Lotion, pipe cleaners and a smile: I know, a weird combination. Let me explain.
Yesterday we went to San Fil, the Home of the Dying run by the Missionaries of Charity in Haiti. There are 242 patients ranging from 10 to 100 years old: men, women, children. Each has a different story but with one common denominator: All are on the final road, one step away from God.
As our missionaries walked around the wards the eyes of all the patients started to light up, especially the kids and women, because they recognized the Mission Youth t-shirts. They know what’s coming: crafts, songs and “lotion massage”!
For three hours our missionaries went from bed to bed, rubbing the women’s ailing bodies with lotion while others did all sort of crafts with pipe cleaners and tissue paper. We have one problem — we don’t have enough hands! The demand for tissue paper flowers, pipe cleaner glasses and massages is too great!
At the end of the day one missionary shared: “I never knew lotion could bring so much relief and comfort to someone.”
But was the lotion massage really what brought the comfort? I don’t think so. It was the smile, the love and care with which it was done. Was it the tissue paper flowers or the pipe cleaner glasses that put that big smile on all those faces? I don’t think so. It was the attention, the care, and the time we dedicated that made it happen.
Another missionary said, “Life is hard. These people have a hard life, but they are happy because they make the best out of it. I have a decent life. The question is whether I am doing the best I can with it.”
Big questions and deep reflections after a couple of hours in the Home of the Dying with lotion, pipe cleaners and smiles!
