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For Spring Break 2014, I took a trip to Mandeville, Jamaica, with a number of fellow UT students and Judith Mallory, our trip organizer and leader. We went to experience the culture, learn about the way of life of another group of people, and build a new restroom for some school children in the community. Certainly, the trip proved to be culturally and educationally valuable and our group made progress on the school bathroom, but my most valuable takeaway turned out to be something that I did not expect.

Travel was stressful for me, especially once we touched down in Jamaica. It was late at night when we boarded the bus to travel to our accommodations. We passed through some rough parts of Kingston, the city where our airport was located; the villages in these areas consisted largely of scrap sheet metal fences and buildings.

It was after midnight when we finally reached the Mandeville area where we would be staying. Our group was split up with different families. When we reached the home where four of us would be staying, out of the front gate walked a lovely black woman with short graying hair whose first words were, “Oh hello, you may call me Auntie P.” I knew immediately that I was in good hands.

Auntie P showed us our rooms and asked if we were hungry and our preferences for food. After getting settled into our rooms, we came back into the dining room to find a feast laid on the table that would easily have fed seven or eight people—much more than the four of us would ever be able to eat. We had our fill of homemade fried chicken, rice, beans, vegetables, and other wonderful dishes that came from the wonderful hands of Auntie P, who refused any help cleaning up the dishes and told us all to go get some rest, because we had to wake up early the next morning for our project.

We spent our first day riding and walking around Mandeville getting the grand tour. I tried curried goat at a local restaurant, which may have contributed to some of the illness that I experienced later in the trip. The tour was informative and fun.

The next day was our first workday spent at the Richmond School. There we met Mr. Percy, our toothless, lovable foreman who spoke as though he was singing all the time. We made serious progress throughout the week on the new restroom facility that we were tasked with building. We were able to pour the foundation and lay some block for the walls during our week of work, as well as cutting and bending proper shapes of rebar for the walls. Though I could write an entire blog entry devoted to the worksite and my experiences there, I would rather write more about Auntie P and the impact that she made on my life.

Just a few days into the trip, I became ill. I found myself unable to go to work on one of the days, or to eat very much. When Auntie P found out, she first chided me for not telling her sooner about feeling unwell, and then told me that she was taking me to the doctor that morning. After one of the strangest doctor visits I have ever had (a doctor had never stuck a stethoscope in my ears before and had me listen to my own stomach), I came back to Auntie P’s house with orders to rest and rehydrate. That is when Auntie P sprung into action and became my mother away from home. I improved to the point of being able to return to work the next day.

A positive aspect of being sick was that it gave me much more time to talk to Auntie P and spend time with her family than I would have had otherwise. She is truly an amazing woman with amazing children.

One of my favorite memories from my time in Jamaica was playing basketball with some of the children in her rocky front yard. I also learned how to play dominoes from some of the children there; dominoes seemed to be a culturally important pastime in the area.

My entire time in Jamaica was an enriching experience, but the most valuable thing that I learned was that sometimes, one’s physical reality is not as important as one’s spiritual reality. I have seldom experienced people with as much joy as Auntie P and her family; even though they have less physical certainty and comfort than most anyone that I know back home. Her situation and attitude provided me plenty of food for thought and a new perspective on life. I am grateful for the opportunity that I was provided to take this trip.