Think Jamaica. Now throw away all of the things you just thought of. That’s what I had to do to prepare for my mission trip. All I knew was that I was flying to Jamaica and serving at Jamaica Christian School for The Deaf (JCSD). Along with aiding the school my team got the opportunity to love on the people at West Haven, a special needs village, and Eden the basic school. Nothing could have prepared me for what I would see at West Haven.

The Jamaican roads leading up to JCSD have been washed out repeatedly from heavy rains. Our group was given the task to help lay concrete to create a driveway for the school. While the week promised heavy lifting and heart wrenching sights I was excited to serve and inspired to continue helping when I got home. On the first day we started filling buckets with sand and rocks, then we passed each bucket up an assembly line. All I can say is those things are heavy. After a big pallet of sand and rocks was laid out the Jamaican construction workers shoveled cement with water in to the pallet. Then we hauled buckets full of concrete to the guy who payed and smoothed out the road.
During our breaks we got to play with the kids and talk with the high schoolers. Two girls in particular stood out to me, Nakisha and Kyla. Nakisha is the sassiest little deaf girl I have ever met. Once you sign with her she will claim you as hers. One of my friends got shunned by her since she was just signing with another girl. Even though she can’t talk her face gives it all away. Kyla was more laid back but still had an attitude. Since she is close to my age it was cool to hear about her life and what it’s like to go to a boarding school. Kyla was born hearing but when she was six she got sick and lost her hearing. Since she was six she is able to use some speech to communicate so her family doesn’t see the need to learn ASL. For her this is really frustrating since they could meet her halfway or let her teach them sign. So most of the time she stays at the school where she has a community of people that are her second family. I’m glad that I was able to help improve her safe place and know exactly who was benefiting from our teams work. The best part of the work at JCSD was all the small moments I got to sign with the students.

The day I got to visit West Haven and Eden was eye opening. The kids at Eden were so energetic and entertained by the smallest things. One of the boys sat with me in the field mixing bubbles for over ten minutes. Like a scientist, we poured the bubbles into each container again and again. Once we had played with the kids for an hour we had to head back to JCSD for lunch then head over to West Haven. I was expecting to be filled with pity when I saw the people there but instead I was in awe. Yes I was scared at to go there at first because of what I had heard but it was so much different. We spent the time walking with the residents and feeding them. After we helped the nurses feed them lunch one of the girls sat me down, held my hand, and set her head on my shoulder. She was almost asleep it was so cute. One of her friends walked up and stood next to me holding my hand while leaning on me. I expected it to be really uncomfortable for me since I’m not touchy, but it was so peaceful holding there hands. While I was there to love and care for them, they were loving me and giving me peace that I hadn’t felt in awhile. It was truest amazing. All the residents at West Haven want is to be loved. The act of just holding their hand made them more than happy. It was so cool to see how they loved and took care of each other. They were simply a big loving family.
This trip has taught me to value my abilities. As well as see the good in the world. Most of my life I have viewed certain people in a negative light. This trip has broken those negative thoughts towards people and helped me see that all people are good in some way. While they may have qualities that I don’t always value, they are themselves and struggling with life just as much as I am. I’ve learned it is best to know people before assuming whether you like them or not. Not applying this has caused problems in my life, but this trip has reminded me again that people aren’t always how they seem to be.