Jamaica Service Trip 2026 Student Blog

Follow our Nursing and Social Work students' spring break journey as they serve Jamaica's Mustard Seed Communities from March 7-12.

This trip is part of GMercyU's Interprofessional Global Outreach course, where future healthcare providers and professionals learn to work as a team to improve patient and population healthcare.

Nursing and Social Work students use evidence-based research to develop teaching sessions for the caregivers of the Mustard Seed Communities in Moneague, Jamaica.

Students offer multiple training sessions so that all caregivers have the opportunity to learn, and the sessions are designed to ensure that our impact is sustainable. This year's sessions included:

Trauma-Informed Care
De-escalation Strategies
Self Care for Caregivers

Students also participate in fundraising efforts and gather supplies to share with the residents and caregivers of Mustard Seed. Students develop and participate in many fun activities with the residents, from bingo and pedicures to jewelry making, gardening, soccer, singing, dancing, and our favorite: the Talent Show!

Our impact is not only left on Mustard Seed, but with our students. Many return year after year and serve as mentors to new students, describing the experience as “life changing."

Day 5

Today was our rest day as we prepared to depart from Jamaica. We started the day with a traditional Jamaican breakfast dish, Ackee and Saltfish.

After a delicious breakfast, we went to Ocho Rios Beach. We were amazed by the clear water that was crystal blue. A few members of our group went snorkeling and saw a lot of fish. We had a jerk pork and chicken lunch and went souvenir shopping.

On our final night we came back and reflected on our interprofessional service experience. Some common themes throughout the reflection were:

Feeling gratitude and humility
Global awareness
Exposure to a new culture
Exposure to a new community of individuals with developmental disabilities
Relationships that were formed

Until next time, closing out the 2026 Jamaica service blog!

Signing out,

—Maya & Clare

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Day 4

Today was another busy day. We had feedings, activities, and more training sessions. We started off by breaking into various groups to help feed the residents breakfast. Next, we changed into our scrubs and did another training session.

After a delicious lunch, we went back to the villages to help with feeding dinner (lunch in Jamaican culture). There, we handed out stuffed animals to the children in Widows Might* and Ephesus*. We then headed to activities where we painted bracelets, tattoos, painted nails and decorated handkerchiefs.

Following that was our final training session, a quick dinner, and the final activity…. a talent show! We had many acts for the talent show such as the Cupid shuffle, caricature drawings, Irish dancing, animal sounds, and group dancing. We are looking forward to a beach day tomorrow!

—Lauren and Maddy

*Widow’s Mite is a residential home for abandoned children with disabilities. Ephesus (within Jacob's Ladder) is another home for children with disabilities. Learn more here.

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Day 3

We had an action-packed day today! We started off by splitting up into two groups to feed residents in the Ephesus and Antioch villages. After, we changed into our scrubs and presented our research to a group of caregivers. We had a lunch break, and then went back to the villages to feed again. Those of us who went back to Antioch missed the feeding, but helped with bathing, changing, and dressing the residents. We also spent a lot of time playing in the sun and blowing bubbles! Then we went to community circle to spend more time with the residents. We baked brownies and took Polaroid snapshots of the residents who then decorated felt frames for the photos. They turned out awesome!!! Then we did a mini session of caregiver education.

Later, we painted canvases with the residents and got to eat our brownies. Some of the students passed out brownies to the residents in the other villages. Khori treated us to oxtail tonight and Kevin told us about traditional Jamaican cuisine! The administrator, Ms. Hughey, came to our mission dorm to tell us about her history with Mustard Seed and what our work does here. It was really great to hear that what we are doing is helpful and much appreciated!

We are grateful to be here and looking forward to tomorrow!!!!

—Victoria and Clare

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Day 2

Our Sunday morning started with coffee and tea under the gazebo. Shortly after that, we had breakfast and took a walk up the hill to attend a mass service, where we sang prayers with the congregation and listened to a sermon.

Then we took a ride down Fern Gully to the market, and each of us were paired with a resident. We helped them shop for items of their choice and also got snacks for our house. Once we came back, we had some downtime in the gazebo before we ventured into various villages assisting the residents with their feedings.

As the evening arrived, we spent time with residents playing ball and blowing bubbles. We hosted a huge bingo night for residents from multiple villages, offering prizes to winners. We ended the night with a yummy dinner, relaxation, and listened to the heavy rain outside.

We are looking forward to more time with the residents and our first caregiver trainings tomorrow.

—Khori and Kabira

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Day 1

This is Jaida Lazarus and Carolina Diaz-Lazo, reporting on day 1 (3/7/2026) from Mustard Seed in Jamaica!

The travel went a lot smoother than we had expected. Although we are tired from the 4-hour flight and the international check-in proceedings, we are very excited for the week. The views from the plane and the ride to Mustard Seed were breathtaking.

Some of us, *cough cough* (Jaida and Stephanie), learned a very important lesson about guarding our ankles from fire ants. Jamaica is an entirely new place to learn about, including the people, nature, animals, and economy. To say we are looking forward to learning is an understatement; we are excited to become fully immersed throughout this experience.

Overall, we got to meet all the lovely residents and are so excited to continue to learn and interact with them more the rest of the week.

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Thursday, February 26

In one week, we will leave for our service trip with the Mustard Seed Community in Jamaica! Today we had a packing party to engage in team building, pack our supplies, and tie dye T-shirts. Stay tuned for daily updates and thank you for following along in our journey!

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