Project poster (PDF)

Health

Jamaica

Supporting the mentally ill

Jamaican Luke McKenzie had moved to the United States to work at a hotel in Virginia when he became disoriented. "I came to work late, couldn’t write, forgot orders. I was hearing voices," he remembers.

He returned to Jamaica and found another hotel job but was still too ill to work. He was laid off and became homeless. Finally, an MCC worker with The Committee for the Upliftment of the Mentally Ill (CUMI) offered Luke a change of clothes and some food. Through CUMI, he learned he had schizophrenia and was able to get medication. Luke began working for CUMI as a cook, seeing others transformed as he was.

"Comparing my life now to my life 10 years ago, there’s a world of difference," he says. "So when I see new people here at CUMI, I never think of them as hopeless. I see possibilities."

Your contribution will help MCC provide a worker to CUMI. CUMI offers a day program and night shelter in Montego Bay, and staff members have seen hundreds of clients like Luke transformed.

If contributions to a project exceed the amount needed, MCC will use the donations to support similar projects.