St. Augustine, Fla. – In November, 10 young adults from the Diocese of St. Augustine embarked on a trip to India that served as a reminder of how much they have to be thankful for. Leading the 12-day mission trip was Deacon Bryan Ott, director of the diocesan Missionary Childhood Association and a campus minister at St. Joseph Academy in St. Augustine.
“It was the trip of a lifetime,” said Samantha Masse, who as a high school student at St. Joseph Academy participated in several mission trips to Jamaica. She said the trip to India “has been the most intense and powerful trip so far.”
The mission trip to India was coordinated in partnership with the Foundation for Children in Need (FCN), a non-profit organization that runs numerous projects that benefit youth, elderly, and those in need of health care. FCN funds the education of poor children in India through sponsors who are primarily from the United States.
The young adults from St. Augustine visited children at various schools and other facilities, including homes for the physically challenged and the hearing impaired. At each stop, Deacon Ott said they were warmly welcomed with flowers and a traditional Indian dance by the children. The children spoke eloquently about how their sponsors gave them hope for a way out of poverty through an education.
“From the beginning of our journey in Hyderabad, we were welcomed with so much love and we were immediately immersed in the rich and vibrant culture of India,” said Cynthia Dueling, youth director at St. Anastasia Catholic Church in St. Augustine.
Another participant, Halley Alexander, an elementary school teacher at Cathedral Parish School in St. Augustine, began sponsoring a child during a mission appeal at her parish more than a year ago. After a long day of ministering to several children, the group returned to where they were staying to find the child she had sponsored waiting there for her. “It was a touching moment to see the heartfelt gratitude the child expressed,” said Deacon Ott.
Dueling also sponsored a child during her trip to India. “Foundation for Children in Need is touching so many lives in India that it gives me great joy and relief to know that the children are being taken care of,” she said. “Meeting a child in 7th grade that I chose to sponsor was more than I could have asked for. Her parents make $1,100 a year, and without a sponsorship, she would not have had an opportunity to better her life (through an education). Watching her face light up when she learned she had a sponsor was like Christmas morning,”
The group also embraced the spirituality of some of India’s most famous citizens, visiting Gandhi’s tomb and spending time with abandoned children and disabled adults at two projects founded by Mother Teresa in Delhi. They also celebrated Mass at the tomb of St. Thomas the Apostle in Chennai and visited the mountain top where he was martyred after bringing Christianity to India.
Along the way, we were confronted with poverty on a scale few had seen before, even with most of the participants being veterans of other mission trips. Homeless people lined the sidewalks at night sleeping, and there were beggars everywhere we went, including mothers with children in their arms.
“Seeing a homeless population of 25 million really shook me up,” said Dueling. “It was hard to see the number of people just living on the sidewalk with their children or in shelters that were made of trash with a few items and blankets. I have never felt so thankful to have been born in the United States with clean air, clean streets, fresh water, and so many luxuries!”
The group purchased and collected items to donate before the trip; almost every person brought one bag for their personal items and a second bag full of items to donate. As with any mission trip and immersion experience, though, we left feeling that we had received so much more than we were able to give. “I learned so much about humility, faith, and how many ways there are to lead a good, meaningful life in service to others,” said Bernadette Stocker, a first grade teacher from Palm Coast who is currently working in Colorado.
With this possibly being the only opportunity in our lives to see a culture and place in the world so different from home, there was also a sightseeing element to the trip. We got to put our feet in the Indian Ocean, ride an elephant, ride in a carriage behind a camel, and see a snake charmer charm a cobra. We visited the Taj Mahal and many other temples and mosques, learning about the Hindu, Muslim, and Bahai traditions as we tried to live out our Christian faith.
The highlights of the trip, though, were all the interactions with the people we met. Everywhere we went, the people poured out their hearts in love to us. “I am so grateful for this experience,” said Alexander. “The people of India made me feel so special and reminded me of God’s love for me.”
For more information, contact Deacon Bryan Ott at (904) 824-0431 or email bryan.ott@sjaweb.org. To learn more about the Foundation for Children in Need or to sponsor a children, visit www.fcn-usa.org. (Note: the names of all the trip participants are: Halley Alexander, Nicole Bedard, Courtney Calahan, Kimberly DeLisa, Cynthia Dueling, Danielle Eaves Hernandez, Shelby Jones, Samantha Masse, Will Nance, Deacon Bryan Ott, and Bernadette Stocker. Our hosts in Jamaica were FCN co-founders Tom and Dr. Geetha Chitta.)