May 30, 2001

Senior class trip true mission of mercy

TC Christian students work in Jamaican orphanages, nursing homes

By LISA PERKINS
Herald staff writer
       Warm, sunny beaches sound like the typical destination for a senior class trip, so a trip to Jamaica doesn't sound out of the ordinary. What makes the trip seniors from Traverse City Christian School took different than most, is that they spent their time in orphanages and nursing homes instead of sunning themselves and shopping.
      For the second year in a row, Traverse City Christian School seniors have visited the Caribbean Christ for the Nations mission outside Montego Bay. Twenty students were accompanied by five adults on their eight-day mission trip.
      The students worked at the mission, pruning orange trees and cleaning up garbage on the campus, and visited local children and the elderly in nursing homes.
      "When we visited the St. James Infirmary, it looked like an old war hospital, the beds were all in rows, there was no privacy," Kira Olds said about the nursing home. "When we got there everyone was sitting on their bed, no one was smiling. We read the Bible with them, sang hymns and danced and everyone was up and smiling before we left."
      The girls visited Blossom Gardens, an orphanage for babies that has five adults to care for more than 70 children. "They never get held, they just want to be held," Melissa Basch remembered about the orphans. "They didn't even cry very much because no one would pay any attention anyway."
      Many of the children at the New Beginning orphanage had been abandoned. "One boy went to the grocery store and when he came back his mom was gone, that's how he ended up there," said Jon Boeve.
      Everyone on the trip agreed that the mission work held some surprises for them. "They don't put trash in trash cans, it's just everywhere," said Emily Kinney. "More important though, is that everyone was really happy, despite the fact that they didn't have anything."
      Senior Carrie Robinson added, "one of the biggest lessons I learned was to be grateful for what we have, the people there have nothing, except for their love of the Lord, and they are happy."
      The success of this year's trip has teachers Gayle Yarick and Tom Broderick thinking that this mission trip should be an annual occurrence. "I've been working with kids for 22 years," said Yarick, "I've never been with a better group, they were wonderful workers."
      "I'm planning to go back as soon as I can, there is so much that needs to be done there," said senior Jada Owusu, "I've already checked out working at a mission there, I have to be 18- years-old, I'll be leaving the day after my 18th birthday."