Mustard Seed Communities is a non-profit, community development organization that began in 1978 in the depressed community of Mona Common on the outskirts of the city of Kingston, Jamaica.

Mustard Seed's immediate objective was the enrichment and empowerment of the spiritually, psychologically and financially poor that live in urban communities, to assist them in leaving the cycles of frustration and hopelessness that dominate their lives.

The strategies adopted for the achievement of these objectives revolve around caring, sharing and training activities.

In keeping with its mission and desire to establish caring as the primary basis of intervention into its communities, Mustard Seed established a home for abandoned children. Most of these children had serious physical and mental disabilities such as Downs Syndrome, Hydrocephalus, Cerebral Palsy and Muscular Dystrophy.

Having achieved the primary goal of providing a stable, caring environment for children, the emphasis is now upon providing for their physical and cognitive development and the acquisition of skills that bolster their independence, individuality and self-esteem.

During 2000, MSC will extend its caring to 20 babies with HIV/AIDS, mostly orphans, who have no place they can call their own, no programme for their managed care and no opportunity for development of their inherent talents.

The profile of Mustard Seed Communities in 2000 is as follows:

Mustard Seed Communities Caring Apostolates

Caring has concrete expression in the following Apostolates:

My Father's House located at Mustard Seed Communities' headquarters is home for 56 children with various forms of disabilities.

Sophie's Place is part of a collaborative project with the University of the West Indies and the University of Technology. Twenty-four disabled children now live at Sophie's Place (purchased with the help of Irish Friends of Mustard Seed Communities). Eight of these children attend daily sessions at the UWI and eight at the University of Technology.

Mary's Child is Mustard Seed's home for teenage mothers. This is the only residential facility of its kind in Jamaica and can accommodate eleven mothers and their newborn babies for periods of up to one year. The home provides academic instructions, counselling and skill training to residents. The administrator of Mary's Child also manages Second Chance, a temporary shelter for eight young women, a Day Care center for ten young children and a home for up to ten elderly residents and Cain and Abel that will be used as a home for ten disabled children and satellite offices for the ROOTS FM - 96.1 MHz News Agency currently under development.

Jerusalem! Mustard Seed Communities' home for young adults with physical and mental disabilities. There are now 95 residents of this facility between the ages of two to 35. This home is pioneering the concept of independent living accommodation for the disabled, outside an institutional setting. This will support the development of self-sufficiency, enhance self-esteem and speed up eventual return to their communities. One 12-room Group Home has been completed [and is occupied] and another is being constructed. Fifteen apartments adjoining the group homes are being constructed in a residential village. Jerusalem! is also the site of a medical and dental clinic and several economic projects.

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Mustard Seed Communities Sharing Apostolates

The alleviation of poverty, assisting communities to increase their social capital, the social, spiritual and economic development of communities and outreach services are some current activities.

Low Cost Housing for depressed urban communities. This ongoing scheme began in 1989 to provide homes for the eighty families of the community of Bell Rock in Kingston. It provides on-the-job training for mortgagers who build their own homes and gain vocational skills on-the-job. Mustard Seed Communities provides planning and management services, arranges for free legal and surveying services, for volume discounts on material purchases and warehousing. Residents acquire titles and mortgages to 300 square foot homes on 1200 square feet of land. Phase I of this scheme produced 17 housing units (Cost US$1,000) and 16 additional units were constructed during Phase II (Cost US$ 2,125), supported by a vocational training grant from GTZ (the development agency of the German Government).

Credit Union. A vehicle for savings and investments and a source of capital for residents of urban communities. Current membership is about 650 children and 400 adults. Mustard Seed Communities seeks partnerships with experienced financial institutions to develop Poor Mans Building Society into a vibrant and effective financial service for communities.

Prayer Clubs and Soup Kitchens have been set up in more than fourteen locations as part of out-reach activities for ill, elderly and infirm members of our communities.

