Summer Series Top Ten: Planting Seeds - Gregory Ramkissoon

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?

Listen to Msgr. Gregory’s episode here.