Giving

I saw two beautiful examples of giving this week. People giving of their essence not their excess. The first one was in the hospice/ nursing home building.

It was early in the morning, time to finish report and go out into the community. I was sitting with two other hospice workers at the conference table; Hermana (aka Sister) Sylvia and Justina, a veteran hospice worker of eight years in pastoral ministry. A family member of one of the resident-hospice patients stuck her neck into the conference room to tell us it was the patient’s birthday. The family member, who was also a nun, was anxious that her nephew ‘s special day would be remembered. Chances are it would be his last. Sylvia and Justina jumped to attention. Sylvia immediately went through her purse and found a box of sweets that was nicely wrapped and must have been gifted to her for Christmas. Pleased with her selection she took it out and we all rushed into the patient’s room.

The patient was a young man, HIV with wasting syndrome, and was in and out of consciousness. After we sang happy birthday in Spanish and recited a prayer, he opened his eyes in his weakened state and acknowledged the gift that had been placed underneath his hand. He smiled. Saludos (greetings) were given all around. Mission accomplished. The family member was appreciative. I was touched by Hr. Sylvia’s generosity. She gave without hesitation. It may have been a small token but I can tell you she was probably looking forward to the gift for herself. Sweets are not common here, especially for the sisters who have very little of anything and were also recently robbed.

The second example was later in the week. I rose at an early hour on Saturday and decided to help with the gathering of water. We were desperate because the water had not arrived the previous day. If it arrived, there would be lots of heavy lifting of buckets and many trips to refill our depleted containers. My housemate had overslept her appointed hour but it was of no matter, there was no water to be had that morning either. I decided to walk down the street with my buckets in hand, finally stopping to ask two women that were chatting outside their doorstep. They confirmed the water had not come. She then looked kindly at me and took one of my buckets back into her house and came back with it 2/3 full. It was enough to tide us over for the evening. I thanked her for her generosity. When the whole street was hurting for water, she gave of her essence.