Someday Maybe, Someday Maybe, for Both You
and Me
Sunday afternoon, the day you packed the black bags at
Gehlen, I received a call in the afternoon from my brother Francis in Honduras
– he was there in advance preparation for your trip. He asked me if I remembered
a little girl that he had told me about just before this past Christmas that we
had helped with a sizable donation – Francis was in Honduras over Christmas as
well. I struggled with remembering who he was referring to, and only later, in
an effort to placate him, I said I did remember, when in reality I didn’t have
the foggiest idea who he was talking about, at least not until he sent me a
photo later that night that confirmed my knowledge of her.
You see, Her name was Genesis Abigail Martinez, and she
was 1 year old – and in the photo she was being held in her mother’s arms, but unfortunately,
if you saw the picture, Genesis was stunted in many ways. At this point I am
asking Mrs. Bickford to explain ‘stunting’ to you in the malnutrition and brain
development sense that we talk about all the time at presentations – and
underscoring the importance of a program like Then Feed Just One and proper
pre-natal development in countries like Honduras.
(Mrs. Bickford’s Explanation of Stunting)
Now, back to this reflection. First of all let me comment
about my own transgression here – not remembering Genesis in the first place –
a great self indictment and tragedy all wrapped in the same package of ‘too many
to even focus on’, let alone remember. What a shame – The Lottery of Birth.
(pause) And only if Mrs. Bickford wishes to explain the LOB.
But in actuality, this isn’t about my own failings but rather
about her, a young girl who had little to no hope for a future who was loved by
her mother Fermina as much as you are and/or were loved by your own, and by
extension I fear, a comment about way too many young Honduran boys and girls,
and again by extension to the remainder of this world. This is definitely about
HER and HER Memory but also about YOU, and about all those little children you
have come to know and care about at Santa Teresa de Jesus School in such a
short period of time.
Thus, after once again seeing her photo I did vividly
remember that time, a day or so before Christmas, that Francis and I had spoken
by phone about her medical condition and how we might be able to help her and
her loving mother. We had even sent the information along to Dr. Tom Benzoni in
Des Moines for his comments about little Genesis’s condition and a shot in the
dark for some good results. And thus, we did what we could at the time. Francis,
through ‘Mission Honduras LeMars’ helped the mother with money for food and further
medical analyses.
And now on the phone that Sunday afternoon he was telling
me how she had gotten worse, much worse, and how the mother was in Tegucigalpa
with her at Hospital Esquela, and how she was being cared for the day before
you arrived in Tegucigalpa.
Time out at this time in this reflection: I am currently
sitting in LeMars during a beautiful time of a late afternoon winter day,
glorious actually, and now I am wondering about this little 1 year old girl
Genesis and what happened to her. Gee, how unfair it seems to me that now my
focus and my feelings must be on someone else and not on myself and this
glorious day – how unfair. (hopefully, my rather rude self sarcasm is appreciated
and understood at this moment).
But you see, such is the state or condition of thousands
and thousands and thousands of young children all around the world this day –
and unfortunately every day, beautiful late winter day or not. Genesis was one
grain of sand on a very vast and expansive beach of similar children. And of
course, by this time among your team I would imagine that you have been made
aware of the death of Genesis – at 2:15 a.m on Friday, March 15th.
Sad, but very much as they say, a blessing in many ways. I’m not sure I have
ever fully understood why things are the way they are and wish I knew sometimes,
and I’m not even sure I understand, ‘a blessing in many ways’. But I guess that
is one of those things we accept under the heading of ‘faith’.
