As Gregory Ramkissoon walked to work at the university in Kingston, Jamaica, he encountered a community of squatters living in such poverty he felt sick to his stomach. Shacks made of cardboard and scraps of tin. Babies wailing. Humans living in filth and garbage. 

It was 1978 and when Gregory faced his urban planning students in a lecture hall that morning, he told them to follow him. As the group streamed out into the street, he asked them how they could help those who were suffering. 

“Start where you are,” Gregory told me. With this philosophy, he launched Mustard Seed Communities, an NGO that began with a school for children in Jamaica and has now expanded to five countries.

As you listen to this episode, consider:

• What work has been placed in my path?
• What keeps me from stepping in to help others? 
• What is one step I can take today to ease another’s burden?

To learn more about Msgr. Gregory or support the work of Mustard Seed Communities, please check out  their website.

Do you know someone who has a story to tell? Someone who is giving back to their community? Working to make our world a better place? Send an email to [email protected]. Nominate them for a future episode of From Sparks to Light.

To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.

To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website.

To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de Santiago

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