What is our contribution as Christians to the bigger Society? Perhaps there’s a lot to tell but nowhere to start! It was a blessing to listen to one of the older local missionaries who posed this question at the start of our conversation. And he continued that there’s a lot to handle in mission but the “how” we respond to these things in order to have a positive perspective is important. It stirred up my mind thinking “yeah, what could it be?” And experiences, one after the other, popped up in my head.
What could be their future?
One evening I was sitting with four teenage girls in the village. To begin a conversation, I am always eager to ask who among them is attending school and often I get the same answer. It is an answer that disheartens me every time I hear it, but it also gives me hope to keep trying to inspire and encourage them on the importance of education.
It may be a slow process, but there is always hope. In their sharing some had expressed their dreams of becoming a nurse someday but, while listening, I felt like they know they had already lost that dream and at the back of their mind is the same path waiting for them when they turn 18 years of age. Most of them stopped going to school when they turned 12 regardless at which grade they had reached, and some hadn’t been to school at all.
I wonder sometimes what if they were given the opportunity to have access to higher education. What could be their future? While there are parents who try and fight for their young girls to finish their education, there are also parents who don’t have the means to let go of their young girls. Some don’t have the courage to risk, and it is a sad reality because of the society they are in. It is a challenge because it involves tradition, custom, and culture. But I trust and pray that as we continue to offer them awareness of their purpose and importance in this society as girls and women, they will be empowered.
God’s Instruments
We went to pay respect to one of our tuberculosis patient two weeks after her death. It was my first experience to visit a Hindu village to pay respect to their beloved dead. As we approached the village, the ladies started to cry — a symbol of mourning. We entered silently and sat on the ground in front of their house. There was total silence for a while then one from our team lead the prayer. There was a silent and serene moment while the prayer was going on. Afterwards they started talking about the last days of their beloved deceased companion. It was a moment of grief but at the same time a time to be thankful for her life.
Sitting on the string bed after the formalities allowed me to chat more with one of the ladies. Her openness reminded me that Jesus never suggested that His followers should bear “strangers,” hate them, or reject them, even if those strangers practiced a different religion, and even if they were perceived as enemies. Instead, He pointed told His followers to welcome them, love them, and care for them.
A little gesture of outreach makes a difference in building relationships with people of other religions. We may have many differences, but God always provides a way to be one with them, especially those who are in need.
A Difficult Life
One Friday morning in March, a patient, a very weak woman, was brought to our tuberculosis health clinic. She could barely walk so the doctor had to go out and take a look at her in the rickshaw. While observing and asking questions of the men who brought her, I could see the weariness in their faces. These people were living behind the cemetery where life is difficult. They must have been trying hard every day to put something on the table and forgot how sick they were. Ignoring whatever pains they have was common to them and when they can’t bear it, that’s when they come to see the doctor for help.
Towards the end of April, a lady called Sita who I know and who is from that cemetery, came to the church compound with a man and his baby to see the catechist, but they were not able to meet him. They were sitting outside when I saw them. She came to me holding the 5-month-old baby and started to tell me the story that the mother had died a month ago and she couldn’t find means to feed the baby.
A Malnourished Baby
Then I realized that the mother was the very weak woman they had brought to us that Friday. I explained to them that we could provide the baby’s milk for as long as necessary and asked them to bring the baby on Friday for a checkup. That Friday the baby was admitted with tuberculosis! Thanks to Sita who took the baby into her care with love regardless of what would happen. She trusts God that this baby will have a life and future after all. God’s instruments are always there when they are needed.
Like one of the famous saints in our church said, “There are no great things, only small things with great love.” And I think this is what the world needs now — doing things with great love.
P.S. I was happy to visit the people in the cemetery coming back from my language course, and received the welcome news that the baby I left in the hands of my team in our tuberculosis health clinic was running around strong and healthy and had completed his tuberculosis medication.
Columban lay missionary Monaliza Esteben lives and works in Pakistan.