As I am writing this I am sitting on a plane flying home from Jamaica. This was no ordinary site seeing trip to Jamaica. It wasn’t for vacation or pleasure, it was for a mission trip, to help people who cannot help themselves and to give hope to those who have lost sight of it. This trip changed my life, and changed the way I see things. Let me start from the beginning.
We spent about a week doing training for this trip. We learned skits, we learned dances, entertainment that would helps us connect with the kids we were reaching out too. We were giving them things to laugh about, to lift their spirits. After a week of preparing ourselves for the trip, we were finally off. We arrived in Montego Bay around midnight, and then we had a 4 hour bus ride to May Pen. The drive was the worst ride ever. I remember the driver telling us before we took off that if any of us felt nauseous and needed to throw up, we should tell him and he will pull over.
Our first couple of days we visited various churches in May Pen so we didn’t see much of what Jamaica is truly like. We mostly saw the people who were well off. It wasn’t until a week into our trip that we started working with the people who were truly struggling. I remember when we were on our way to an orphanage we were driving through the mountains and I saw so many shacks that were houses, and not going to lie, I got sick to my stomach. I just started thinking about all the times I've complained about the stupidest things, yet I still had much much more then the people here. I felt guilty for wanting so much when I didn’t need it.
I also remember going to an elementary school in Jamaica, and seeing all the kids being SO happy with the littlest things; things that kids here in America would be bored with. It just made me realize how well off we are here in America, even if we don't have much compared to other people. Even the poor in America have much more then those here in Jamaica. Seeing all this made me feel so guilty, I felt so selfish for wasting my money on things I didn't really need.
Seeing all this, experiencing it for myself changed the way that I feel about materialistic things. Sure, I still buy clothes because I think they’re cute and I eat out a lot, I'm just as guilty as the next person, but if there is something I can’t get then I don’t complain. It’s surprising how people who live in America don’t think about this. As a country we're looked upon as selfish because we always want more, higher quality stuff. We don’t stop to think that there are people out there who are struggling to even get food. In order to change the world, we need to be aware of those in need. Every one can help, even if it’s only a little. There are so many companies and organizations that help with those in need. For example
TOMS gives a pair of shoes to a child in need for every shoe that is bought. There are also numerous organizations that you can send money (most of the time only $10-$30 a month depending on how much you want to spend) and it will go towards helping a child get food and education, and a better lifestyle in hope for them to change their future. I have a friend who does this, and she enjoys every minute of it. She sponsors a specific child, and they write letters back and forth. Eventually, after writing to him for years and supporting him she got to go visit him and she said it was one of the most amazing experiences in her life. Doing a little bit can go quite a ways, but in order for the world to become a better place EVERYONE needs to take a part in improving it, cause were all living in this world aren’t we?
If you would like to take action and help those in need, here are some organizations and charities that are taking their stand and helping those who cannot help themselves:
Gospel for Asia
Compassion International
World Vision
Invisible Children
All the pictures in this blog are pictures that I took myself when I went to Jamaica in June-July of 2009.
