The village of Zeu in northwestern Uganda during a 2009 mission trip.
When we arrived in the village, I saw literal mud huts scattered across the rolling green landscape. Smoke from cooking fires emanated from some of them. It was like I traveled back in time rather than to northwestern Uganda. During our mission trip, we seminarians were fortunate to stay in the only brick structure in the village – the church rectory. It was 2009, my first mission trip, but many of my memories are still vibrant.
A lot of college students can study abroad. In seminary, I had the opportunity to serve abroad. Now, Christ the King is giving the same opportunity to high school students.
In late June, after the school year ends, about ten parishioners will visit the Dominican Republic – a country with a per capita GDP more than 10 times that of Uganda – so we won’t see any mud huts. Instead, we’ll be 15 minutes from a major airport living in a campus newly built in 2024. But we will be working with a population vulnerable in any country: children with disabilities who have been abandoned because their need for care exceeded their parents’ capacity.
The organization, Mustard Seed Communities, was founded in Jamaica by a Catholic priest and has since expanded to the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.
During the weeklong mission trip, two adults, seven students, and I will offer daily Mass, work and play with the residential youth, reflect each evening on our experiences, and learn about local culture. We’ll even have a beach day to relax!
What will we accomplish? We won’t be healing disabilities. We won’t even be particularly helpful to the staff outside of mealtimes, when we can bring food for the students and clean up afterwards. Sure, we’re raising funds, albeit a portion of those funds will provide us with room and board during the week. The real “accomplishment” of this mission trip is demonstrating that teens and adults in Haddonfield, New Jersey care about youth with disabilities in Santiago – care enough to sacrifice a week of their summer vacation, care enough to pay several hundred dollars for a flight, care enough to ask their relatives and neighbors for donations (uncomfortable for many of us!), care enough to persevere through awkward moments of wondering what use we really are to youth facing challenges completely unfamiliar to us.
We will “accomplish” new friends, unique memories, and life lessons.
Fr. Jon is the pastor of Christ the King and is joining the mission trip in June.