SAS Students Restore Historic Landmark in Jamaica

by Bude Van Dyke

Special to the Messenger

St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School’s Jamaica outreach trip has always been given meaningful projects to construct and relationships to develop. But, this year we were asked to restore a community treasure, the record of its sports heroes who achieved national and international status and acclaim. The Boys Town Schools and Football Club was named for the old Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney film “Boys Town.” It was initiated by Father Sherlock, whose memory is revered in Trench Town, though Trench Town is more readily known worldwide for musician and peace activist Bob Marley.

In the historic building named Father Sherlock Hall, various groups, many from Sewanee, have helped create a recording studio, a radio station and an internet cafe in recent years. In a large room at the center of the complex where three classes of students share space, the two-story high walls have fallen prey to the ailments that come with lack of funds for maintenance. On these walls are a dozen or so painted plaques with names of football (soccer) greats such as coach Carl Brown. 

Brown started playing soccer at Boys Town and went on to be the only coach to take the Jamaica team all the way to the World Cup in the late 1990s. Alongside sprinters Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Frasier, Brown is one of the most revered living sports heroes in Jamaica today. 

Coach Brown did well enough in his career to spend his retirement just about any place he wants. And he spends his days mentoring football coaches and helping bring attention back to Boys Town with his daily presence. Brown is known by every person in Jamaica and is greeted like a rock star when he goes into a business or group of prominent Jamaicans, yet he watches the Boys Town teams practice, plays dominoes on the porch of the Father Sherlock Hall with Trench Town elders and then finishes off the day by encouraging them by example with a workout just after the heat of the day.

When our group of 12 students arrived at Boys Town, we thought we might build a concrete block wall or something like that. Instead, the elders asked us if we would restore their century-old plaques, which meant meticulously painting black background around hundreds of white letter names, then painting the names with fresh white paint.

Maybe it is because I saw the film “Monuments Men” before leaving for Jamaica that this assignment hit me so hard. The Boys Town elders, who believe the school and sports program they help operate is vital to the future of their community, honored us by trusting us to restore this historical treasure. One of the powerful messages I learned from the movie was how essential the preservation of a people’s accomplishments are to the continuation of that community and culture. My initial response was hesitant because of the historical gravity of those plaques. But SAS teacher Rachel Malde and several of our students are accomplished artisans, so they excitedly said “Yes.”

So, along with students helping in preschool classrooms, working with students at an upper school to put on presentations and skits in the “No Witness, No Justice” program (which we were invited to do by the U.S. Embassy) and meeting all kinds of folks from Trench Town, we repainted the interior of Father Sherlock Hall and restored their Century Legends plaques. Our students got to paint alongside Coach Brown.

I went to Jamaica expecting to be taken in by the laid-back culture of the island. I was blessed by meeting some wonderful people in a country that seems to have a perpetual unemployment rate of 30 percent. What I either took for granted or did not anticipate is how honorably and enthusiastically our students would take to the tasks they have been asked to meet. They went above and beyond expectations. If the world can stay together a couple more decades until these young folks can take over, the world will be a much better place to live.

Van Dyke is the chaplain at St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School. This essay and others from participants on the spring break trips to Jamaica, London, Italy and Greece are available at the St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School website, <www.sasweb.org/about-sas/academics/international-study-opportunities>.