On this day, we got to choose which center we wanted to go to, so I chose to go to the Lord's Place. Before we went to work, we got to go to Holy Innocence, the newest center that's been set up to give women an alternative option to abortion. A few years ago, Jamaica was trying very hard to make abortion legal across the whole country. Father Ho Lung protested, and when Parliament asked him what his plan was, he came up with this. Here, the six Sisters of Charity take care of mothers and their babies from pregnancy until about three months after birth. The babies can stay as long as the mother needs, but after three months she must go out and find housing for herself so that they can free up room for new mothers. Throughout their pregnancies, the women are educated on how to take care of their babies, and when the children are born, they're baptized Catholic. So far, they have saved four babies, and there are two more pregnant mothers coming soon! On Tuesdays, the sisters offer free ultrasounds to any women that want to come, and on Thursdays, they host a general health clinic. Apparently, 50+ people show up for each one every week. Oh yeah, this all started six months ago. It's insane how fast the Lord is working here! When we got to Holy Innocence, we were greeted by Sister Joanne, the first sister, and she gave us a talk about the center and her calling. Everything she said touched my heart. At one point, she talked about how God always has the last laugh. Amen Sister!! I'm so glad that God brought her and Fr. Ho Lung together for this reason. They're doing amazing things for the unborn in Jamaica!
After our tour of Holy Innocence, we headed out to the centers for the day. We spent the morning doing our usual tasks of cleaning the floors and faces after breakfast, and the rest of our time was spent just hanging out with the residents. In the afternoon, I spent some time on the HIV/AIDS side of the center playing Parcheesi and chatting with the residents. It breaks my heart knowing that these people are here mainly because they have been outcast from society. In Jamaica, HIV and AIDS are seen as just as deadly as the plague! One woman, Ms. Cheyenne, talked to me about the time she spent in places like Italy and France. She even lived in New Jersey for a while! I can't even imagine going from that kind of life to life at the Lord's Place.
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| Ms. Joyce and her friend - HIV/AIDS residents. |
This day was our last day of work. I definitely wish we had a few more! After a breakfast of watermelon, unleavened bread with PB, and spaghetti (yes, that's all accurate), I headed to Jacob's Well with Caroline, Mallory, and Sarah. Jacob's Well was the first center I ever went to, so I knew I had to end my trip there. Those women just have a crazy hold on me! When we got there, we were assigned to brush teeth and apply lotion - the typical morning tasks. I asked one lady if she'd like to brush her teeth, and she nodded yes and proceeded to to dig in her shirt. I thought she had an itch that just couldn't wait, but all of a sudden she pulled out this little package. I was totally clueless until she unwrapped it and held in her hand...her teeth! After unwrapping them, she gave me a huge gummy smile and laughed, "I don't have any real teeth!" It was definitely one of my favorite moments of the entire trip.
When we went upstairs for prayer and lunch, we started to hear these reallyyyy loud noises. I can't lie, it definitely sounded like a jet was about to fly right into the room. Two of our girls thought we were being bombed and started to pray and cry, and all of the local Jamaica girls got a big kick out of that! As it turns out, this day was the Jamaican Labor Day, and the jets were doing an air show all day. After lunch, snack time, and a serious roach attack, we went outside to wait for our ride, and all hell broke loose. One of the residents went at another one twice her size with a spoon and started beating her, so the big one smacked her as hard as she possibly could in the head with her hand. The spoon-weilding one immediately started throwing a huge fit, and the brothers had to drag her into the dorms, pretend to lock it, and give her TicTacs to calm her down. And that was their second fight of the day! That poor lady was still in a fit when we left ten minutes later. The brothers have to deal with some crazy stuff sometimes!
After we got home, we had a pretty chill afternoon and evening until after dinner. Brother Rey and Brother Elijah had planned a movie night, and let's just say their movie choices were a little different than what any of us would pick! First, we watched the Fr. Ho Lung and Friends concert DVD, and that gave us all a really good laugh. It's like...really corny music videos produced in the 90s. After that, we watched a short documentary about MOP that airs on EWTN. I hope I see it at home sometime. It would be so awesome to get to see some of the beloved residents and brothers on American TV! Our last video of the night was this 3 hour long movie in some other language about the life of Saint Moscati. Okay, as weird and awful as it sounds, it was really good! We had to stop watching at a really sad part, and we all still want to finish it!
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| Parcheesi at the Lord's Place. |
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