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Published: April 22nd 2013
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Good evening! We are pleased to announce a hassle free/vom free night last night, we both slept through until 04.30am before the call for morning prayer began. Who needs an alarm clock when you live near a mosque...
Thank you so much everyone by the way for all your lovely comments - it's soooo nice to receive them, especially when feeling so far away from home. By the way, don't send any private messages on here, for some reason they're not coming through. But we love hearing from you all, thank you 😊
Back to today, feeling decidedly better although still not eating - terrified of having a repeat performance of the last 48 hours. Gulp. After skipping breakfast, we made our way on a comparatively luxurious tuk tuk (compared to Delhi)... Oh yes, we're privileged here to seated padding and colours galore!
On arrival at the Mother Theresa home we were welcomed through by one of the residents. Walking through the courtyard we were both surprised at the peaceful, calm and relaxed atmosphere of the place. Residents greeted us warmly with the traditional namaste (hands together, as if you are praying) - those missing arms
still reached over to touch their opposite shoulders in respect.
We were then taken to meet the one Sister who could speak a little English. There are in total 7 sisters who work and live at the site. Not many, considering there are 200+ residents. They are admirable... dedicating their whole lives in order to serve others.
The Sister explained the work they do: "we go to poor areas and pick up people who are dying". Said so simply and modestly! The Sisters also provide care, medication and give residents a home... And a point to life I suppose; residents can work in the ground gardens and some of the more able individuals go out on day trips to sell texitiles produced at the home.
We then saw an album of pictures of residents on first arrival. Each one had horrific injuries, unfortunately we only managed to look through half of the book as it was extremely upsetting and made us feel quite sick. (Images of large open wounds, infested with maggots and many images of starvation.)
We were then shown around the whole home and met the residents, the Sister shared some of their stories. We met a boy who was thrown from a moving train, he now has disfigurements and an artificial leg. She repeated "he would be dead"'.
The home itself is not funded by anyone, they rely solely on donations and help from volunteers - we witnessed teenage children from the local school massaging residents hands etc, something we should do more of in our country.
Everywhere we went, we were greeted so warmly by all the residents, it amazed us how open and receptive they actually were, despite each having gone through their own personal traumas. One lady danced for us as a form of greeting, she couldn't stop smiling then clapped her hands. I kept thinking of dear Grandma smiling too.
Although the Sister could inform us of exact details of where and how each resident was picked up, she couldn't tell us why they become this way. All she could say was "abandoned by family". We can only hazard a guess that it may be because the family couldn't afford another person to feed, or, perhaps they were born with (or developed later on) a mental health problem.
Understandably we were not allowed to take pictures of the residents, the Sister would say, "They are dying. No pictures." We were, however, allowed to take a picture of the Sister herself and of the outside. (We'll update tomorrow morning when we have access to the reception computer.)
We both felt unusually subdued (if not, emotional) on leaving. I think there are mixed feelings again of guilt and also confusion, at how humans can treat other human beings in such an appalling way. But most of all guilt: why do we have the right to go home and lead the privileged lifestyles we do; why do we have the right to caring, loving families, when so many here don't? To have a home, a family and to be loved - is something we will always try to appreciate more. These human beings were abandoned and rejected by not only society, but by their families too. Thank god for the humanity and love shown by the Sisters. For without them, they would be dead.
The Sisters are very proud of their work... and so they should be.
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Keep Smiling
Mike Fossey
Next time...
I have been to Jaipur so many times but have selfishly not visited this sanctuary, an omission I shall try to correct on my next visit. Thank you for telling the story in such a sensitive way.