|
BY PRISCILLA GREEAR
Staff Writer
KINGSTON, Jamaica--Packed into a bus traveling through the slums of
Kingston, young adult missionaries from Atlanta eagerly arrived the morning of
Aug. 5 at a place simply called “Jerusalem,” a home for disabled and
abandoned children.
Sheltered from the poverty-stricken streets by only a wall topped with
shards of broken glass, missionaries crowded into the century-old chapel they
had spent the week repairing while in Spanish Town. Above the altar, a twisted
steel-wire cross they hung the day before remained suspended in front of a
stained glass window.
Young girls wearing velvet dresses and boys wearing their finest outfits
held balloons while crowded into the newly repaired pews. The children, some of
whom have difficulty speaking or walking, who are blind or who require
wheelchairs because of their frail, deformed limbs, suffer from disabilities
that include cerebral palsy, spina bifida, Down syndrome and hydrocephalus, a
congenital defect which results in an enlarged skull.
On this day, however, the children’s attire and smiles drew attention
away from the mental and physical deformities of their bodies. Some children
sang along as a band led the congregation in “When the Saints Go Marching
In,” “Enter into Jerusalem” and the Jamaican national anthem.
A bright-eyed, 12-year-old named Omar appeared in earnest concentration as
he followed Archbishop Edgerton Roland Clarke, SJ, of Kingston, carrying a bowl
of holy water that the archbishop used to bless and re-dedicate the house of
prayer. The archbishop said the children would have a beautiful place to
commune with God.
“This is a building being set apart as a place where we can come to
meet God -- to meet him and celebrate the sacraments,” he said. “We
are living tabernacles where God is. God loves us. We look on this chapel as
our oasis of peace where the people of Jerusalem can come to be with God.”
It was the Mass of dedication for the Chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes at
“Jerusalem,” the home for the oldest of the disabled and abandoned
children, run by the Mustard Seed nonprofit organization. The event drew
together the home’s director Garvin Augustine, Jamaican supporters, the
archdiocesan young adult mission group and mission teams from Blessed Sacrament
Church, Atlanta, and Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Decatur.
Children came from the organization’s other homes, My Father’s
House, established in 1987 in Kingston, and Sophie’s Place, which opened
in the mountain village of Gordon Town in 1997 for the youngest and most
severely disabled. Teenagers holding their newborns from the ministry’s
Mary’s Child for pregnant teens in Kingston, which opened in 1997, also
attended.
“We couldn’t have named this area a better name than Jerusalem.
It’s really a holy city because the children are residing here,” said
Father Gregory Ramkissoon, Mustard Seed’s founder and executive director.
He said that the chapel’s daily meditation and rosary services are open
to everyone. “We all need that quiet, that place of rest and renewal and a
chapel such as this is that place of renewal.”
Jamaica is extremely poor with 45-50 percent of its population living below
the poverty level, according to Father Ramkissoon. Families living in cardboard
huts and tin shacks are often forced to abandon their sick or disabled children
because of the medical expenses.
For over 20 years Mustard Seed has offered caring homes to these children,
as there is no government facility for them. Now they are caring for nearly 200
children.
The archdiocesan Office of Young Adult Ministry sponsored a mission trip
July 31-Aug. 8. The group of 33, led by Janice Murphy Givens, then young adult
ministry director, and Father Fred Wendel, pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary
Church, Atlanta, and spiritual director of the trip, represented 13 parishes.
They brought with them 45 boxes of donated goods.
After waking to the cries of babies at Sophie’s Place, missionaries
rose daily for morning Mass. They then broke up into teams, some heading down a
winding road to Kingston while reciting the rosary. Others worked at
Sophie’s Place.
In addition to feeding and playing with the children, groups worked among
banana and palm trees as they renovated the chapel, sorted clothes, built an
outdoor shade structure and made bunk beds for future volunteers. They also dug
a foundation for a chapel at Sophie’s Place.
Tim Purdy, a parishioner at the Cathedral of Christ the King, Atlanta, said
it was a community effort and that participants left with a sense of
accomplishment. For Purdy, who also made the mission trip in 1998, seeing the
emotional and spiritual growth of the Jamaican youth moved him the most.
Purdy, 36, recalled one youth named Ricky who was more of a hindrance last
year. “This year he seemed more even-keeled. He really wanted to help. I
let him drill a couple of times. That was really neat.”
