We recently took a week and went to work at a deaf village in Jamaica. We did mostly construction work to help out the people of the deaf village. Along the way we stopped at an infirmary (A hospital/nursing home for the elderly, blind, mentally ill and disabled) and an orphanage. I will write more about the trip later. Below are some life lessons I learned.
Life Lesson #1 – The poorest parts of West Michigan would be considered luxury compared to most of Jamaica
***We were all appalled at the sight of a massive mansion
sitting at the top of a hill, when right below there was a house the size of
our garage housing 20+ orphans...How could those people in the mansion live
like that knowing that the lady running the orphanage below often can't afford
diapers for the children? Yet, upon
further thought, while I don't have a direct view of an orphanage from my
living room, I don't know how I'm any different, living in luxury while the
rest of the world struggles.***
Life Lesson #2 – Contentment is completely a choice
***I think of the people we met in the infirmary who had
nothing but a 6'x3' cot, with their belongings underneath. The place reeked of urine, we saw mice,
cockroaches, maggots...these were the unwanted people of Jamaica, those that
had been dropped off by their families who no longer wanted them, or had a
disability with no one to care for them. These were people with nowhere else to
go. Yet, even in a place others would
find downright miserable, we met several of them who had the joy of the Lord in
their hearts and were genuinely happy.
How can I complain about such small things in life when people have
nothing yet still choose joy?***
Life Lesson #3 – If I work hard, God will bless it
***We had the hardest team of workers. We all seemed to be dragging every night but
during the day God gave us the strength to give it our best, with the last day
being our most productive. It is amazing
how much a team of workers can do in a week when they are all on the same page,
unified as servants of the Lord.***
Life Lesson #4 – When God leads me, I better follow
***A lot of doubts filled my mind before the trip. However, when you are doing God's work, all
doubts are laid to rest and there is no greater feeling.***
Life Lesson #5 – The poverty in Jamaica has caused an ugly stain
on a beautiful land with beautiful people.
***Crime, violence, trash, hunger, sickness and homelessness are
all things that are so rampant in Jamaica.
Jamaica had the highest murder rate per capita in the world for 8
straight years, and it continues to be at or near the highest. I did not think of Jamaica as being a poor or
hungry country before I went, I had never heard of Jamaica being a poor nation. The focus of the trip was
construction work in the deaf village and therefore I was not prepared for what
I saw. The thousands of tin huts, the
people walking the streets with no shoes, the obvious homelessness were
unfortunately blatant and obvious. My
heart breaks for them.***
Life Lesson #6 – Lastly, trying to loosen cement in a running,
rotating cement mixer with a shovel is a bad idea.
***I'll leave it at that.***
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