And now to you. So, here you are in the midst of all
kinds of young people in a place called Nueva Capital, Honduras. You have
successfully completed the designated requirements of this mission. You have
done the homes (they are functional and beautiful), the bunk beds (they are
wonderful and soft), the hanging gardens (they are amazing and will be nutritious),
you passed out dozens of gift bags to different families, and you have
undoubtedly hugged and been hugged by an immeasurable number of kids – and the
moment you arrived at Santa Teresa de Jesus on that first day, you probably
thought you were a magnet and the kids of Santa Teresa were of the opposite
polarization. They and you just couldn’t quit hugging, could you? I understand,
I really do, I have been there so many times – but I would ask you young people
tonight, this last night in Junta, this last night in Honduras, if you are able
to communicate that feeling, that moment, to others. That ‘hug moment’ that you
shared with one little girl or boy, the moment in time when you felt like you
never wanted to leave these young children, that gut wrenching realization that
tomorrow you come home, but they don’t
come with you, and now this wonderful mission that so many never get to
experience, is coming to an end. And it is in that understanding that I share
with you, sort of like our own bond of MISSION, that I wish you the best on
your return to the United States, and by the way, a place where they, the kids of
Nueva Capital Santa Teresa de Jesus School –like most Hondurans, a place, the
United States, where they all want to be. You see, if you have not realized it
yet, THEY ARE YOU. They are you but with only one
difference. They were born in Honduras, into poverty, a poverty that most of
them have no chance of ever escaping – the Lottery of Birth – repeated over and
over and over again millions and millions of times, and in my best Latin, ‘ad
infinitum’.
And then there was Genesis. Genesis, Genesis, Genesis – a
little 1 year old girl, who struggled for life but had little to no hope, and
the story of Genesis all becomes something like reading a very long and bad novel,
repeated in perpetuity that never ends, and we in Mission Honduras and Then
Feed Just One, know this drill all-to-well.
So, here you are on your last night of this wonderful
mission. As usual in these reflections, I ask one question. If you could have
done anything for Genesis, and the millions she represented, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE? How does this
experience of MISSION change your understanding of poverty, of others in a
different country, a different culture, of a different language, and maybe even
a different religion. WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE
DONE? Or was this just another ‘short term mission’ (STM) that once it is
over ‘it is over’ and you have done your duty to the world. Or, and my sense is
this about Gehlen Catholic Students, that you see your Christianity more
broadly and that it never stops with one experience or one moment in time. In
other words, you are ‘becoming’ more Christian, maybe even more Catholic, day
by day, moment by moment, experience by experience, Genesis by Genesis. Will
you ever get to True Christianity? I must confess, I am not there, but
continually on the road, continually working on it each and every day - Someday
maybe – Someday maybe, for both you and for me. And for Genesis, isn’t it
rather ironic that her very name is a Greek word, meaning ‘Origin’ – beginning.
Something new. Maybe the genesis (little g) for children like Genesis (big G)
is YOU. Maybe you are the new beginning for the millions of others like her. As
I have always believed deeply in my heart, there is great great power in the
young of today, and I especially find it true in Gehlen Students. Please never
shy away from a Christ Like
Responsibility and what YOU can do.
I lied just a bit I guess. I do have a second question.
What do you suppose Jesus meant when he said, “The Poor Will Always Be With
You.” Do you suppose he meant little Genesis and the children of Santa Teresa
de Jesus? I don’t know about you but I sense that most Gehlen Students realize
there is this inseparable bond
between our faith and the poor. I hope you not only see and realize that but
that you never once abandon that bond, and if you never abandon that bond, then
‘GENESIS, and a New Beginning, WILL ALWAYS BE WITH YOU.’
And because of Genesis, I thought of Jean Vanier, a
Canadian Catholic Philosopher and humanitarian who founded L’Arche, an international
federation of communities for people with developmental disabilities and
Genesis certainly had many of those. Jean Vanier once wrote, “To live with
Jesus is to live with the poor. To Live with the poor is to live with Jesus.”
Honestly, You’ve lived with Jesus for quite a few days now – I hope you knew it.
Well, Tonight will be a long night for you. You will have
trouble getting to sleep because you have so many thoughts running through your
mind and heart. Good for YOU. You have my permission not to
sleep. YOU are THERE. A Place Where Most Will Never Be.
God Speed Gehlen
Catholic Mission Honduras and Thank You For All You Have Done. The world is a
little better place today because of you.
a humble servant, r. seivert
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