DIANA FERNANDES
The RSS and VHP may have made up their minds when it comes to Mother Teresa’s work, but even a quick visit to the Missionaries of Charity homes across the State is enough for one to realize the aim and motive of their work.
Women in their 80s, and babies as young as a month old, live at the Missionaries of Charity Mother Teresa Home in Panjim. Thanks to its central location, the home receives a constant flow of people coming in search of help, shelter or just plain food. And no gets turned away, say the nuns that run the home.
What’s more even the police and Goa Medical College (GMC) ask the nuns to help in certain cases. “There have been times when the police, at 9 and 10 in the night, ring the bell asking us to keep girls or women they find during their patrol duties,” said the sister superior dressed in the Order’s plain white sari with blue border.
She recalls the case of a 70-year-old woman who was raped and left to herself at the GMC. “No one wanted her; no one came to ask for her. So we decided to bring her to our home,” she said.
When they first brought her in she couldn’t even walk by herself. After months of love, care and medicines, she is today able to walk by herself and has even gained her confidence.
“These women come here with no hope. Working with them is difficult because they have suffered not only physically, but mentally and emotionally as well,” said the counsellor who has been working with women brought to the home for over a year.
She said, gaining back the trust those that have suffered have lost is the most difficult task, but insists that it gives one a sense of life itself and a need to be happy.
“We don’t look at what religion you belong to when you come here. We only do what our Mother has told us,” said the superior at the home quoting Mother Teresa herself saying, “There is only one God and He is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God. I’ve always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim becomes a better Muslim, Catholic becomes a better Catholic. We believe our work should be our example to people.”
“We don’t serve people based on their religion, we serve them because we see God in them,” said the superior. Though there is daily Mass celebrated in a small chapel in the home, those that do not belong to the Catholic faith are not forced to participate.
Their Shishu Bhavan rings with the sound of crying, burping and giggling babies. But the stories of these babies are however saddening. Many have been abandoned by their mothers, one was found in the jungle. The nuns take the babies into their custody and then put them up for adoption.
“Most of these babies have a very low immunity and so we look for parents who can support these children, not only with respect to health but also financially,” she said.
Several handicapped children live at the Bhavan as well, regularly receiving medical attention by a visiting doctor who works for free. Their finances, say the nuns, comes from what people offer them receiving no help from the government and not complaining about it.
Apart from providing food and medicine to the 55 women at the home, the nuns also give dry ration to the poor and never turn back any one who can’t afford a meal or a place to stay. Their van is ready to go with succor whenever they hear of someone in danger.
