Day 5 - ISC IMMERSION RETREAT

I didn't get any photos of the orphans at Mother Teresa's Center, but here are a couple pictures of a child being bathed from one of the other orphanages.

Sr. Bernard

On day 4 of the immersion we visited Mother Teresa's Center which is run by Mother Theresa's order the Missionaries of Charity. They run both an orphanage and a hospice for those affected by aids. We spent a portion of the morning visiting patients in both the women's and men's wards of the hospice. It was a great opportunity visit one on one. The visit I most remember was with a woman covered with a sheet. After I began talking with her she pulled down the sheet to reveal that her whole body was covered in a terrible skin disease. Her legs were in so much pain that she could barely move them. Even laying the sheet down over her skin caused tremendous pain.

We finished off the morning in the orphanage and again there were so many children. There were two rooms filled with cribs. Some of the babies were just days old and very small...some had physical disabilities. I held one baby who laid her head on my shoulder the whole time and seemed so content to just be held. Brother Mike had a hard time getting our group to leave the babies. He told us he would wait out by the van and to come when we were ready. Eventually, we came but not without picking up several more babies on the way to the door. In the second crib before we reached the door was a little guy who could pull himself up in the crib to stand and he gave a high 5 and a big smile to each of us as we walked by. I held him for several minutes and just hated to sit him back in the crib and leave.

In the afternoon we visited Sr. Bernard's community and heard her story as a Zambian woman. She is now the chaplain at the airport...and from what I hear she is Zambia's main "homeland security officer"! Through personal experience I have found that it is very helpful to have a connection with the chaplain when at the airport! Sr. Bernard also shared stories of her vocation and previous ministry experiences. The most dramatic stories were of her time as chaplain at Zambia's maximum security prison. She spoke of visiting with prisoners on death row and also watching some of them being hung by the neck to die for their crime. I can't even imagine having to witness a death by hanging once...much less multiple times.