Ness because of her interest in the trip and her hard work at school!

Rachelle was a grade 11 student that loved working with kids. Rachelle jumped at the opportunity to work with the playground team in St. Lucia. She spent most of her time painting the playground and playing with the children.

When Rachelle was there she said that it was a amazing experience to learn some of the culture in St. Lucia, and meet some of the most friendly people, and had the privilege of swimming in the Caribbean see.

CREATED BY:

DANIELLE & NAOMI