In the Footsteps of St. Louis Marie de Montfort
"Footsteps Online"
Spring 2003 (Volume 8, Issue 1)
A Story from Uganda
Fr. Charlie Beirne, S.M.M., one of the three remaining members of the Province of Gt. Britain and Ireland of the Company of Mary still working in the foreign missions, sends us this story from Mbarara, Uganda, where he is stationed.
A FAMOUS African proverb, "An elephant can never fail to carry its tusks", has been passed on from generation to generation. Often this happens during nights when children assemble by the hearth to be told stories about life.
However today when it comes to the question of parenting in Uganda the tusks have become too heavy for the elephant! For the unfortunate children, who lose their parents to AIDS, the mantle of parenting automatically passes on to them. On returning to Uganda from recent home leave I fulfilled a promise, which I had made to a young girl called Rita, who along with 85 other boys and girls has been receiving assistance from the Montfort community in Uganda to enable her to attend school (there is no free education in Uganda). She had often begged me to go and see her home but for one reason or another I had kept putting it off. Fresh from home leave I was determined to make the long journey to her home.
The girl had given me directions but inevitably I became lost. I waved down a man on a bicycle who offered to accompany me to my destination. However after an hour through stony winding paths, he said he could take me no further as we stood at the foot of a hill. The hill was steep prompting me to ask him whether we were in Nyakyinengo, to which he affirmed. However I could see no house nor could I hear any human voice. The cyclist urged me to walk uphill, turn right and then descend. On and on I walked, regretting why I had accepted to undertake the task.
It was hot and dusty but I trudged on for almost half an hour and was about to abandon the mission when I saw at a distance the girl and some other children. I quickly walked in the direction of the children. On arrival I saw two small huts surrounded by overgrown grass. On drawing closer I saw Rita together with her seven brothers and sisters, four of whom looked very emaciated. Seated on the grass was an old and frail woman. Crouching on a low stool, she leaned forward and greeted me warmly. She was Rita's grandmother.
"Where is your father?" I asked Rita, as the old lady seemed hard of hearing. "He is dead!" Rita said. "What about your mother?" "Mother is dead!" she answered pointing to their nearby graves. Then two of Rita's younger sisters came up and cried, "We are hungry, and we want food." I picked some sweets, which I had bought whilst in England, from my pocket, and gave some to them. They quickly unwrapped the sweets and put them in their mouths. They grinned with huge delight on tasting the sweets. The others, who were looking on, came running.
They stretched out their small and dirty hands, asking for sweets too. This reminded me of Oliver Twist's "some more please!" I checked my pockets but there was no sweets left as I had eaten a few on the way. Their disappointed faces were heartbreaking.
"What caused the death of your parents?" "Mother was bewitched with AIDS so was my father," Rita answered. "Where do you get food and water?" "We collect water from a well one mile away. There is some food in the garden. We roast cassava and sweet potatoes. I also catch some dry grasshoppers. We share all among ourselves including grandmother. We also eat mangoes and guavas." "Do you have neighbours?" "Yes but they are scattered and far."
Then I was suddenly startled by a loud cry of a baby, which made Rita burst into laughter. "It's only Anna," she said. Inside their hut, a naked baby lay on a foul-smelling tattered blanket on the floor. Rita dipped her forefingers in an old tin and put drops of water in Anna's open mouth, but she kept crying. Rita then got hold of a ripe mango. Biting deeply, she sucked the yellow juice and like a mother bird feeding its young, Rita stooped to feed the baby. The baby stopped crying and swallowed. Rita repeated the process until she finished the mango.
The manner of feeding the baby shocked me but Rita's creativity amazed me. Despite the adverse conditions, the baby was surviving through the care of this child-mother and the grace of God.
Child-headed households are becoming all too common. The number of children orphaned by AIDS is skyrocketing in Uganda and the traditional African extended family is breaking down under the unprecedented burden of the pandemic. According to a U.N. report released last year AIDS in Uganda has orphaned nearly two million children, which is the highest figure in the world.
My visit to Rita's home drove home to me the challenge of following in the footsteps of St. Louis Marie de Montfort who was found among the most vulnerable members of society, the disadvantaged and suffering. To be faithful to the spirit and charism of our founder St. Louis Marie de Montfort, the Montfort Missionaries in Uganda are constantly called upon to go out to the poor and the suffering and be caring agents of Christ's compassion. How? By being with those who suffer and by sharing our resources of time, gentleness, food, money and whatever else we have so that Christ's compassion is manifest, which gives hope.
Footnote: A word of thanks to Andover Parish and other individual Montfortian Associates who have over this and former years sponsored the education of orphans in Uganda.
If anyone would like to sponsor a child (£30 per annum for primary education or £100 for secondary education) please contact either Fr. Ellwood or Fr. Allerton.
