Jerusalem tops of Jamaica tour

(Editor's note: Staff writer Pat Pasternak recently traveled to Jamaica on a fact-finding tour paid for by Food for the Poor, Inc., a Florida-based charity that often advertises in The Evangelist. Throughout Lent, she has shared what she saw while visiting programs that serve the needy. This article concludes her six-part series. For information about FFP, visit www.foodforthepoor.org.)

"Here at 'Jerusalem!' the children come first," notes Donna Hooper-Winter, senior staff coordinator for two government-operated communities located in Spanish Town, 14 miles west of Kingston, Jamaica.

She is taking visiting journalists on a tour of the Mustard Seed Community facilities, called "Jerusalem!" It houses 135 of Jamaica's most unwanted children. They are severely mentally and physically challenged, and have been abandoned by their families.

One unit is the Children's Village; another, Dare to Care, is for children with HIV/AIDS. They are tied together by a farm, school and health clinic.

Caring for kids

"Our children suffer from debilitating diseases, and birth defects like hydrocephalus, palsies and various psychoses," Ms. Hooper-Winter explains. "They require constant care."

The care includes daily physiotherapy and occupational exercises, one-on-one cognitive learning skill classes, and specialized programs designed to meet each child's functional level.

"Some of our children come directly from hospitals where they have had only basic medical care," she continues. "Some must be taught how to hold their eating utensils, how to show respect for each other, how to use toilet facilities. Some of them have little or no social skills.

"We do a lot of praying here, spirituality is very important. We live each day by a creed that includes three terms: caring, training and sharing. The staff abides by this creed with each individual in every aspect of his or her care. This is vital to the success of any development the child may experience."

Reading center

Later in the day, in Portland Cottage, a housing community on Jamaica's southern coast, the journalists visit a new library recently completed by Food for the Poor.

Prudence Banton, the librarian, shows off the facility, which includes a computer lab and several outbuildings.

Though small by U.S. standards, the library is outfitted with books and videos sent by FFP donors, including an encyclopedia, magazines, reference books, and fiction and non-fiction for adults and children.

Omar, who is ten years old, has followed the visitors into the library. He has never been inside before. Ms. Banton invites him to sit at her computer and shows him how to type his name. He has never seen a computer. When "O-M-A-R" appears on the screen, he breaks into a big smile.

Invitation

Ms. Banton hands Omar a small, stuffed Tigger from the Winnie-the-Pooh collection. Tigger wears a small backpack that, when opened, becomes a small storybook.

"If you become a member of our library today, Omar, this is yours to keep," she says.

Omar decides to become a member, and Ms. Banton explains the rules of borrowing and returning books.

As the journalists prepare to board their bus to return to Kingston, he is still smiling.

(The Mustard Seed Communities were founded in 1978 by the Jamaican government. Mustard Seed partnered with Food for the Poor six years ago to expand the home in Spanish Town. FFP provided infrastructure and housing, and now assists with food and powdered milk for the community's small residents.)

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