Orienteering in Jamaica

Windsor House operates on solar electricity and back-up diesel generators. This information was included in the background information and schedule provided in-advance to participants. S. Koenig re-iterated this point during the introduction to the course to instill in participants the need to conserve electricity and turn off lights when leaving a room. As with a previous training workshop held at Windsor House in May 2002, participants had difficulties remembering to turn off lights and, consequently, the back-up generator had to be used at least once to recharge the house batteries.

Two of the five bedrooms occupied by workshop participants lacked electrical conduit for lights and were set with paraffin lamps. In one of the rooms, we were able to run an extension cord for a small table lamp. We recognized the difficulty the poor lighting presented to the occupants of these two rooms, particularly as they attempted to review their notes in the evening. We will not use these rooms for future courses until adequate lighting can be provided.

Meals were provided by the cook of Windsor House, Sugarbelly. Breakfast was "typical" Jamaican (e.g., dumpling, green banana, saltfish, cooked vegetables) and participants served themselves. Lunch was set at table for the participants and consisted of sandwiches, soup, corned beef and rice or Indian curry and rice. Dinner, which was also set at table for the participants, included salad vegetables, cooked vegetables, dumplings and yam, and chicken, fish, or pork. In their evaluations, most participants found the food favourable but all would like to see a higher standard for the attire of the cook. Windsor House takes their comments seriously and has already relayed this information to the cook.

10. SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES

Participants were provided, through their Institutions, with an over-view of the workshop and schedule of activities before arriving on November 25~ (Annex I). S. Koenig reviewed the schedule during the first lecture so that all participants would know what to expect for the duration of the workshop and the timing of events. Further, S. Koenig reviewed the categories in which participants would be evaluated for successful completion of the workshop (Annex 1). All morning sessions began within 10 minutes of their stated start times. Only one afternoon session was delayed — this on the day of the practical field examination (November ₂₈th), which extended into the lunch period. Participants expressed a desire to leave earlier on the final day of the workshop. The instructors accommodated this request by re-scheduling the Friday afternoon lecture to the previous evening.

11. APPRAISAL OF LECTURE MATERIALS

The lectures included the following topics, listed in order of presentation during the workshop:

· Recording field data and maintaining notebooks for archival purposes;

· Types of maps

· Features of topographic maps (i.e., the layout of Jamaican topographic maps)

· Scale