Jesus, etc.

This past Thursday Father Puthumai took us to the MC's house in Patiram, where Mother Teresa's miracle took place. In order for someone to become a saint, the Church has to verify two miracles attributed to them. While there have been many miracles attributed to Mother, this is the only one that has been officially seen by the Church, and was the cause for her beatification in 2003, making her half-way to sainthood. So here's the story: A Bengali woman named Monica was staying in a clinic run by the Missionaries of Charity (the religious order started by Mother Teresa) and had an enormous tumor in her stomach, big enough that she had to physically pick it up when she tried to walk anywhere. She'd been to doctors, and was receiving some treatments. One day the sisters put a Mother Teresa medal around her neck, she went to pray in the chapel, felt something cool in her stomach, and when she woke up the next morning her tumor was gone. The MCs run many different types of houses: TB clinics, rehabilitation centers, orphanages... Their house in Patiram was meant to be similar to Kalighat in Kolkata, a home for the dying, but there were so many people in the area that needed only temporary care that it has become more of a general clinic. Most of the patients have TB, which affects almost every household in this region where everyone works hard in the fields and malnutrition is commonplace. Many people who have the disease are afraid to go to the doctor or can't afford any care, so they work themselves to exhaustion before finally coming to the MCs. They get medicine, rest, and medical care until they are healthy enough to return home and to work, where they are likely to relapse. The sisters also have a few HIV/AIDS cases, and other severe patients. As we walked through the building it was incredible to see the joy on everyone's faces as they came to greet us, there was a strange mixture of joy and sadness in the air as we met many of the patients and the sisters shared their stories with us. There are many who doubt Monica's miracle, even her husband claims that her instantaneous recovery was due to the medical treatment she was receiving. But I say that the fact that a sick woman whose family is living in poverty has somewhere where she can receive free medical care and be nursed back to health, that's a miracle in itself.

On Friday Scott decided to have a practical lesson for his English class, so the morning class took us to the market. It was really fun to have a chance to walk around town in the morning, especially with our class pointing things out and chit-chatting the whole way. It was amazing because we didn't have to start a conversation once, the whole class really seemed to enjoy talking in a relaxed setting, in English, translating for each other when they needed help. At the market they helped Scott bargain for 2 kg of potatoes; everyone here knows that Scott loves potatoes, and they also really like it when he makes a scene. The evening class took us to the train station, helped us buy some music, and introduced us to some fun junk food.

Saturday morning Erin and I went to the MC house in Chanditola. This is a house for orphans, abandoned children, and unwed mothers, and we try to go there once a week when we're in town to play with the kids. This week Erin and I skipped English class in the morning and got to the MCs early enough to help with laundry. We hand washed everything in giant stone basins, then rinsed everything twice before it was hung up to dry. Afterwards the sisters made us tea and some treats, which I think might have canceled out the work we did. Since we've been going there on a somewhat regular basis, the kids all know us and get super excited when they see us coming. Sometimes I feel bad because we cause a bit of a ruckus while we're there, lots of running and yelling and screaming, but the kids really seem to enjoy it. They all hold their index fingers above their head when they want us to do the hokey pokey, and touch their heads and shoulders a lot when they want to do head, shoulders, knees and toes. We helped the kids air out blankets in the sun and played on the terrace for a while. They also had three newborns this week, two of which were born on the same day. Chanditola is a place where unwed mothers can come to have their babies and then be able to return to their villages, and all three of these babies were given up so will remain at Chanditola for a while before being moved to a larger orphanage in Kolkata or Darjeeling. There's also a baby there whose mother died in childbirth. She was premature and her family can't take care of her, so she'll stay at the MC's for about 6 months before she's healthy enough to be returned to her family. The sisters will often take in children who are sick, injured, or suffering from serious malnutrition, nurse them back to health for a few months, then return them to their families. It's amazing to be able to come every week and see the changes in the children: the kid who had scabies and would just sit and cry all day is now running around and laughing, the baby who was just about to roll over now flips himself over every few minutes. The work that the Missionaries of Charity do is very immediate, very hands on. It's a nice balance to the work that we're doing at SWI, which are long-term mostly education and awareness programs affecting thousands of people each month, working to change structures and mindsets in local communities so that people will lead healthy lives in the future. The MCs instead say "this one person is sick right now, we need to help them". Both are essential in working towards peace and justice throughout our world and are beautiful examples of work being done everywhere to accomplish this. And, you know, the redeeming power of God's love.