Care for the sick and the suffering

In one of the prayers of Saint Francis Caracciolo our founder, there is a thanksgiving to Christ for having manifested His love to him by making him an apostle to the poor, the sick and the sinners. From my humble understanding, that must be one of our passions: love to the poor, the sick, the sinners, to help them to come out of their state of suffering by compassion and services as followers of Saint Francis Caracciolo.

Description of The Center

One of the centers of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta is the one found in Lang’ata (Otiende), near Saint Michael Parish headed

by Jesuits Fathers. This center was founded by Saint Theresa of Calcutta with the agreement of the Cardinal Otunga. The center is composed by more than fifty disabled people. They are actually un- able to do something by themselves and thereby they need people of good will to take care of them in general. There are sisters in charge but they need always other people, especially religious with sensitive hearts for this apostolate. That is why many religious Congregations send members to that center to help with different services.

Being sent to Nairobi for theological studies, I discovered that great field of apostolate. I visit- ed it in 2016 and I realized that my hands were needed there to feed my disabled brothers and sis- ters, to lift them up and to offer a little smile out of love, for St Theresa of Calcutta says: “Every time you smile at someone, it’s a gift to that person.”

Following the example of Saint Francis Caracciolo our founder, I decided to be present in that place every Saturday morning. After having fed them and assisted them with some other services I went back to my Community. I asked the permission from my superior and from the sister in charge. She agreed and said that she knew already the Caracciolini who are in Rome. At first it was not easy for me to feed those people, but I remembered Hippocrates’ sermon and was comforted by my superior Fr Norbert who offered great assistance during the first three weeks of my apostolate. Many people were willing to try that apostolate but found themselves unable to do it because of its delicateness. From that apostolate I realized that surely people need our hands for their happiness and to be helped to survive. I should learn much from the gift of life and should be promoting the Caracciolinis’ motto: Ad Majorem Resurgentis Gloriam (AMRG) Charity must be one of our great characteristics.

Job Description for this Apostolate

There are always a lot of works in that center but the most common are:

SOCIAL ASSISTANCE: this is about providing companionship or any other social assistance to those sick persons: chatting with them, asking about the news, listening to their stories or narrating some to them as they like them so much. I realized that they mainly need people around just listen- ing to what they want to express. The difficulty is that some are not able to express their ideas in words; while murmuring they need someone to be present convincing them that they are listened to… Here patience is needed at any cost knowing that human being is social and relational by na- ture. Here patience, meekness, attention become the great skills needed to be a good listener. It is a matter of being effectively present in their life and among them. From this I have learned that “Dis- ability is not Inability”, since those people, even in their wheelchairs, are able to appreciate the ser- vices received by narrating some sweet stories and by gestures.

COOKING and FEEDING: this is the main activity since it is the basic one in sustaining human life. It starts by peeling potatoes, beans…cooking or pounding, cutting the fruits in small pieces or crushing them to make juice. Then each volunteer has to help to feed. This must be done delicately knowing that those people need tenderness and patience, even if sometimes they may be spitting on the one feeding them, and most of the time with the snot coming from their nose.

CLEANING: this include the cleansing of the floors, scrubbing the walls, cleaning the clothes and the bed sheets of the sick people; then folding them and putting everything in order.

WASHING THE DISHES: this is done after having fed and then we will put everything in its own place.

As student of theology, I have now enhanced my ability to distinguish and to combine the class theories from the realities of life, to be able to make my presence meaningful, visible and amiable, to strive to see God always in every sick person and to love each one of them without any discrimination.

This apostolate has helped me to concretize one of the aspirations of our Founders, especially Saint Francis Caracciolo, in his love to the poor and the sick. This led me to quench the infinite thirst of Jesus Christ on the Cross and to grow in the capacity of assisting the sick, not like a “healer” but as a companion. This helped my conscience to remember that life is a gift from God and it must be only used to render service to the needy in lifting them up. Otherwise life is meaningless. It is only in this way that we become gifts to others with our services. So I was able to render to the sick what they deserve by right.

This is a practical a way of being “hunter of souls”, by a spirit of loving trust, total surrender, and cheerfulness, which must lead each one of us to be perfect in loving God and neighbor, and making the Church always more present in the world of today.

Thanks to all those who, by formation, are helping us to discover more and more the presence of Christ in our life. Thanks for all those who are at the service of the suffering people.

By Bro. Kizito Shamavu, CRM