Features: Students Help Caribbean Elders

The Haiti project required a large amount of effort with little time to complete because the team began work on the tank only days before leaving the nation. The students each logged between 40 and 50 hours during the four-day project. Jodie Kemp, a 21-year old student from Australia, said it almost required all of their energy to finish the water system.

“It was really hard labor. I was sore in the morning, but we had to get it done because there was a time limit,” Kemp said. “We were working from sunup to sundown — long days in the sun. I think the motivation was we had to do it. It was actually a lot of fun, so we didn’t really think of it as a hardship.

One of the team’s primary ministries in Panama was visitation. About 70 seniors reside at the elder center in Bocas Del Toro — many of them unable to so much as brush their own teeth. There, the students partnered with a ministry that assists residents with dental hygiene. The team also played music, danced with residents and gave encouraging messages from the Bible. During their last week in Panama, they also refurbished the roofing above the facility’s restroom. Simen Moe, 22, said the elders seemed most encouraged by his team’s mere presence.

“Most of them sit in that care center all day and have been doing so for years,” said Moe, of Norway. “There’s not much happening, so there’s such a great joy on their faces when they see young folks coming in and sharing their time and their love with them.”