The Community

Mustard Seed has 4 locations in Kingston, each with a very distinct personality. My Father's House is the main Headquarters (and also houses over 50 children), Jerusalem is the largest with over 100 children, Mary's Child houses the teenage mothers, and Sophie's Place is where the volunteers stayed (with the 24 children that live there). Here are some pictures of the communities and the work they do...

	One means of fundraising is pottery-making, located at My Father's House. Mustard Seed employs two potters who handcraft beautiful pieces of pottery which are sold to visitors and the outside community. (A few of us tried our hand at pottery and realized it's not as easy as it looks!)
This picture was taken one morning at Sophie's Place. In this picture, the children are waiting for morning prayer outside of one of three small huts where they live. Previous volunteers have painted numerous decorations both in and out of the building to make them as cheerful as possible. Notice the hose which is snaked on the left side of the roof - that's their solar hot water system!
	This is part of the large laundry facility at Jerusalem, which houses over 100 children. Everything is hand washed and line dried. The staff works hard all day long! We admired their dedication to their work and their love and patience for the children.
At Jerusalem, two sources of income and sustenance come from their chicken farms and fish ponds. They own about 2000 chickens which provide eggs for Mustard Seed and the rest are sold for some profit. The fish ponds (seen in this picture) are harvested twice a year and the fish are sold to the local community.
Other sources of income include a printing press and greeting card business. The printing press makes composition notebooks for schools, or they fill other special orders. The greeting cards are hand made by women hired from the local community who cut and paint banana leaves to make beautiful designs on the front of the cards. The Mustard Seed web site indicates that the pottery and greeting cards should be available for purchase on-line sometime soon. If you are interested in supporting the community in this way, please check back at their main web site: www.mustardseed.com

Brother Garvin is in charge of many of the activities that go on at Mustard Seed. He has a very welcoming personality and a tremendous love for the children in his care. We all enjoyed being around him.

This picture shows our nurses with some of the nurses at Sophie's Place. What an amazing group of women! They worked all day with so much compassion and love for the children who live there.

Each member of our team would probably agree that one of the most vivid memories of the trip were the morning prayer meetings in the little chapel at Sophie's Place. All of the children were there with smiles on their faces, responding to the joy and love that was present in that room. The nurses and staff lead the group in prayer, bible readings, and uplifting songs. In the picture below, we have been invited to join the group and give thanks for the gift of another beautiful day of life.

Throughout the week, we were constantly reminded of the amount of love that existed in each member of the community. Prayer and song were never far from our ears, and there was an emphasis on making sure that the children knew how much they are loved by the staff and by God.