Mustard Seed

Mustard Seed is the name of the very first pre-school I ever attended. It was a great experience. I only went for half a day and some days (most days) my grandmother would stop and get me lunch at this little local place called Jinny’s. It’s one of my first memories.

Mustard Seed  also happens to be the name of a home for disabled children here in the DR. We spent the morning there today and it was fantastic. I have often found that I can be sort of ungraceful in situations where I’m not sure what to do and today I was fumbling. What was amazing was that the people that run Mustard Seed were so wonderful and helped me to just jump right in talking to the kids and just giving them hugs. Sometimes, especially here, kids are cared for but don’t get a lot of physical attention because parents are so busy doing other things. Just the human touch, rubbing there hands, holding them, made a difference. There were so wonderful and it was a brilliant experience.

The Mustard Seed was started years ago by a Jamaican couple who had already started a similar program in their home country and wanted to start one in the DR. They literally started in a hut with a dirt floor just taking in kids that they found or were dropped off at their door. They really had no means to be undergoing that kind of endeavor, but they made it and saved the lives of so many kids. It has now grown to the home it is now with special chairs built just for kids with special needs, a full staff and a safe loving home.

I am so glad I got to go today!