Wednesday, July 7th -- Family

"The secret is here in the present. If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better. Forget about the future, and live each day according to the teachings...Each day, in itself, brings with it an eternity" - The Alchemist

This morning I went to 7:15 mass. At school during the morning, Father Martin picked Wycliff up from the hospital. Wycliff is 13 years old and has been suffering from a bone marrow disease for the past few years. His bone marrow cells have rapidly depleted and after the treatments he has undergone, there is not much more that the doctors can do. They discharged him from the hospital so he can be home with his grandmother. When he arrived at OLG in the Dominican truck, all of his friends from school ran out of their classes to greet him. He is such a friendly and strong boy. Julia and I visited him a few weeks ago when we went to St. Consolatta's Hospital. The Dominicans and students from the school have gone very frequently to visit him too. Please keep him in your thought and prayers!

Before lunch, I stopped by Julius's office to receive a list that ranks the children who are not sponsored based on need. Julia and I are hoping to decrease the number of unsponsored children when we get home through various fundraising and awareness projects. We are also helping with updating the "Father Tom's Kids" website since some of the information is outdated. During and after lunch, Julia and I worked more on the movie we are assembling for Saturday. Once school was over for the day, we interviewed the rest of the secondary school children. The information they gave us on their backgrounds continues to blow me away.

Many of them have asked about my family. I have a picture of my family from my sister Clare's graduation in the beginning of June as the background to my laptop. The students have asked to see it. Many of them asked me in a surprised tone, "Patricia, you mean you really have two parents who are still alive? And you have two pretty sisters? And even a little brother?" I automatically felt guilty responding because having both of my parents, my two sisters and my brother each play a vital role in my life is something most of them will never experience. As I was asked this time after time, I thought to myself. Wow. I am SO lucky. To them this is a very unusual reality. They are intrigued by my life and home and have a million questions for me, always. Many of them have many siblings, sometimes even 9, but most of them are not in the picture or they only see them on breaks from school. One of the boys I interviewed has lost both of his parents, grandparents, and his older brother. He has no connection to anyone in his family anymore. Despite these circumstances, he told me that he doesn't feel sorry for himself because he has faith and a family at OLG who cars about him. He is so grateful to be at OLG and have terrific friends. He hopes to become a lawyer one day.

In the late afternoon, we went to our last Wednesday recreation night before dinner. After Compline, Father Kevin went over our reflection questions with Julia and me in our living room. This was a good way to recap some of the things we have learned and ways we have grown from this experience. Although one of the things that I was hoping to come out of this trip with was an exact career path, I have an even broader scope of what I'd possibly like to do. Father Kevin told me that this was a positive thing and not to be discouraged.