MU | F e a t u r e s
Human Conflict is not an easy A. Yoder
required the students to read two books
before leaving, and he encouraged them to
study up on Jamaica’s socioeconomic and
political landscape, too. Class met almost
every day of the three-week trip, and students
had to keep a daily journal.
For the week at Maranatha, the MU students
donated heavy manual labor, resurfacing a
cement roof on a dormitory, constructing
a cement floor for a chicken coop, filling
potholes in the road, and covering a worn
playground with clean, soft sand for the
children. It was hard, labor-intensive work.
To repair the roof, Good explained, students
formed a “bucket brigade,” carrying heavy
three-gallon containers of cement up ladders
by hand.
The women who run Maranatha were grateful
for the help. “When we left they were crying,”
said sophomore Julio Luevano ’16 of North
Manchester. “They were overwhelmed,”
added Chase Holford ’17, a first-year student
from Valparaiso, Ind. In turn, Yoder said
most of the students “have not done much
volunteering and they find that to be very
rewarding.”
After Maranatha, the MU travelers moved
on to Kingston, Jamaica’s largest city and a
living laboratory that complemented Yoder’s
course. As a “big group of white guys,” Chase
said, the MU travelers were conspicuous
everywhere they went. That was a valuable
lesson, too, Yoder said, because they got a
taste of what it feels like to be in a racial
minority.
Tyler Kuzdas ’17
learns sign language
while Coach Dave
Good (top) and Matt
Gray ’14 (bottom)
reflect on the
experience.
In an urban setting, the students learned
about conflict in different social systems, and
about crime, gangs, government corruption
and poverty. “It really opened my eyes,” said
Chase. “I’ve never personally experienced
poverty like that.”
Manchester | 21