Wednesday, January 16th Journal

Wednesday (January 16, 2013)

Journal Entry

Jack & the girls :) 

BK, Stanley

BK

Whole group at worksite :) 

Woman at the infirmary

Courtney at the infirmary 

Lauren (Tri Sigma) at the infirmary

BK at the infirmary

Ben playing the guitar at the infirmary - the Jamaicans absolutely loved it!

Jack at the infirmary

Ben with his guitar at the infirmary

Whole group at the infirmary

This morning we went to worksites for a half-day. I was at foundation/marl haul with a ton of people. It was really fun. I was lucky enough to stand by BK most of the time we were there, and I really enjoyed talking and getting to know her better. We also talked to a Jamaican, Stanley, was has cerebral palsy. Won by One actually helped pay for him to go to the US to have surgery (not sure when).

After working in the morning, we went to the Harmony House, had lunch, and then loaded the busses to go to the Infirmary.

The Infirmary is basically like a nursing home, I believe run by the government, where people are usually just there waiting to die, which sounds so horrible, but it’s true. Many of them have family, but never see them. Many of them either have mental or physical disabilities.

Before the trip, I had been very, very excited about going to the infirmary, because I heard it was life changing. We loaded the busses to make the hour drive, and I was still excited, but also nervous and unsure what to expect. I sat by Eric, and we had a really great conversation about his older brother who has muscular dystrophy.

Before going to the infirmary, we were told many things. We were told that the people there really look forward to us coming, because they rarely get visitors. We were told just us being there to talk to them, read scripture to them, paint their finger nails, put lotion on their hands/feet, and pray with them, makes them incredibly happy.

When we arrived, the first thing I noticed was how many buildings there were, and how open the buildings were (doors, windows). The men and women are in separate buildings.

I went to the women’s side first, and was shocked to see a person (I can’t remember man or woman) crawling/dragging their body on the ground, and I assume it was because they could not walk.

I walked into one of the big rooms, and was shocked to see how many beds were lined up and down on each side of the room. There were a couple women in the beds, sleeping. There were flies all over them. The room smelled of urine.

I went and sat down on the bed of a woman I believe was named Rebecca. She was very friendly, and happy. Then Ben came in, and started talking to her. It was absolutely incredible to see the smile on her face. At that moment I had to hold back tears. I was so amazed by how this young, American fraternity boy was giving up a week of his winter vacation, to come visit this woman and other Jamaicans, and put those huge smiles on their faces.

I moved around to many people, and almost none of them I really was able to have a conversation with, so instead I just read some Bible verses to them, held their hands, and prayed for them.

 Towards the end, I decided to go over to the men’s wing, which I knew would be tough and make me think of Grandpar –yes with an R. Not that being in the woman’s wing didn’t make me think of Granny & Grandma Rose, because it did, but it’s different because Grandpar has passed away, and they have not.

I talked to a couple men, one named Henry. He had some nice pictures on his wall of people who had come to visit him. He said he had children, but that they did not visit. My heart broke hearing that. I read him a few Bible verses, and he prayed with me.

On the bus ride back, Eric and I sat next to each other again. I was crying because I was thinking about how I had not gone to visit Grandpar the day before he died, because it was my birthday. Eric was crying too, and put his arm around me, and I told him about Grandpar. I’m pretty sure he was only the second person I’ve ever told about the guilt I feel about that. (If you read Thursday’s blog, you’ll see that I told the rest of the group about it Thursday night).

Wednesday night the girls and guys separated and had bonding time, so that was awesome. I loved getting to know every girl on such a deep level.