I love reporting about sponsors traveling to India. For those who go there it certainly puts a personal face on the work that all of you are doing among your families. Dick Fitzpatrick from Connecticut and Jim Farley, his friend and business colleague from Michigan traveled to Alleppey in July. It was Dick's fourth or fifth trip and Jim's first. Dick has many families for whom he is caring and Jim was going along for the ride. Happily Jim's trip there resulted in his decision to also sponsor several families. I asked both of them to comment on their trip. Read on to hear what they had to say.

Passage to India 

From Dick Fitzpatrick  

"It seems each time I undertake the long arduous trip to South India, I question why I go. All the preparations required including the time consuming visa application process, the shots required to go to this tropical land, carving out the time from my normal family and business schedule...all of this always causes me to question why. Invariably however, something occurs [often repeatedly] that makes it clear why I have come. For example, the visit to Mary Matthews' hut two weeks ago where she lives in almost subhuman conditions subsisting on the meager few rupees a day her sickly husband makes as a poor fisherman. She has 2 undernourished undersized children, Mary is sick as is her husband. They live in a small shack made of tarpaper and coconut fronds, a home we in the USA might find unfit for a house pet. . How this family can survive in these conditions is beyond us. In the dampness of the monsoon season where illnesses like TB, leprosy, malaria, elephantitis are often present, we visit this family and come face to face with the big question,"what do we do here"?. After such a visit, how can we leave this family, forget their desperate conditions and move on with our normal lives? Of course we can't--- and this is why we come the 8000 miles. Or how about the family of 3 I visited with my friend Jim just two Sundays ago. There lying on a pallet [I hesitate to call it a bed] is a 13 year old severely handicapped girl whose body is disjointed and totally uncoordinated; she doesn't speak making only infant-like gurgling sounds. Yet the angelic-like mother sits beside the girl, holds her in her lap and soothingly hums to her while caressing her head and face. After a while Jim and I walk out of the house somewhat transfixed by what we had just seen of this incredibly loving mother. Had we seen in that mother's face the eyes of God?--- perhaps. These and many more moments occur during our visits that continue to reinforce in our minds how absolutely necessary is the work of the Franciscan Family Apostolate[FFA] and the tireless work of the nuns and priests. Also how important to the lives of these people is the quarterly support from the sponsors here in the US and Canada. There is no safety net in South India, no welfare or public assistance exists here. Without FFA sponsors these folks could not make it. If our call is to give preference to the poor and sick among us---here they are. So on my return last week to Connecticut and when I'm asked, "how was your trip to India"? I really have no coherent answer to the question--- in many respects it's beyond description. Nonetheless it is why I keep returning".

From Jim Farley:  

"The trip was excellent. The dedication of the FFA staff and Sr Daphne was wonderful. Bishop Stephen's support for the FFA program was obvious.  

Jim Farley with sponsored family

Meeting the families and visiting the Kunnama Orphanage supported by the FFA was one of the highlights of my life. Attending a sponsored family meeting, seeing the micro credit system work and meeting families whose lives have been transformed by the FFA puts everything in perspective. I was struck by the many happy faces and optimism of those that we met. I only wish that the sponsors can understand the genuine appreciation displayed by the families.

We can often lose sight of the church's important work. When I asked Sister Daphne's what she learns from the poor of Kerala; 'They submit to the uncertainty of tomorrow and trust that God's will direct their life'. What a lesson for all of us with so much."

Micro-Credit Project and Women's Development:

Last May Sister Carmel Paul reported the success story of Paluru Ravanama in far off Andhra Pradesh, the widow with children who, because of sponsor support, rose from a shy dejected woman to a strong leader of a woman's self-help. Sister Daphne, our director in Alleppey, India writes:  

"One of our great achievements other than quarterly assistance to families through FFA and various other projects, we are happy to share with you the success of our new venture, "The Micro-credit Project". For this purpose, the FFA granted us a corpus fund of $15,311.51, which is kept as a revolving fund. Loans are availed to our beneficiary families for a period of 10 months at a menial rate of interest. Till now we provided loans to forty one individuals, which is being refunded correctly and we are content that our vision about this project is fruitful.  

Solly Cyrus

Blessed are those couples who are able to take up the responsibility of their family together. Depressive is the life of poor widows. Solly Cyrus Nambisseril is a poor widow and an FFA beneficiary. Her husband was a fisherman but died from stomach cancer. Solly, with a three year old daughter. was only 28yrs old at the time of his death. Gradually she recovered from the shock and gained courage to fight with fate. She worked hard and was able to bring up her only daughter who is now 14yrs old and studying in 9th grade. The regular aid from the FFA was a great consolation to her. Any way with her Herculean effort she managed to buy a little plot of land in her name. She built a small shed in it. By utilizing a portion of the same, she started a small shop, which she developed with the help of our Micro credit project. Now her shop is functioning well with good profit to reduce the life burdens of this poor widow.  

Solly Cyrus and daughter in front of store

We remember with grateful hearts, all who supported the Micro Credit project and you can be happy that your seed of love and toil now bears much fruit. Take care of yourself. Jesus loves you.

Affectionately,

Sr. Daphne Anto"

Thank you for your continued support. In closing a few extracts of a prayer written by Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, assasinated in March, 1980, while celebrating Mass, because of his work among the poor":

"We accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us...This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that will one day grow. We water the seeds already planted, knowing they hold future promise...We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that...Thus it helps us now and then to step back and take the long view. The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is beyond our vision...For we are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own. Amen."

Warmest regards in Saint Francis,

Alan Ouimet, S.F.O.