Sisters of Charity

I had the most wonderful opportunity to spend the day with Mother Theresa's charity in Langata, Nairobi. The organisation is run by nuns from all over the world and they do amazing outreach into the slums and also have a home for severely physically handicapped children. The purpose of my visit was to help the nuns distribute christmas packages to 2000 women from the Kibera slum. It was a mamouth task. Firstly we had to haul 4000 bags of flour, 2000 bags of sugar, soap, nuts, buckets and other useful goodies into the patio area where we would hand the packages out. Then the logistical nightmare of getting 2000 women and their children into one area. This task thankfully wasn't mine but I was called upon to entertain the waiting crowds who were hot, uncomfortable and incredibly thirsty from waiting for hours in the blazing sun. There were about seven volunteers; five from Slovakia, one from Korea and me. We were all asked to sing a national Christmas song. The Slovakians sounded impressive as they all sung together and I felt pretty nervous about the prospect of my solo. However when the Korean started to sing 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas' I lept up next to him and joined him - no way was I going to let him nick my song!
While the woman continued to arrive I spent a couple of hours in the home with the handicapped children. Their disabilites were really quite severe and it was upsetting and challenging to be with them but it was a wonderful experience too. I fed the youngest child, Karen, who was emaciated and tied to a bed - not out of cruelty but for her own safety. It was a wonderfully run home, clean and bright and the staff clearly loved the children.
Once all the women were seated successfully (a difficult feat, especially as a group of them broke into a real fight!) we started to distribute the packages. I was in charge of handing each woman a bucket. I must have said 'Happy Christmas' two thousand times. It was hot and hard work but incredibly rewarding and a real priviledge to be a part of something like that. Seeing the gratitude and happiness in the women's faces made me realise that Father Christmas really does have the best job in the business.