Purdy hoped to give selflessly on the trip and sought out the quieter youth.
“I feel like they probably don’t get as much attention and I try
to take some time with them. I was always a quiet, shy one and that’s my
way of making sure they have the attention as well,” he said. “In
some ways I look forward to meeting them in heaven and getting to experience
that.”
Missionaries witnessed the children’s spirituality. They had covered a
statue of Mary with a drop cloth to begin painting the chapel, Givens recalled.
One boy objected and took off the cloth. He then dropped to his knees and
prayed. “Mary was real to him. He knew that Mary would not want a (drop)
cloth on … That just shows how real Jesus and Mary are to them,” she
said.
Givens believes the children understand the sacrifice of the Mass.
“In the world’s standards a lot of these kids may not be very
smart. (But) you could tell they definitely knew what was going on in Mass.
They knew who Jesus was,” she said. “Society has abandoned them, but
in reality these kids give us so much love and joy.”
And the gift was received. Collin Miller, another Cathedral parishioner,
wrote a letter to 25 trip supporters following the mission where he reflected
on his experience. He recalled his initial visit to Sophie’s Place where
he saw flies buzzing on and around three babies with physical deformities
laying side by side.
“I had to excuse myself almost immediately, as it was a bit more than I
could handle. I’m used to seeing individual babies, each being cherished
by loving parents who are always close at hand.”
Yet recalling how he was cared for as a child compelled him to love the
children. “I was rewarded not only with a feeling of greater understanding
of myself but also a deep sense of joy in seeing the gratitude in the eyes and
smiles of each and every one of these, these children of God ... I went there
to give to what one would consider the poor, yet I received so much.
Ultimately, one realizes how perfect these little guys are even though their
little bodies are so malformed.”
Like many others on the trip, Miller noted that the children reached out to
him. On the first visit to Jerusalem, barefoot children ran to greet the
missionaries, recognizing some from last year’s mission trip. They played
kickball with the youth. A child came over, took Miller’s hand and then
said, “I love you.”
Having worked little with young children, missionary Janet Powers, a
confirmation coordinator at St. Jude the Apostle Church, Atlanta, who is
studying social work at Georgia State University, said the first day at
Jerusalem was tough. Powers, 23, feared being scratched or bitten by the
children and thought the children would be miserable.
“My heart was very afraid that first day. I held some kids, but I was
very apprehensive. By Monday I was a lot more comfortable. It’s easier for
me with the kids at Sophie’s Place, the most disabled,” she said. As
she reached out and touched the children her fear subsided.
As a member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, Powers said the experience
affirmed her belief in serving the poor. “When you work with the poor,
those who have less, that’s where you’re really going to find
Christ.”
At My Father’s House, children smiled as they drew and blew bubbles,
safe in young adult arms. The youngest and frailest boys and girls rested in
nearby rooms filled with cribs. Brian Lorei, 35, also learned from the fragile
youth. “For what they have, they are very happy kids. They’re very
spirit-filled. They’re very loving kids. They reached out to us right at
first and that just shocked me, these white strangers,” he said.
He was impressed with a boy whose small, thin legs could not support his
weight. The boy relied on a skateboard, going over curbs and ramps on it.
“He’s a very happy kid. He doesn’t sit there all by himself. He
makes the best of whatever he’s given. It’s a lesson for all of us.
Don’t focus on your limitations. Focus on what you can do.”
A tall, large-framed man, Lorei walked into the girls room and observed a
21-year-old confined to her crib. He considered her limited world and how
American parents might have aborted this child upon learning of her
deformities.
“The first day I felt sorry looking at all this suffering. She’s
so dependent on us, but as she looks at you she appears happy. She’s still
happy and content. There’s a reason -- a mystery. To me it’s a
mystery, but God has a purpose for everything ... Just the twinkle in her eye
when she looked at me, it really touched me,” he said.
For Father Wendel the trip was both affirming and challenging as the team
cared for the children, but saw the reality of poverty and its consequential
struggles.
“It was an extraordinary experience and yet it carried us into the
ordinary of life. Sometimes when we look for God, we concentrate on looking for
God in the extraordinary experiences and I believe that our challenge is to
find God in the ordinary situations that we find ourselves in,” he said.
“The challenge becomes to find God among us and in what happens right now
in our lives -- to see God’s presence in that.”
