Supporting Locals in Jamaica

Bought these handmade bracelets, for my mom for her birthday, from a lady named Dalia, selling them on the beach. She walks up and down the beach 6 days per week selling her jewelry, to earn a living to provide for her two daughters! I highly recommend buying these handmade items when traveling abroad, to support the locals, AND, to ask them their story so that you have a personal understanding of how rough life can be, and how your single purchase can make a difference!

I also bought this friendship bracelet from a 14-year-old boy who was selling them for $3 to earn money to go to school. $3 may not sound like much, but can be a big deal to some. Am I certain that this boy really was earning money for school? No, I am not! But, I'm a sucker for helping people out, and in the grand scheme of things, what is $3?

Village Life in Jamaica

A few weeks prior to my mission trip to Jamaica, I had put a post on Facebook, after having a vision, that I wanted to take food to an elderly person, while on my trip. But, to whom?

Two days into my trip, Ms. Linda received a phone call from an elderly lady named Jess, who lives in a village in the mountains, called Congress. She was asking Ms. Linda for some shoes and food! Her size shoes I did not have, BUT, food - I can do that!!!! smile emoticon So, me and LouAnn met this elderly lady at the local supermarket in Whitehouse, and I bought her some rice, flour, sugar, and bully beef, as well as food for 5 more families. [Sidenote: I could not understand a single word this lady said! Ok, maybe every 10th word or so!] So, we asked this lady to take us to her village so we could see where she lives, and to hand out some food. The three of us caught a taxi up the mountain - worst "road" EVER - to Congress. At that point, we walked around, talked to families, and handed out food, then we hiked up the mountain to the shanty where Jess and her husband live. DIVINE moment! God led the way....to that elderly person whom He was trying to get food to! One of the best experiences of this trip, partially because it took me out of my comfort zone and I had to overcome fears of talking to complete strangers in a foreign land whom I cannot always understand well and explain to them why I was bringing food to them! Definitely a growing and stretching moment - a moment based on walking in faith!

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This elderly couple desperately needs a new home!!! Because of the high prices of lumber, it will cost $5,000.00 + just to build a shanty (shack)! And, she has a sister who lives on the other side of the village (we didn't make it there b/c of the long hike) whose shanty is even worse, from what I've heard! This is just one story, of many!!! All I had to offer them was flour, rice, sugar, oil, corned beef, and taxi fair to go to Black River to get her medicine - doesn't seem like nearly enough!!!