September 1989

Dear Saints and Aints ...

Peace unto you from somebody who can hardly afford to give any away ...

It was a bleak sight that greeted my barely opened eyes this morning. Peering through the window I thought that the chicken, crying, “The sky is falling, the sky is falling,” must have seen something similar. Dark gray clouds, pregnant with rain, were hugging the ground. The picture was rather uninspiring. We are too far into the rainy season to appreciate that which, shortly after the summer we greeted with jubilation. I gathered my thoughts and my clothes, and got ready for just another ordinary day at the Home ... It started with one of the smaller kids getting bitten by a snake while wading through water - of which our place abounds during this time of the year. The boy is fine. The snake died of food poisoning ... As the doctor diagnosed my dizzy spells and the sensation of walking on air to spondylosis rather than to the eating of beans, peas and related foods, he put me on a twenty day physiotherapy.

As the weather looked rather inclement and the place is half across town, I decided to let our old driver take me. This is an experience which, for most normal people, would make any ordinary day extraordinary ... He drives, if that verb would be applicable to what he does with the vehicle, like a pig with it's tail on fire. (Sorry, pigs.) Fortunately the old bus, the only one we entrust him with, has an engine that will outlive many bodies and several times I had the feeling - mine included. The benefits of the therapy had dissipated by the time we reached home again. But it sure felt good to be alive ...

Breakfast always taxes the imagination of our cook. A little doggerel sums it up nicely:

I claim imagination,
It is an idle boast,
When every day for breakfast -
I have an egg and toast.

I always tell him, if he brings as much imagination to his family life as he does to his cooking, it must be awful boring. This, apart from a laugh, gains me nothing except - an egg and toast ...

The last crumbs of bread still peacefully clinging to the corners of my big mouth and the tongue, semi-successfully trying to get bits and pieces of toast from out of and from between my teeth - Enter: The first boy. My school dress got wet yesterday and is not dry. ­The implications are, I can't go to school, ­something which any sensible ­parent is bound to agree with. Next comes the assistant house father: The toilets are overflowing. ­The first thing that came to mind was to tell the cook to cook less food. Which, however, having no bearing on the present crisis, I refrained from suggesting to him. Instead we managed to put the big diesel pump at the septic tank, shanghaied some big boys and emptied the mess.

A crying little fellow enters next. Tears are streaming down his face while complaining about some ill defined disease in the center of his insides. Grabbing another little boy I told him to take him to the big boy who dispenses pills, lotions and related remedies. The dispenser of miracle drugs himself appears with the request for a letter to the hospital to admit one boy who, for reasons known only to himself, decided to break his arm, and, while you are at it, he requested, write also a letter to get Mrs. so-and-so, from the village, treated.
Sometimes I wonder if only half of the world comes to us for help ... The letters consist of a plea to admit/treat and a promise that, sooner or later, we will pay the bills ... The birds gave me a good piece of advice about the second part of the letter: They also have bills, but - they don't worry about them ... And, are we not better than birds ...? At times I do have my doubts about that ...

Just after the afternoon nap, our dispenser of drugs comes in with 4 kids with swollen heads which no amount of humility could cure - mumps need a different kind of treatment ... Another letter to the hospital was in order. Not sooner had they left that somebody told me our tractor had broken down in the hills nearby while hauling stones. It would be a two day and Rs. 3000 repair job ...

That evening I had two Germans and an Indian friend as guests. While we were running out of food and conversation one boy comes with the news that a young man from the village next to us had an argument with several swords and got badly cut up. To get not involved is not one of our options and the kids took him in the bus to the hospital and managed to come home at 4.30 a.m. ... God bless our bureaucrats ...

Lying in bed by about 11.30 pm at the end of just another ordinary day I wonder what possessed me to take on an extra 110 kids bringing the total populace to about 380 ... I guess I just don't want to go down in history like the man in the Christmas story: And there was no room in the inn. ­Because with a bit of imagination and ingenuity, with a bit of stretching and squeezing one can almost do wonders. As long as there is water there is soup and, if you flatten a piece of meat - it goes farther...

It is a string of such ordinary days like this that helped us to get plates and glasses for everybody, a place to sleep, a big new, beautiful bus that normally seats 34, abnormally 92 and very abnormally - well I only tried the abnormal so far ... We also managed school clothing and books etc. Yes, we laid the foundation for the dining hall and the dorm; built two guest rooms ... The Mawchi New Testament is completed too and - one of the assistant Hostel Superintendents wants to get baptized ...

Do roses have thorns? You bet they do. The ones that look gorgeous and smell gorgeous that make the eyes and nose glad and the heart happy. They do have thorns! But have you ever heard a rose lover elaborate on the thorns? or extol their virtues? Well, I have the greatest bunch of kids and the greatest bunch of friends and serve a great wonderful God. That makes it possible to do all these things and do them with a sense of wonder and joy and that makes ordinary days extra-ordinary­ .

Thank you for trusting me with your gifts, your prayers and your friendship.

In His great love

St. Francis & 380 saintlets ...