Mary Rice Home
With the help of Greg
Wall in Rome I managed to get a visa for Belarus and
left on the
23rd of July. Liam picked me up at the airport and then began four very full days where
he generously took me around and showed me what he was doing. I felt so humble and so
proud all at the same time. Humble that I should be so blessed. Proud that a Christian
Brother would reveal to me what ‘daring to be disciple’ should look like.
It is not my intention to describe all that the Burren Chernobyl Trust is doing, nor to repeat how impressed I was with the generosity and goodness of lay women and men who give of their time and resources to be with these children. I would request you to visit the website
www.burrenchernobyl.ie and see for yourselves.
Belarus is a country that is emerging out of the shadow of the former Soviet Union. They
still speak Russian and use the Rouble. But when things fell apart with the fall of the Iron
Curtain, many of the institutions also struggled. In the forefront of these are the State run
welfare institutions. The orphanages and Asylums barely manage to stay afloat and are
under-funded and understaffed.
Things were really grim when Liam O’Meara first visited Belarus and it was a chance
phone call from a woman, Maria Mitskevich, that saw him visit the orphanage in Cherven
and discover the plight of these children.
My visit to Cherven and the children was memorable. Both the staff and the children
were so happy to see Liam. It was obvious that he felt so at home with them and they
with him. I saw again what relationship was all about and how being brother is a call in
itself. When this happens with vulnerable people and those who have been marginalized
by society, it takes on a whole new meaning. To ‘dare’ in such a situation is simply to
follow one’s heart.
Liam also told me that when he began he had no idea where all this would lead. All he
was doing was responding to a situation that he could not walk away from. It was the
simple everyday things that he and the Trust tried to provide: creams, shampoos, soaps,
detergents, pampers, clothes, slippers, shoes, socks, warm clothes, blankets. Then they moved to more expensive items such as laundry and kitchen equipment, fridges,
water heaters, boilers. At the same time volunteers came and repaired the thirteen units of the old building, painting, providing piping for heating and replacing linoleum. What
I saw was a whole new building that had been refurbished and was now spotless.
They did the same with the orphanage in Goradishche. I was able to see the difference in
some instances with what was and what had been. The new building in Goradishche
stands in strong contrast with the old grey stone institutional building that preceded it.
The interior was worthy of the finest institutions anywhere in the world.
But always what made it all worthwhile was to see children being opened to life in a way
they would not have been able to live without the intervention of the generous people
who come from Ireland to share love and concern. And the people who volunteer also
realize that it is the children who give them hope and meaning. Without them we would
not have been gathered in that country. The children are the Eucharist, the sign of unity
that brings people from different walks of life to sit at the one table. They are the broken
bodies that bring life and hope.
The main reason for my coming to Belarus was to attend the opening of the Mary Rice Home in Cherven. It is a day care centre for children with disabilities. Seeing these children sing for us with such joy and gusto I could see nothing “wrong” with them.
Somewhere I felt that God sees them like that. They were beautiful, vibrant, loving. I was the disabled one: fearful, closed, cold. It was a privilege to be here and to realize that the Founder’s influence extended to a country where the Brothers are not officially present. Here is made alive his love for his daughter. The person who probably “opened his heart to Christ, present and appealing in the poor” has done the same thing here. The children show us a face of God we would not normally see.
Hafiz again asks the question:
What happens when your soul
Begins to awaken
Your eyes
And your heart
And the cells of your body
To the great Journey of Love?
The people of the Burren Chernobyl Trust have experienced this and have responded the
only way that love responds: in reaching out.
Will I?
Will we?
Philip Pinto Rome August 3 2008
23rd of July. Liam picked me up at the airport and then began four very full days where
he generously took me around and showed me what he was doing. I felt so humble and so
proud all at the same time. Humble that I should be so blessed. Proud that a Christian
Brother would reveal to me what ‘daring to be disciple’ should look like.
It is not my intention to describe all that the Burren Chernobyl Trust is doing, nor to repeat how impressed I was with the generosity and goodness of lay women and men who give of their time and resources to be with these children. I would request you to visit the website
www.burrenchernobyl.ie and see for yourselves.
Belarus is a country that is emerging out of the shadow of the former Soviet Union. They
still speak Russian and use the Rouble. But when things fell apart with the fall of the Iron
Curtain, many of the institutions also struggled. In the forefront of these are the State run
welfare institutions. The orphanages and Asylums barely manage to stay afloat and are
under-funded and understaffed.
Things were really grim when Liam O’Meara first visited Belarus and it was a chance
phone call from a woman, Maria Mitskevich, that saw him visit the orphanage in Cherven
and discover the plight of these children.
My visit to Cherven and the children was memorable. Both the staff and the children
were so happy to see Liam. It was obvious that he felt so at home with them and they
with him. I saw again what relationship was all about and how being brother is a call in
itself. When this happens with vulnerable people and those who have been marginalized
by society, it takes on a whole new meaning. To ‘dare’ in such a situation is simply to
follow one’s heart.
Liam also told me that when he began he had no idea where all this would lead. All he
was doing was responding to a situation that he could not walk away from. It was the
simple everyday things that he and the Trust tried to provide: creams, shampoos, soaps,
detergents, pampers, clothes, slippers, shoes, socks, warm clothes, blankets. Then they moved to more expensive items such as laundry and kitchen equipment, fridges,
water heaters, boilers. At the same time volunteers came and repaired the thirteen units of the old building, painting, providing piping for heating and replacing linoleum. What
I saw was a whole new building that had been refurbished and was now spotless.
They did the same with the orphanage in Goradishche. I was able to see the difference in
some instances with what was and what had been. The new building in Goradishche
stands in strong contrast with the old grey stone institutional building that preceded it.
The interior was worthy of the finest institutions anywhere in the world.
But always what made it all worthwhile was to see children being opened to life in a way
they would not have been able to live without the intervention of the generous people
who come from Ireland to share love and concern. And the people who volunteer also
realize that it is the children who give them hope and meaning. Without them we would
not have been gathered in that country. The children are the Eucharist, the sign of unity
that brings people from different walks of life to sit at the one table. They are the broken
bodies that bring life and hope.
The main reason for my coming to Belarus was to attend the opening of the Mary Rice Home in Cherven. It is a day care centre for children with disabilities. Seeing these children sing for us with such joy and gusto I could see nothing “wrong” with them.
Somewhere I felt that God sees them like that. They were beautiful, vibrant, loving. I was the disabled one: fearful, closed, cold. It was a privilege to be here and to realize that the Founder’s influence extended to a country where the Brothers are not officially present. Here is made alive his love for his daughter. The person who probably “opened his heart to Christ, present and appealing in the poor” has done the same thing here. The children show us a face of God we would not normally see.
Hafiz again asks the question:
What happens when your soul
Begins to awaken
Your eyes
And your heart
And the cells of your body
To the great Journey of Love?
The people of the Burren Chernobyl Trust have experienced this and have responded the
only way that love responds: in reaching out.
Will I?
Will we?
Philip Pinto Rome August 3 2008