“Who will look after your
clinic while you’re away, Francis?”
I was getting off Mgr. Morgan’s coach in Lourdes for the Middlesbrough Diocesan Pilgrimage. I looked up to see who was asking me and saw that it was Marie Potter, a friend of mine of many years. We would both there as helpers, me as a brancardier and Marie as a handmaid. To answer her question, my mind ran through the way I’d set things up to keep the two centres running while I took a break. “Don’t worry, Marie,” I said, “I have twelve very capable volunteers cooking the food each day, and Judith will be in charge of them.”
I was getting off Mgr. Morgan’s coach in Lourdes for the Middlesbrough Diocesan Pilgrimage. I looked up to see who was asking me and saw that it was Marie Potter, a friend of mine of many years. We would both there as helpers, me as a brancardier and Marie as a handmaid. To answer her question, my mind ran through the way I’d set things up to keep the two centres running while I took a break. “Don’t worry, Marie,” I said, “I have twelve very capable volunteers cooking the food each day, and Judith will be in charge of them.”
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| Lourdes Handmaid Marie Potter |
Judith and I had originally set up the malnutrition treatment
centres in Basankusu together.
Marie seemed satisfied
with my answer, but the subject played on my mind. I’d decided to take a
holiday during May and June, when the number of malnourished children rises
noticeably. I would be back for the busiest period, the “Hungry Months” of July
and August … and perhaps be able to raise some more money from the good people
of Middlesbrough Diocese to pay for sacks of beans, rice, sugar, milk and so on,
in the meantime.
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Children can suffer from
malnutrition for various reasons. Often it follows illness: the child loses
weight when they’re sick and, with the local diet, just can’t seem to put it
back on again. Others come from poorly organised families or are casualties of
family problems. Poverty features in all cases.
We see a rise in
malnutrition every year around the same time. The mothers often rely on small
fish which they can easily catch in the forest streams. These fish swim further
afield when the rains come, leaving very little protein in the children’s diet.
Protein-rich, edible caterpillars appear at the end of July and malnutrition
subsides again.
Catfish are a protein rich food which are
easy to catch until the rains come
Towards the end of my week
in Lourdes, I met Marie again. “I’ve been thinking about your question,” I
said. “Let’s phone Judith at the centre in the Congo and ask her how things are
going.” I tapped out Judith’s number and she answered straight away. I told her
that there was someone who wanted to say hello and passed the phone to Marie.
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| Francis Hannaway at the Lourdes Grotto |
“Hello, Judith,” Marie started, a big smile lighting up her face as she spoke.
“I’m here with Francis, who’s been telling me about your lovely work. I want
you to know that we’re all very proud of you and think you’re doing a fantastic
job out there. Please keep up the good work!” Then she asked how many children
were at the centre now. “Quarante,” came the reply … there are forty children
presently being treated at the centre.
I’ve now arrived back in
Kinshasa. I’ll spend a few weeks here, buying supplies, and then make the
journey into the interior, to Basankusu, where I will expect to see seventy
children by that time.
Located in the Pyrenees Mountain region of France, Lourdes is the home of one of the most important shrines in the Catholic Faith: the Grotto of Massabielle. Approximately five million pilgrims, of whom a great number are sick or handicapped, come to Lourdes each year. It may be through curiosity, through a desire for a physical cure, in a movement towards belief, or to be of service to those who suffer, that they come to drink the water from the Holy Spring.
Between February 11 and July 26, 1858, Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old peasant girl, experienced 18 apparitions of the Virgin Mary in the nearby Massabielle grotto. During the 9th vision, an underground spring with healing powers was revealed. The Holy See recognizes 67 miracles attributable to the water that flows from it.
During the 18 Apparitions the Virgin Mary spoke to Bernadette suggesting the we come here. The response of millions of us to that invitation is made in Lourdes each year, a world center of pilgrimage and a special place of meeting between God and people.
*** About Lourdes***
Located in the Pyrenees Mountain region of France, Lourdes is the home of one of the most important shrines in the Catholic Faith: the Grotto of Massabielle. Approximately five million pilgrims, of whom a great number are sick or handicapped, come to Lourdes each year. It may be through curiosity, through a desire for a physical cure, in a movement towards belief, or to be of service to those who suffer, that they come to drink the water from the Holy Spring.Between February 11 and July 26, 1858, Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old peasant girl, experienced 18 apparitions of the Virgin Mary in the nearby Massabielle grotto. During the 9th vision, an underground spring with healing powers was revealed. The Holy See recognizes 67 miracles attributable to the water that flows from it.
During the 18 Apparitions the Virgin Mary spoke to Bernadette suggesting the we come here. The response of millions of us to that invitation is made in Lourdes each year, a world center of pilgrimage and a special place of meeting between God and people.
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