STORY - FROM THE INDIA-PHILES - "Where to from here?"
By Tracey Edstein, Editor of Aurora

Since returning from India, many, many people have asked each of us, “What was it like?” and more significantly, “What did it achieve?” While the study tour required a great deal of pre-reading (as well as optional written assignments), the most challenging statement I read was incidental.

I came across the following quotation from Mother Teresa: "I know you think you should make a trip to Calcutta, but I strongly advise you to save your airfare and spend it on the poor in your own country. It’s easy to love people far away. It’s not always easy to love those who live right next to us. There are thousands of people dying for a bit of bread, but there are thousands more dying for a bit of love or acknowledgement. The worst disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis; it’s being unwanted, it’s being left out, it’s being forgotten."

In the weeks leading to India, this troubled me, particularly since Mother Teresa’s order, the Missionaries of Charity, was on our itinerary. She died in 1997 but homes for handicapped and orphaned children and for the dying, both of which we visited, clearly operate according to her principles and methods.

At the same time, the order is thriving; we attended Mass with perhaps a hundred Sisters and many other volunteers. One post-India reflection is that while it was exceedingly challenging and educative to see first hand the lives of the poor, for most people, the opportunity to respond practically (other than financially) will arise here in Australia, in our own diocesan, parish, school and local communities. There is no shortage of avenues for contributing one’s time, talents and treasure: the St Vincent de Paul Society, Nightcare, Kairos Ministry, hospital and aged care ministries, foster care and so on.

It is true that we have much to give the poor, not only materially and not always in ways that are labour intensive. In Dominique Lapierre’s The City of Joy, Dr Loeb says of his Calcutta sojourn, “It’s at the grass roots level that gestures of solidarity are really noticed and appreciated. A simple smile can have as much value as all the dollars in the world.” It was a source of regular embarrassment to us that in visiting the poorest of the poor, we were made extraordinarily welcome, in fact treated as celebrities. The children who would rarely see Western visitors were keen to speak to us, shake our hands and even offer gifts. “What is your country?” they would say. Then “What is your name? What is your father’s name?”

They loved to be photographed, especially with a digital camera, because they could see an instant result. Sometimes, like our ancestors to whom photography was a mystery, they would look solemn rather than happy, but most of the time, their smiles warmed us even when we couldn’t understand their words.

I asked David, who works for Chetanalaya (Caritas, Archdiocese of Delhi – see “David’s story") why they did not resent strangers who were wealthy beyond their comprehension. One of the villagers said to me, “When you come here we feel good.”

David said, “They feel that someone has come to take notice of them.” David has aligned himself with the ragpicking families of Jahangipuri and the rural slum dwellers of Rohtak, outside Delhi. He trains the animators, who establish training programmes and self help groups, schools and créches. While many children still contribute to their family’s income by ragpicking – that is, retrieving from the rubbish that is deposited beside their homes material for sale or recycling – they are also being educated. The ragpicking children assembled to meet us, wearing their best, faces gleaming, and sang for us. Their song? The Hindi version of “We Shall Overcome”.

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