Father Wendel, 50, recalled a more luxurious vacation to the Third World
nation and noted that this trip, where he had no air conditioning or hot water,
was more thoroughly enjoyable. He said it was very powerful to work as a
community for common goals and to be present to the children.
Shedding their work gloves and power saws, young adults took the children in
their bathing suits to a nearby beach. Some held the children in their laps on
the shore and others carried them into the water. The youth stretched their
arms and fingers and experienced different body positions away from the
confines of wheelchairs. They felt the unfamiliar sand and experienced the
waves rolling against them. Afterward they had a seaside picnic.
Back at Jerusalem, missionary Jackie Oddo, a pediatric occupational
therapist, shared her skills with staff caregivers. She showed them how to
expand children’s sensory experiences and flexibility and how to prevent
further deformities. “The brain -- all it needs is a little input and they
respond right away and that’s exciting,” she said. “I see kids
with a lot of potential (developmentally).”
Oddo found it beneficial to talk with the staff and offer them guidance.
“They want to know the right things to do to support the children
developmentally in all the stages ... because they know they’re here and
they’re going to be long-term residents.”
Father Ramkissoon said that, because of a shortage of nurses and funding, he
hopes to train current staff in how to treat malnourished and sick children.
The ministry uses much of its resources to provide doctors for them and also
plans to expand its programs to serve more children. Seventy-five youth are now
staying in police stations, infirmaries and other places until they can enter
Mustard Seed facilities.
The government’s stipend to Mustard Seed covers only one-tenth of the
ministry’s $1.3 million operating budget. Volunteer support, along with
farming, selling ceramics and a card and print shop, gives Mustard Seed added
revenue.
Volunteers like Brendan Smith, a graduate of St. Pius X High School in
Atlanta, are also needed to educate the mission’s educable children. Smith
has taught youth reading and writing since moving to Jamaica in 1997.
“Most of the children are abandoned. They are with us for life and we have
to plan for their future, their socialization, every possibility in order to
provide for them,” Father Ramkissoon said.
To end their journey, the young adults traveled to a village near Montego
Bay where Father Ramkissoon, short in height and large in spirit, showed them a
dilapidated building he plans to renovate and use as the next home.
Father Ramkissoon was enthusiastic about the Atlanta mission team. “I
think it’s a marvelous example of what a young American with skills, with
heart, with spirit can achieve,” he said. “They need to be challenged
more. This isn’t a one-week thing. It’s got to become a way of
life.”
Givens said the trip’s main purpose was “to serve the children, to
pray with the children and to open our hearts to see the joy that the children
have … without all the material possessions that we sometimes feel we need
and for us to experience their joy and simplicity so that when we come back
here we are changed.”
She added that the mission trip was also great fun, as they adapted to the
more laid-back Jamaican lifestyle. And it wasn’t just a been-there,
done-that mission trip. Participants now struggle back home to find ways, short
of becoming missionaries, to live with authentic Christian missionary spirit or
continue serving Mustard Seed. Participants have met with Augustine to develop
ways of supporting the ministry through the Atlanta chapter of Friends of
Mustard Seed.
Powers said the mission trip “has changed everything about me,”
and has made her want to reach out more. “It just reminded me that
we’re all human and we all need love and to support one another and that
support can consist of just a nod or a smile or a look and I’m trying to
do that here.”
Powers arranged for a SVDP Make a Difference Day Oct. 23 to include the
packing of food, diapers and Christmas toys for Mustard Seed.
Oddo, who made her first mission trip, said it gave her a deeper sense of
the universal church and of how love transcends cultures.
“It’s continuing to deepen my awareness of humankind,” she
said. “We are all responsible for each other.”
Father Wendel said the mission trip was an enriching experience. As he tends
to parish duties, his mind at times returns to Jamaica. “I just think
about the whole situation down there and really how sheltered we are on an
everyday basis and we get back to … the many things that we have, the many
services that we provide that they can’t, simply because of the economic
conditions,” he said.
At a follow-up meeting in August, Purdy, a teacher in the industrial design
program at Georgia Tech, showed an informational video on Mustard Seed that his
students designed. He plans to show the video at schools and churches to
attract young adults, seniors and youth to Mustard Seed.
The video features a mustard tree that grows and produces a new seed. As the
young adults internalize their experiences and settle back into their daily
routines, many participants now carry a new seed of faith which, through
nurturing and cultivation, may grow to enable them to experience God more
deeply in both the extraordinary and ordinary.
|
