| Dear Friends |
March 2004
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| March 2004
Dear Friends
The longer I live in this part of the world, (and that has been for more than half a century) the more I realize that I know very little about what real poverty, real destitution, is like and how extensive and deep are the effects. As an illustration of what I mean, here is a recent event that needs to be thought about in all its aspects.
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| Dhanam is a widow. She lost her husband in a road accident in 1994. She has 9 children. I asked her, “How are you managing the family?” She said, “I have 2 grown up children but they do not have any permanent job. 3 are studying. 4 had to discontinue their studies. My day begins at 05.30 a.m. I walk great distances searching for waste iron, empty bottles, papers, sacks and plastic bags. I had to start very early because I had to get it before others do. After collecting these, I come home and sort them out, bundle them into different packs and take them to the “recycling place”. Of late, I have developed stomach ulcer. My main problem is that I don’t feel hungry. The doctor told me that it was due to extreme starvation. Now I remember … many days I had not eaten, I just drank plenty of water and covered my stomach with a wet cloth. I asked her, “What is the reason for your starving?” She said, “I had to feed my growing children first. At least they should have one full meal a day. I can go without a meal whereas they cannot. First I thought it is just one day … as the days went on, I FORGOT WHAT IS HUNGER ….” |
| I had told my children: “If you happen to meet me anywhere, please don’t take any notice of me … I had to do this to protect their image and self-respect. No one should say to my children: “Oh! Your mummy is a ragpicker” I was shocked to hear this. |
| I was sitting one day on our large playground in one of our Children’s Villages where I relax in the evening, just watching the children let off steam after school. A tiny girl, four years old called Gomathy, a Hindu, as nearly all of them are – comes up to me and asks in Tamil: Where is Jesus?” Without waiting for an answer she puts her hand on her breast and with great conviction tells me: “He is inside us!” |
| Often enough I have told the children that each of them is another Jesus for me and that every new child that comes into our care is really Jesus coming to us asking us to take care of Him. But the words of that innocent child abandoned into our care meant much to me. |
| Quite late on the night of 4 January, a one-year-old baby girl was brought to our Children’s Village 50 kms. away where I go each weekend. She is very beautiful, but she is also HIV+ and both her parents are AIDS patients. No one wants these children: not the relatives nor the institutions or homes for children. They have all the wrong ideas about HIV/AIDS: these children are no danger to others. Above all, they need our caring and our loving. And so the baby, now named Mary Saranya, was made most welcome, fully accepted by one of our “mothers” – and like all our other AIDS-affected children will be fully integrated into all our work with children. The other children were told: “See what a beautiful New Year gift God has sent us: His own Son, born at Christmas” (her birthday is 26 December).
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| Two years ago we had no children from AIDS-affected families. Last year, a handful. This year 52 so far, of whom a dozen are HIV+ and 3 “mothers” who are HIV+. That graph is frightening: we are sitting on a time-bomb and the problem of AIDS orphans is going to be immense. We will welcome all such children who come to us. |
| The prognosis for our HIV+ children is very poor. Their future is bleak, but for these, or any such others who come to us and are entrusted to us, we can only build up their immunity to any sickness, feed them substantially and let them know they are totally accepted, greatly cherished and given some hope. I know that some will not live much longer and that is so hard to bear. Already half-a-dozen have died. |
| This year when we admit new children to any of our Children’s Villages we will be accepting them according to the following priorities:
1. Children who are HIV+
2. Children from parents who have AIDS or are AIDS orphans
3. Girls in special need.
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| These are the ones in the greatest need and danger. The demands for admission to our care are constant, almost every day. All our three Children’s Villages are full, but the joy in all this work are the words of Jesus: “He who receives one such child, receives Me.” The other day we admitted two new children into one of our Children’s Villages who were number 1000 and 1001 in our records. And in each of our other homes for children we have entry codes of around 350. So many children have benefited by our good care over so many years.
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| In the last newsletter I spoke about the appalling condition of schools all around us which are shocking for anyone who is used to attractive and wholesome conditions for both children and teachers to work in. We have already built a beautiful High School for boys and girls with all the necessary infrastructures, including desks and other furniture, and visual aids. We also completely rebuilt and extended a primary school which is now the pride and joy of the village people. We are now looking at a whole lot of other so-called schools, which are such sad, dirty, run-down, neglected places. The one and only visual aid invariably is a substantial stick liberally used even with the smallest children. All our staff have agreed that for many months to come our special drive will be to help any of these schools in substantial ways. We wish to make them as beautiful and functional as possible and that may mean completely rebuilding the school on another suitable site. We are looking at schools built as far back as the 1930’s and 1940’s. These small schools have hardly changed since and seem never to have had a coat of paint, or any repairs. All this we are doing for the sake of the children over the whole area who deserve better learning conditions than now exist. For example such things as toilets for children and teachers, drinking water, kitchens, a playground, furniture, visual aids, etc., must be provided. I go back to those encouraging words of Jesus Christ: “Whatever you do for the least of these you do for Me.”
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| We are now in the fifth year of drought. The annual monsoons, our main source of rain, have failed for the fifth time running. We hardly ever see rain. All over the area many acres of coconut trees have died and many other acres will certainly die. This has never happened in living memory and indicates a very severe drought. Other crops have also dried up and are useless. Our newest Children’s Village where we had abundant water has now gone almost dry and we have to buy 10,000 litres of water each day. Because we are not sure of the source of the water we have had to install a small water purification plant.
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| The overall effect of this endless drought has hit the surrounding villages very severely. Many villages have no access to water nearby and some others may get water once a week for an hour only. Imagine if you can, trying to care for a family on a bucket of water for one day.
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| There is no work, of course, because the people all depend on agriculture and that depends on rain. There is hardly any alternative employment around and so, very little income. I estimate that the average income may be around Rs.300 (£3.50 or $:6.50) per month and in this year that is going to drop. We have found families living close to starvation and despair. Our new programme to help such families is now close to 200. According to their needs we provide Rs.1000/- (£12 or $:22) each month. This in the circumstances is a real boon. |
| I am truly deeply grateful to all those who so generously support our work. As Mother Teresa used to say when she was accused of spoiling the poor in this way:
“There are so many who are spoiling the rich, it is good that someone is spoiling the poor.”
Brother James Kimpton
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If you are able to make a donation, cheques etc should be made out to Reaching the Unreached and sent to the following:
David Cassidy
11 Ovington Avenue
Boscombe East
Bournemouth
Dorset BH7 6SA
(Phone and Fax) 01202 427511
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| Cordially yours, |
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| Brother James
Kimpton |
