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Defiance College students spent more than a week on a service trip to Jamaica where they built a house and visited local children’s homes.
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A group of seven Defiance College students recently spent more than a week on a service trip to Jamaica where they built a house and visited local children’s homes.
Working with Christian Service International, the group built a two-room home in the Highgate area for an elderly couple who had been waiting for a new home since 2004. Jamaicans in need of housing submit an application to CSI. Each new house is a two-room, 10x20-foot structure costing about $2,000.
Katie Litle, coordinator of Defiance’s McMaster Student Service Leadership Programs, noted that this year’s trip was unique in that it was a collaboration of two Defiance College-McMaster School service leader programs, junior Bonner and Citizen Leaders. Prior to the trip, the team joined a weekly learning community where they spent time learning about the Jamaican culture, participated in cross cultural activities, and prepared for an international experience.
The group had help from many local Jamaicans. Litle said that one of the local men had worked with a Defiance College group that visited last year. Also assisting them was Pastor Arthur Smith, employed by CSI to serve as a site leader for construction of houses.
Participating students included: Lauren Aldridge, Ypsilanti, Mich.; Chris Khoma, Sheffield Lake; Eric Stricklin, Portage, Mich.; Chris Beck, Napoleon; Najla Muta, Westland, Mich.; Sandi Burden, Lakeview; and Kasey Carlisle, Paulding. They were accompanied by Litle; Diane Kaiser, coordinator of field and clinical experience in DC’s education division; and Adam Cassie, director of outdoor education at Camp Libbey and a DC alumnus.
“I came back with a much stronger sense of global purpose,” said junior Chris Beck, a member of the college’s Citizen Leader program. “It’s so easy to merely look at the problems we face as Americans, but the truth is that there is a socio-political climate at our own back door that I never would have understood were it not for my experience in Jamaica.”
“I came to the understanding that service is about more than just building a house or charity,” described Beck, a religious studies major. “Service to one’s fellow man is the experience that comes out of the personal relationships developed with people on a national and global scale that one would not normally encounter. Through these acts of service, those relationships are created and thus is born a true sense of global brotherhood.”
During their time on the island, the Defiance College group visited three children’s homes: Swift-Purcell Boys Home, Pringle Home for Boys and Girls, and Lyndale Home for Girls. Litle noted that children are often placed in the homes because they have no one to care for them, families feel the homes can provide more for them due to economic situations, or because the children have behavioral problems. The Defiance group treated the children with ice cream and organized and played games. A visit was also made to the local infirmary, a facility for the elderly who are unable to live on their own.
“This year’s trip was truly about relationship-building and exploring what more we, Defiance College, could do,” said Litle. “The students were able to assess the needs of the community by listening and visiting with local community residents. I anticipate new projects in the year ahead that will focus on community needs such as sports camps, literacy projects, and empowering young women.”
Diane Kaiser talked about the personal rewards of the experience. “Building keeps us busy all day long in physical activity, but every night we set aside time to reflect on our day’s work and experiences,” she said. “During this time we really focus on what it all means – what we learned, how we’ve changed, how it relates to our academic areas, our futures, and our roles in a global society. Personally, although all of these things are important, as a teacher, I am always most struck by the personal growth and discoveries that happen with our students, especially within such a short period of time.”
Kaiser said she considered it “a great privilege” to accompany students during these kinds of experiences and watch the kinds of growth and changes they go through. “I have learned that some of them are already looking into return trips and academic research through the McMaster School. Truly, learning occurs outside the classroom as much as, or possibly more than it does in the classroom,” she added.
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