It Is In Giving That We Receive

By Molly L., on mission in India

This past month, we wrapped up my last round of summer camps. These days, despite the chaos, stress, and lack of sleep involved in organizing and running camps for two sets of twenty children from the slums of Chennai, the neighborhoods of Chengalpett, and our surrounding villages, are some of the most joyful days of the year for me. 

For example, for the first camp, two little girls came, twins hardly seven years old. At first, their parents did not want to send them to the camps, because they only had one dress each. In India, it is important that you always send your children out with their best clothes, even if it is to go get dirty and wet playing games in the forest for summer camp. Luckily, the parents were persuaded and we could lend the girls some clothes for a few days. At the end of the first night, after being awake since the early morning and spending the full day with the children in the hot sun playing games, we finally finished our community meeting a little after midnight and I could go to sleep. It was my night to sleep with the girls, and I expected them to be asleep since I had put them to bed hours ago, before our meeting began. However, when I arrived, I found one of the little twins still awake. It was her first night away from her family, and she was crying because she wanted to go home. As it was after midnight and her home was a few hours away, this was clearly not possible. At a loss for what I could do to assuage her tears, I handed her my rosary, and laid down next to her on her pillow. Despite my fears of sharing her lice and my total exhaustion, I knew it was my responsibility to care for her. So, we prayed and I sang to her for at least an hour until she could finally fall asleep. The next night, it was the same, and despite being even more tired, I came again to comfort her.

In these late nights, even though I just wanted to close my eyes and lay in my own bed, it was not a sacrifice done with bitterness or resentment. Rather, in giving myself, my heart was opened to a deeper love and compassion for this little girl. It’s true that by the end of camps we volunteers have to spend some time to catch up on our rest, but for at least a few days, it is an opportunity to give of ourselves more than we think we are able to. In this sacrifice, I am able to really understand the well-known prayer of St. Francis- “It is in giving that we receive.”