Lawyer serves impoverished in Kingston
When criminal defense attorney Christopher Baxter files a motion to postpone a case because he’s going to Jamaica, he has to do it gingerly.
The Moorestown resident has been volunteering with Missionaries of the Poor through his church for about 10 years. The group, with headquarters in a Kingston slum, helps the needy in the community. The level of poverty there is one that Baxter readily admits he had never seen before in his relatively sheltered life, as he grew up in Riverton and got his undergraduate degree at Boston College.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Baxter said of the conditions in Kingston. “I never went abroad for school — I wish I had now — so the abject poverty hit me like a wave. It was that bad.”
Baxter became interested in volunteering when he saw a group of missionaries preparing to go to the Jamaican capital — heading out with a blessing at his church.
“It sort of caught my attention, so I called the parish to find out more about it,” Baxter said. “I found out there was a group that goes fairly regularly from my church. I latched on with those guys, and went on their next trip, which was quite a while ago.”
There are no lavish accommodations for Baxter and his fellow missionaries, and he adds that the phrase “a trip to Jamaica” easily conjures up thoughts of drinking frozen drinks beachside at a resort. Not so here; each traveler pays his own way. The group charters a bus for the week and they sleep in a retired convent on the outskirts of Kingston.
While there, Baxter said he does everything he can to give the Brothers of the Missionaries for the Poor some relief, as they offer services to the poor and mentally and physically disabled residents in and around Kingston, around the clock. This includes everything from feeding and bathing them to throwing a Frisbee with them.
“We go down, feed and bathe them, and help clean the shelters,” Baxter said. “Some of the people in our group are nurses and doctors and have medical skills. They do a little more of the medical stuff that I can’t do as a criminal defense attorney,” he said jokingly.
According to the Missionaries for the Poor Web site, the organization, founded in 1981, has over 500 Brothers, and has mission homes in India, the Philippines, Haiti, Uganda and Kenya.
Baxter returned from his fifth and most recent trip to the organization’s flagship location in March. Some of the Jamaican residents at the mission remember him, and they’re eager to accept the help, he said; some are just looking for human interaction.
“When you go to shelter, the gates open, and there’s this rush of humanity — they just want to be with you and have fun,” he said. “They see you as someone who’s there to help them. You see some of the same people that you’ve made a connection with. That’s pretty cool.”
However, there’s a separate clinic for those who have AIDS, all of whom are in bad shape, he said. He added that each time he heads down, the clinic is serving an entirely new group of people.
“They’re just gone, you know …”
For Baxter, the trips are humbling. He said he’s always done some sort of charity work, dating back to his undergraduate years when he volunteered at a special needs school, but there’s just something different about volunteering in an impoverished country.
“Every problem you think you have here really becomes trivial when you compare it to what they’re going through down there,” he said. “And that’s part of what I get out of it.” And on making arrangements to head down to Kingston, Baxter said, “Sometimes I don’t just want to say I’m going to Jamaica [to colleagues] … but I don’t want to make it sound like I’m some do-gooder. I just want to make sure that they know the reason I’m going down there.”
The Moorestown resident has been volunteering with Missionaries of the Poor through his church for about 10 years. The group, with headquarters in a Kingston slum, helps the needy in the community. The level of poverty there is one that Baxter readily admits he had never seen before in his relatively sheltered life, as he grew up in Riverton and got his undergraduate degree at Boston College.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Baxter said of the conditions in Kingston. “I never went abroad for school — I wish I had now — so the abject poverty hit me like a wave. It was that bad.”
Baxter became interested in volunteering when he saw a group of missionaries preparing to go to the Jamaican capital — heading out with a blessing at his church.
“It sort of caught my attention, so I called the parish to find out more about it,” Baxter said. “I found out there was a group that goes fairly regularly from my church. I latched on with those guys, and went on their next trip, which was quite a while ago.”
There are no lavish accommodations for Baxter and his fellow missionaries, and he adds that the phrase “a trip to Jamaica” easily conjures up thoughts of drinking frozen drinks beachside at a resort. Not so here; each traveler pays his own way. The group charters a bus for the week and they sleep in a retired convent on the outskirts of Kingston.
While there, Baxter said he does everything he can to give the Brothers of the Missionaries for the Poor some relief, as they offer services to the poor and mentally and physically disabled residents in and around Kingston, around the clock. This includes everything from feeding and bathing them to throwing a Frisbee with them.
“We go down, feed and bathe them, and help clean the shelters,” Baxter said. “Some of the people in our group are nurses and doctors and have medical skills. They do a little more of the medical stuff that I can’t do as a criminal defense attorney,” he said jokingly.
According to the Missionaries for the Poor Web site, the organization, founded in 1981, has over 500 Brothers, and has mission homes in India, the Philippines, Haiti, Uganda and Kenya.
Baxter returned from his fifth and most recent trip to the organization’s flagship location in March. Some of the Jamaican residents at the mission remember him, and they’re eager to accept the help, he said; some are just looking for human interaction.
“When you go to shelter, the gates open, and there’s this rush of humanity — they just want to be with you and have fun,” he said. “They see you as someone who’s there to help them. You see some of the same people that you’ve made a connection with. That’s pretty cool.”
However, there’s a separate clinic for those who have AIDS, all of whom are in bad shape, he said. He added that each time he heads down, the clinic is serving an entirely new group of people.
“They’re just gone, you know …”
For Baxter, the trips are humbling. He said he’s always done some sort of charity work, dating back to his undergraduate years when he volunteered at a special needs school, but there’s just something different about volunteering in an impoverished country.
“Every problem you think you have here really becomes trivial when you compare it to what they’re going through down there,” he said. “And that’s part of what I get out of it.” And on making arrangements to head down to Kingston, Baxter said, “Sometimes I don’t just want to say I’m going to Jamaica [to colleagues] … but I don’t want to make it sound like I’m some do-gooder. I just want to make sure that they know the reason I’m going down there.”