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Mustard Seed Communities Training Apostolates

Mustard Seed Communities' satisfy several of its goals and in particular, its critical need for self-sufficiency.

In 1996, more than 65 per cent of Mustard Seed Communities' revenue needs were provided by surpluses earned by its businesses. Mustard Seed Communities has always sustained itself by operating businesses that generate surpluses and provide employment and entrepreneurial skills. Expansion of business activities to the point where income exceeds total recurrent expenditures is an achievable goal. Mustard Seed's training apostolates include:

Zinc Link seeks to bring the power of the Internet to the embattled and devastated inner city communities of Kingston, Jamaica, through a series of community Internet Cafes. You can visit the Zinc Link.

Greeting Cards made from dried banana leaves and bark. Employment varies and is sometimes more than one hundred. The unit has generated major revenue from the local market and by exporting as many as 750,000 cards per annum to a major overseas client.

Printworks that produces a wide range of stationery. Its major income comes from supplying exercise books to more than 65 local schools.

Pottery Shop that makes a wide range of consumer items for the local and foreign markets. The intention is to use the molding of clay and other visual and creative arts as tools for the development and improvement of the self-esteem of Mustard Seed Communities' disabled children.

Fishponds of two half acres each were commissioned in February 1999 with 8,000 Tilapia fingerlings that mature and are harvested in six-monthly cycles.

Computerized Learning Center began operations at Mary's Child in September 1999. The center offers introductory six-week courses to residents and the public in word processing, spreadsheets, desktop publishing and use of the internet. The center expects to break-even during 2000 through user fees to external students.

Egg Farm. A 500-bird egg farm was opened in March 1998 and expanded to 1200 birds in April 1999. In excess of 1100 eggs are now produced daily for internal consumption and sale to surrounding communities.

Farming and Residential Community. ALCAN and the Government of Jamaica donated a plot of reclaimed bauxite land in the rural community of Moneague in St. Ann. Mustard Seed Communities plan to create a sustainable farming and residential community for young adult disabled and staff. Development will be supported by recent grants from ALCAN [US$5,000] and the Jamaica Bauxite Institute [US$ 75,000].

Thrift Shop. Two thrift shops generate income and cater for the needs of surrounding communities. Mustard Seed Communities' residents operate these thrift shops.

Livestock Farm. Mustard Seed Communities started its livestock farm at Jerusalem! in early 1999 and currently has twenty head of sheep.

Missionary Training. Training of members of the community and staff in the various spiritual and administrative obligations required for effective and efficient supervision of caring apostolates in Jamaica and other foreign locations.

Research and Development in Childhood Disabilities. Groups of Mustard Seed Communities' most profoundly disabled children began daily sessions of physical and cognitive exercises on the campus of the University of the West Indies in 1997 to expose faculty and students to the challenges of childhood disabilities. In 1999, the University of Technology joined this project and the UWI donated a location on campus for establishment of a permanent center. Mustard Seed Communities plans to use this center to establish an Academic Chair to teach and focus upon research and development into the importance of caring to human development and issues of childhood disabilities.

Higher Learning Collaborative Partnerships. Mustard Seed Communities has made formal proposals for the creation of such partnerships with the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts and the Creative Production and Training Center Limited. It is hoped that these and other similar institutions, both local and foreign will adopt Mustard Seed Communities as an integral part of their outreach strategies towards the depressed communities of Kingston and St Andrew.

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Conclusion

This summary of Mustard Seed Communities' activities and philosophy of human development is intended to inform and acquaint all with its ongoing work. It is hoped that this document will also support serious consideration by readers of the adoption of Mustard Seed Communities as the instrument of their caring and human development activities. The communities of Kingston and St. Andrew in Jamaica exhibit features and conditions that are duplicated all across the developing world and could be ideal locations for the development of effective models of human development.

It is also hoped that Mustard Seed Communities' philosophical underpinnings can make a valuable contribution to the development of an integrated, inclusive and caring approach to human development, the reduction of poverty and further improvement in the social capital of depressed communities.

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