Jamaica - the story behind the pics

July 18, 2014

We are rejoicing in all that the Lord has done over the past few weeks!  What an amazing journey!  Two weeks ago we celebrated July 4^th with our daughters and some of Kayla and AnneMarie’s close friends.  Fireworks crackled, popped and boomed outside my window as I hope for a few hours of sleep before rising at 3 AM so that we could catch a 6 AM flight out of Dayton.  Many very long, bleary eyed hours later, we arrived at our destination --  The Blue House, Ocho Rios,Jamaica, and sat down to dinner with our host, Elise Yap.

Elise runs a ministry called Bread Basket Ministries to help the desperately poor in Jamaica, particularly widows, orphans, and families with unique needs.  To assist in the funding of Bread Basket, she runs The Blue House, a boutique bed and breakfast with an amazing chef – Elise’s brother, Darryl.  The Blue House is staffed by young adults whom Elise has groomed and trained – bringing them up out of situations where their futures were bleak.  One of her passions is to help build homes for those who are living in rundown shacks and have no means to better their lives, and that is where we were invited to join in … to be part of a team to build house for a very poor family of five.

Our family was particularly blessed to be invited to join together with a family from South Dakota, who funded the house building project, together with a couple of their young adult friends, and a young woman from California on this trip – a group that only the Lord himself could have knit together for the week long project.  

Elise is a Spirit-filled Catholic who readily shared her own personal journey of faith, including being filled with the Spirit, and hearing a direct call from the Lord to “feed my sheep,” which then led to her establishing her ministry.  The next morning we attended Mass at Elise’s church, which overlooks the ocean.  The liturgy was typical, but the homily was amazing, and the Eucharist left me totally overwhelmed by the Lord’s presence.  (Elise would later share that it is the experience of the presence of the Lord in the Eucharist that keeps her from leaving her church for a more dynamic one.)

Sunday remained a day of rest and we enjoyed a local beach where we talked with several Jamaican families.  Monday, however, was definitely a day of WORK!   After a good breakfast we headed to the site where the house was already started – the foundation was laid, ready for us to begin building a house for a family of five.  Rupert and Diane have three children – Daniel, a severely handicapped boy who recently turned 10, Kerry-Anne, an 8 year old with mental and emotional delays, and Tiffany, a typical 6 year old.  All three children wore huge smiles as we greeted them.  They invited us to see the house in which they live (right next to the brand new foundation for the new house).  In one very small room they all sleep together in a full sized bed – yes, all five.  And in a smaller back room they keep their kitchen stuff and other belongings.  There is an outhouse detached.  All cooking is outside over a fire.  Rupert, as it turns out, is an amazing cook!  He works as a farmer and takes on small chef jobs whenever he can.   Diane’s busy full time with the children, particularly Daniel who cannot attend school.  He cannot walk or talk, and interacts like a child of about 7-8 months old.

After being at the site for about 20 minutes we were all drenched with sweat.  As it was only 10 AM, we all silently wondered how we could possibly work all day in that heat.  But before long we were immersed in the work itself.  And it seems that once you’re that sweaty, it just doesn’t matter anymore.  You just keep drinking lots of fluids.  And you don’t even worry about having to pee, because it all just sweats away.

The first day as children from the surrounding neighborhood came, we put them to work painting – priming the plywood walls.  White paint was everywhere as children from age 5 to 12 dipped brushes and rollers and put paint everywhere.  It was quite crazy, but the kids were so enthralled with helping, that we just did our best to keep up with rolling and brushing out all the paint to a nice smooth surface.  We fed the kids peanut butter and jelly and they were sooo happy!  Elise says that most of the kids are hungry most every day.  They get food, but never enough to fully satisfy.

I helped Rupert chop veggies, as he cooked up an amazing meal in large kettles over the fire.  He was quite proud of his cooking – and we were all very impressed. Jamaican cooking at its best, with just the simplest of implements!   Later I wondered whether the food was that incredibly tasty or whether we were just all so hungry by 1:30 when lunch was finally ready.  We gobbled up rice and beans, chicken, and veggies, and then distributed the rest to the kids who hadn’t had their fill of PBJs.  (They seemed to strongly prefer the PBJ though.)

Construction on the house had begun early with our large team mixing concrete with shovels, slopping it into 5 gallon buckets, and pouring it into an area that would serve for plumbing and waste processing for the new house’s bathroom – with running water and a flush toilet – a huge upgrade.  Later the 2 x 4’s would be sawed and fitted, hammered, and screwed, and before we knew it, we were watching a house arise from the foundation.  It would become a very nice 2 bedroom home with nice living areas and a porch!

