Preparations

Portmore Missionary Church

Preparations_Marcia

The South to North Exchange… “ My Norwegian Experience”


Preparations in Jamaica I spent approximately one month at the Red Cross headquarters at Central Village in preparation for Norway. The preparations included: a course in First Aid and CPR, a course by Tourism Development Product Company (TPDCo) where we learnt about Jamaica on a whole (Culture, History, Geography, Folk Dance, Music and Food). We also did a short course in etiquette and personal grooming and visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade to speak to a representative on international protocol.

Read the Background to this story.

Preparations in Norway

I left Jamaica on September 12, 2003 and arrived in Norway on the 14^th of the same month. I spent the first three weeks in training that was facilitated by the Fredskorpset (Peacecorps) and Norwegian Red Cross. These training sessions covers from cultural differences to media & photography along with information about Red Cross structure and fact. Both my Jamaican colleague and myself were dispatched to the district (parish) that we would work in for the next nine months.