Jarmila Jackson, Features Writer

Students from Butler Intercollegiate YMCA, Indianapolis, United States, repaint the Salvation Army's orphanage, Hanbury Home for Children in Manchester. - photo by Jarmila Jackson

It's the stories that bring the tears; they chronicle only a fragment of the experiences of the children housed at Hanbury Home for Children in Shooter's Hill, Manchester. Some locked and left in houses, abused sexually and otherwise by parents.

There is a boy who, upon being discharged from a hospital, was never picked up and a girl who was found wandering the streets of Mandeville. She had come from Westmoreland on a quest to find her father in Kingston. When you ask them how long they have been here, they do not know.

The home is operated by The Salvation Army and they provide love and security for the children who live here. They are, however, always in need of donations and support from outside agencies and concerned citizens. For the last nine years, members of the Butler Intercollegiate Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) of Indianapolis, United States have made this visit their alternative spring break. For one week of every year they help restore living conditions at the Hanbury Home and build relationships with the children there.

The tradition began in 1995 when, after visiting with her missionary mother, YMCA coordinator Amanda Cullum "fell in love with the country and with its people".

Responsibility to serve

She has returned every year since then, bringing more college students with her each time. She says: "So many people don't understand and it's important for college students to see that they have a responsibility to serve others, because that's what, as Christians, we're called to do."

She remarks, as do most of the others, that the experience is humbling, because the children, despite their circumstances, are content and happy with who they are.

This is Kevin Tunn's second visit to the home and he says that it is most of all the children who keep him coming back.

"I didn't expect that I could build a relationship with these kids here. They love you unconditionally, without even knowing you," Tunn says. "They're some of the happiest people I know and also some of the poorest and that's really something. That's why I came back."

Other students commented on it being a more genuine experience of the country.

Kids well-behaved

Ryan Brady works for the YMCA and is here for the fifth time. What he finds most remarkable about the home, and the island in general, is its strong sense of community, something he says is missing in fast-paced America.

"It's definitely the highlight to my year, mainly because you get more out of it than you put in. You always walk away feeling God's presence. They're so well-behaved and I think they're well taken care of. You sometimes look at a child without parents as missing something, not that they aren't, but I think the home does an amazing job of creating a place where they feel just as well. The people that I've met are incredibly warm and I think they have a more holistic view on what life is. I think there's a little bit more time and attention paid to slowing down, telling stories, having conversations and a sense of community and a sense of national pride that I think is very commendable, to be a little more like them I think we'd all be better people."