At Feed the Hunger, our motto is “It’s more than a meal.” That’s especially true when we visit our partners, whether overseas or in the US. Each trip is different, and we never quite know what to expect! Part I of our field report comes from our Director of Development, Jim Gurley, who led a team to Jamaica in June. Enjoy the read, and we hope you’ll consider traveling with us on our next mission trip!
On June 15th, a team of seven left North Carolina on the short flight to Kingston, Jamaica, where our ministry partners at Associated Gospel Assemblies were waiting to show us all that was happening in their children’s outreach programs.
As soon as our feet hit the ground (well, the next morning—rest is very important when traveling!), we headed two hours west to Manchester Province, the location of Witter McKain school. This school of 150+ students is our first partnership in Manchester Province, and they’ve only been receiving our food for a short time. Like all the schools with which we partner, Witter McKain is a “basic” school, where all the students are three to six years old. The children are divided by age into three classrooms: three-year-olds, four-year-olds, and five- and six-year-olds.
At lunch, over 80% of the plates came back empty or nearly so—a good sign that FtH food is popular with the kids. That afternoon, with help from our longstanding partner Pastor Nigel Lewis, we were able to give Bibles to the older (five- and six-year-old) children who were getting ready to “graduate” from basic school.
The next day, we took off to a rural part of southern Jamaica where we visited Kemp’s Hill and Rocky Point, two very small schools. Kemp’s Hill school has a principal, Mrs. Spence, two other teachers, a cook, and a caregiver. Like in the other schools, the seventy or so young students were divided into three classrooms by age. Thirteen students received their very own Bibles.
According to Claudette, who cooks for all the children, the best meal she prepares all week is FtH “Rice and Peas” (the Jamaican way of referring to rice and beans). She makes her hit recipe in traditional Jamaican fashion, with coconut milk, scotch bonnet peppers, thyme, scallions, and chicken. This wonderful meal is served with an assortment of vegetables, including cabbage, sweet peppers, carrots, and cucumbers (I’m getting hungry just thinking about it…).
Schools in this part of Jamaica sometimes cooperate when resources are stretched thin; Kemp’s Hill is no exception, sharing some of their food boxes with seven other poor schools in the area. As a big bonus, two members of the FtH team, Dr. Marc Putnam and Lynn Moudy from Greensboro, NC, got to pose with one of the boxes from their church’s own Packathon!
Next, we visited Rocky Point school, which is in a small fishing village on the southern coast of the island. Drug trafficking and gangs are rampant there, yet the school of approximately seventy children still shines as a light in the community. We met with Sister Philberta Maxwell, who serves as the principal and one of three teachers at the school. FtH food gives the students at Rocky Point a nutritious boost at a critical age for learning and development. Capping off a memorable visit, we gave out seven Bibles to the five- and six-year-olds present that day.
Saturday was spent taking in the sights and sounds of Kingston, the capital of Jamaica. We encountered the same blind man sitting in front of a grocery store for the third year in a row. The youngest member of our team, Ashton, went over to give him some money as her grandfather, Gary, asked him if he had a Savior. He replied encouragingly, “I have a Savior in Jesus.”
On Sunday, the team went to Pastor Nigel’s church, where Dr. Marc delivered a message on the character of a good father (we happened to be there on Father’s Day this year). It just so happened that a couple of days earlier, while we were visiting Rocky Point, Pastor Nigel spotted a local gun runner in the neighborhood and told him he needed to be in church on Father’s Day. You can probably guess where this is going—Sunday morning, the gun runner not only showed up in church, but he accepted the Lord along with fourteen others! It was the highlight of the trip for me to see the Holy Spirit at work in such a powerful way!
Before we left Kingston on Monday, we stopped by the Gladys Sheriff Basic School, located on a street where local gangs had battled for control—eventually, one of the gangs won, wiping out the rival members. However, the church and school are not bothered by the gangs. After visiting with the principal, Mrs. Sharon Dennis, we had the privilege of handing out thirty Bibles to some of the eighty students at the school.
Reflecting on the trip later in the week, I thought about all the children we were able to visit, and the chance they have to become the leaders Jamaica desperately needs. In addition to the Bibles we distributed, we also got to give the cooks at the schools brand new, synthetic cutting boards provided by a gift from a longtime friend of FtH. On a more lighthearted note, one of the highlights of the week was watching the children (and teachers!) learn how to make balloon animals from Ashton!
Like I said at the beginning, you never know exactly what you’ll end up doing on a FtH mission trip. I hope you’ll consider taking a trip with us and seeing for yourself what God is doing in His Kingdom through FtH, our partners, and our great supporters!