Still Learning

It seems that the task of helping people is not always easy or straightforward. Sometimes the help that we think is best is not really what a person wants or needs at this time in their life. As old as we are, we are still learning.

In January, one of our St. Brendan’s girls did not return after spending Christmas with her granny who lives about an hour away from here. She sent word that she was going to stay with her granny, who is almost completely blind, and help care for her. Her younger brother is also living with granny and had been trying to care for her by himself. It was a big decision for Lettie to give up the opportunity that she had at St. Brendan’s to live in extreme poverty. We took along one of the Bakhita girls (pictured) and went to visit Lettie to give her the gift bag that had been prepared for her and we also met her granny and brother.

Last year, at this time, Lettie was preparing to go away with her St. Brendan’s class to a 3-day camp that all grade 8’s attend. Here you see her in a new shirt that we bought her for camp. She seemed quite happy at that time but as the year went on she worried more and more about her home situation and was quite unhappy to be away from her granny and brother when she was needed. She was not expecting to receive a gift bag again this year and was quite surprised and grateful.

So, even though we were offering a great opportunity to Lettie it turned out to be a burden for her. After returning to her granny, she was happy and more carefree and doing what she really wanted to do. In one afternoon, she helped a couple of old people learn something.