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For two educators, their mission is giving back

In two visits to Jamaica, two local women have been touched by the gratitude and eagerness of the teachers and students they have helped.

By GAIL DIEDERICH
Published August 29, 2005

The first-grade classroom was jammed with Jamaican children, maybe as many as 50 in one room. A small group gathered tightly around the blackboard while the teacher explained a lesson.

In the middle of the packed group sat Lisa Ciganek, a reading specialist from Seven Oaks Elementary School, going over the children's spelling assignment. As she worked, the children drew closer. Small hands reached out and played with her hair. Another child's hand gently stroked the cross necklace Ciganek wore.

"They leaned on me, tapped me and wanted my attention. They were most affectionate, most respectful," Ciganek said.

In late May, Ciganek and Jamaica native Eleyes Larmond, a teacher at Rodney B. Cox Elementary, went to the Caribbean island for a second time to train Jamaican teachers in reading strategies. Their first training visit was in June 2004 and after school had been dismissed for the summer. This year, the pair's schedule allowed for time with students, in addition to the teacher training sessions.

During the 2004-05 school year, Ciganek and Larmond collected teaching manuals, charts and dozens of boxes of school supplies.

When Pasco County schools closed in May, little time elapsed before the two teachers were on their way once again to Mandeville, Jamaica.

About two years ago, Larmond knew the time had come to "return home" to give back to her native country. She has been in the United States for about 20 years, earning a bachelor's degree at Lehman University in New York and later a master's in education at the University of South Florida. She has been a teacher in the Pasco County schools since 1987.

"The best way to give back is to go back home and train the teachers the same way that I have been trained with ways of teaching reading," Larmond said.

Realizing the great need for teacher training in the Jamaican schools, Larmond first traveled alone to Jamaica. With a teaching manual under her arm and a plan in mind, she went to talk with the minister of education. Before she could share her plan, two other administrators were called in to hear the teacher from Florida who wanted "to come home" and help Jamaican teachers. Larmond was welcomed with open arms but, as she expected, there simply was no money to help. This was not a roadblock for Larmond. Her idea was about teaching and helping, not about being paid.

Back in Pasco County, Larmond and Ciganek, then a reading specialist at Rodney B. Cox Elementary, were colleagues. Larmond listened intently to Ciganek and watched the lessons she taught. The relationship between the two became one of mutual professional respect and personal friendship. After Larmond told Ciganek of her plans to "go home" to Jamaica and teach reading workshops, Ciganek didn't think twice when Larmond asked if she would be interested in helping.

Ciganek was not fully prepared for what she met when she arrived in the rural parishes of Manchester and St. Elizabeth. In spite of sweltering heat and torrential rains, she found crowds of teachers willing to walk miles in blistering sun, who arrived early and stayed late, took copious notes and treasured every small item given to them. The teachers were hungry for any information they could use to build success for their students.

Larmond echoed her Jamaican culture.

"Children and teachers are eager because in our culture, learning is not an option, success is an expectation," she said. "The belief of the whole culture is to be the best they can be with what little they have."

When the children came to Ciganek's and Larmond's workshops, they were each given a pack of crayons and an activity book.

"Is this mine to keep?" the children asked in disbelief.

Assuring the children the supplies were gifts, Ciganek and Larmond were thanked profusely and hugged with great warmth. Crayons, especially, are not plentiful in the Jamaican schools, and teachers guard them with vigilance. Ciganek told of watching one teacher holding a small can with crayons and handing out only two per student to complete a drawing, making sure she had enough for every child. In classrooms where the average membership is 50 and the class size can go as high as 65 for one teacher, supplies usually are short. Ciganek and Larmond made sure they took plenty of crayons this year. They also took other basic supplies such as scissors, markers, posters and packs of paper.

Ciganek and Larmond have trained more than 400 teachers in reading strategies during their two visits. They have assumed this mission as a personal effort, and they say they are determined to continue their work. They receive no payment, though the Caribbean Cultural Association and Air Jamaica assist with airfare, and a sponsorship from National Commercial Bank helps with hotel accommodations.

Many times, Ciganek and Larmond open their own purses to take care of expenses such as paying for overweight charges at the airport. One such incident recently set the two back $300, but they were determined to get their 11 boxes of rulers, paper, pencils and crayons to the Jamaican children. They looked at each other, split the bill from their own bank accounts and saw the supplies put on the plane.

Larmond has a plan to expand the teacher trainings. So far, she and Ciganek have served only the teachers from Manchester and St. Elizabeth parishes. That leaves 12 parishes where training is needed. In an area where the average teacher income is about $500 a month, Larmond said, teacher training is almost a luxury.

Larmond speaks emphatically about her goals.

"I saw in the eyes of my country folk - I felt in my heart - they learned something new, and I have been the medium that helped to bring that something new to them. We left a powerhouse of information that teachers can use that will help them make a difference."

Ciganek speaks passionately about what they have taught her. She recalls one of the last days, walking down the hallway, and a door bursting open. A small girl raced to her, eager to offer something in return for helping the children. Ciganek knelt, and the child handed her a piece of paper on which she had written and decorated a Bible verse, thanking Ciganek for what she had given. As the child read the verse to her, Ciganek felt the tears building.

"I could have cried right there except that I had to meet another teacher," she said. "I did cry at the end of the day when the adrenaline rush of the week was over, and Eleyes and I were talking about what's next."

* * *

Pasco County community and civic clubs as well as residents are invited to join the efforts of Larmond and Ciganek as they plan for a third workshop in 2006.

--For information on ways to help, e-mail Lisa Ciganek at lciganek@pasco.k12.fl.us

[Last modified August 29, 2005, 03:00:19]