Meanwhile, as the construction progressed and the food was cooked and served, though all of this is somewhat a blur as to what happened when, Kayla, Mayana and Lia gathered many neighborhood children to sing songs and play games in a central clearing in the neighborhood.  Thankfully, this area was mostly shaded.  The kids were thrilled to join in the activities.  And my girls were thrilled to be there leading and guiding them!

What was the area like?  Well, it wasn’t too far from a main road in St. Ann’s.  It was kind of like a very large campground in a tropical forest, with clearings carved out like campsites.  On each site was a makeshift dwelling about the size of a family sized tent – or perhaps a little smaller.  The insides of the dwelling were used kind of like you might use your tent while camping – for sleeping, changing, maybe resting.  But inside was hot and stuffy.  So most people always were outside.  Cooking was always over the fire.  Water came into large rain barrel, and it was used for just about everything but drinking.  It looked clean though.  Then, in the middle of the home sites, there was a rather large clearing with a large outhouse on one side, near a river, and it contained a single bucket-flush toilet and no seat.  Not that one would have sat anyway.  The clearing was a great place to gather the children and play games, sing, and teach.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were all WORK days.  But, thanks to Elise’s great idea, we also used that time to minister Christ’s love to the children.  Each day around noon, apparently after morning chores were done at each house, the children would begin to gather around, eager to talk and get hugs.  They took delight in simple games of duck duck goose, London Bridge, red light-green light, etc.  But perhaps their biggest smiles came while singing songs.  Kayla, Mayana, and Lia – sometimes accompanied by Grace and AnneMarie, as well – led the children in Bible camp songs like Deep and Wide, Peace Like a River, Father Abraham, and many more.  And then the children taught us Bible songs that they had learned about loving Jesus and stomping on Satan, etc.  They really liked watching us catch on to their songs!

One moment I will never forget is walking down to the clearing where all five of my girls were encircled by Jamaican children all singing and dancing with huge smiles on their faces.  My girls were so engaged with the group and clearly enjoying every minute of it!  Another favorite moment was watching the little children – age 2, 3, 4 – crawling into Mayana, Grace and Lia’s laps – sometimes three to a lap!

However, I was probably the most impressed watching Kayla handle the crowd of children when it was time for the story.  With the help of promised animal crackers for those who could answer questions about the story, Kayla got them (most of them) to sit down and listen attentively.  About half of the children were very engaged in listening and responding to questions.  Each day Kayla shared a new Bible story.  On the day when she shared about Jesus falling asleep in the boat and then calming the storm, she had several children up front acting out the story and all the children adding sound effects. 

After each days story, the children were invited to prepare a craft to reinforce the story.  Boys and girls from age 3 to 12 or 13 flocked around to use crayons, glue sticks, scissors, and more, and most did a great job of trying to follow the instructions.  What was so touching was the way they flocked around us to show off the results of their hard work.  “Miss, Miss!  Look at mine!”  We lavished praise on their obvious hard work, and then we watched as Kayla had them each retell the story back – helping them to understand it better.  The children learned the parable of the lost sheep, and God’s concern for every single person who is lost from him, as well as the story of the unforgiving servant, in addition to Jesus bringing peace to the storm, and how we need not fear, for Jesus will help us through.

By the end of our time, Mayana wanted to stay on at BBM to be a children’s helper, Lia wanted to stay on at the Blue House to study under chef Derryl.  However, Kayla, AnneMarie, and Grace, while totally enjoying all of their time that week were ready to come back home, connect with friends, and prepare for the coming school year, with hopes of maybe returning to do it all over again next summer.

Tom and I do hope that we will return in the next year or so to participate in another mission trip with Elise and Bread Basket Ministries.  We are praying that God will open up the right doors and make the way clear, but also that He would lead some others to join us!

For more information about Bread Basket Ministries*, see http://www.breadbasketministries.com/

And if you are here in the Cincinnati area, please consider supporting us on August 16^th for a garage sale to benefit this ministry.  They operate on a shoestring budget and would like to help as many needy children and widows as possible!

Many blessings!

*This is from the BBM site: 

Bread Basket Ministries (BBM) is
a non-profit, charitable Christian
organization ministering to the
physical, emotional, social and
spiritual needs of poverty stricken
men, women and children in Ocho
Rios Jamaica and its surrounding
environs.

In seeking to do so we partner
with local and international
individuals and organizations,
mission trip teams seeking to serve
the poor in Jamaica, as well as,
loving, generous visitors who
respond to God's call to do more
than simply vacation here.