Our journey with Saint (Mother) Teresa
I AM humbled and feel
truly blessed to have been in the presence of Saint (Mother) Teresa. As I gaze at
her little statuette on my desk, I hear her voice saying, “my girl (as she affectionately
called me) look deeply into my eyes and see God’s compassion, feel the warmth radiating
from my heart and know God’s love, feel the strength in my hands for these hands
do God’s work”.
Our journey with Mother began in the late 1970s
when Mother was visiting Kenya. Wilfred Maciel, a family friend, invited Johnny
and I to hear Mother speak at the Holy Family Basilica Cathedral in Nairobi. We
had six children at the time but decided to take our eldest daughter Mary Ann who
was nine years old with us. Our first images of Mother were of a petite dainty nun,
cloaked in simplicity. She spoke of her order of the Missionaries of Charity and
their work among the poorest of the poor in Calcutta and around the world, poignantly
reminding us that we too had to take responsibility for our poor people in Kenya.
She said this was the reason she had come to Kenya, to open a home at Huruma. Our
little girl Mary Ann was listening very attentively and without me noticing, reached
into my purse, pulled out a 100 Kenyan Shilling note, walked over and handed Mother
the note, saying, “Mother this is for the poor”. Mother reached over to her saying,
“God works in mysterious ways, thank you my child” and continued, “if this little
child can do so much, how much more can we do together for the poorest of the poor?”
In the 1980s, we began helping the Salesians
of Don Bosco. The original small group of priest and brothers led by Fr. Tony D’Souza
had left India to start their mission in Kenya at Upper Hill. We adopted most of
them into our family, invited them to our home, cooked meals for them at their home.
We also helped in dealing with the Government ministries, organised fetes, and fundraising
events to build the Shrine. Our three daughters sang in the choir and our three
sons organised youth rallies. My mother, Mary Lobo, seemed to be like a mother to
all. Jerry, our third son, volunteered to work with the priests and brothers doing
various tasks around the church, later driving them to the missions around Kenya,
as they were unfamiliar with the terrain in the northern frontier. They affectionately
called him “Brother Jerry”. A great honour the Salesians bestowed on me was to ask
me, along with Cardinal Maurice Otunga, to lay a scroll dedicating the Shrine to
Mary Help of Christians their patron, in the foundation of the current Shrine in
Upper Hill, Nairobi.
In the late 1980s, we met up with Mother again
at Huruma. When we arrived at Huruma, we were taken to a small room by the chapel.
Mother came in, greeted us and we began with a prayer. In Mother’s presence, I always
felt a sense of comfort and peacefulness. She spoke about the work they did at the
home and how they welcomed volunteers to help in the service of the poor. While
Mother spoke, I noticed her keenly looking at both of us. Mother ended with a prayer,
wished us well and left the room. While heading to our car, one of the sisters called
out to us and asked us to accompany her as Mother wanted to speak to us again. Mother
said she recognised our faces as the parents of the little girl at the Basilica.
Mother had a fantastic memory.
She asked us about our family. We told her at
length. We also told her of our work with the Salesians of Don Bosco. She listened,
smiled, and said, “This is divine providence, God has brought you to me.” Mother
asked us if we would be interested in becoming her first Co-workers in Kenya. We
would lead a group of volunteers under this banner. She explained what was involved.
We accepted. Mother was delighted at our acceptance and gave us a copy of the mandate
of the International Co-Workers of Mother Teresa. She then took us for a brief tour
of her home, gave us her blessing and we departed. She mentioned she was leaving
for Calcutta the next day and would send us a letter of appointment. It arrived
shortly after our visit.
We set to work calling a few friends to join
our family as Co-workers of Mother Teresa. We shared the simple mandate as Mother
had shared it with us: visit the home to work as often as we liked; once a month
prepare a simple meal of rice, minced beef with green peas, potatoes and carrots
(no spices), bread and fruit; while serving meals, hand out plates to each person
with dignity; feed those that could not feed themselves, pre and post meals spend
time talking and engaging with the older people or playing with the children; and
end each visit with a prayer in the chapel. Among the ladies in our group, it was mostly Olga Fernandes and
Maria Rebello who cooked the large quantity of rice once a month and I cooked
the beef mince at our respective homes. All the families within our group would
drive over to spend time with the people, serving and feeding them. The
dedication and commitment from our Co-worker group was remarkable.
In 1988, the
International Co-workers of Mother Teresa were meeting in Paris for the Fourth
Chapter. Having a growing family, I told Mother while I would love to attend, I
could not afford it. Knowing what an enriching experience this was to meet
others doing similar work. Since I was the only link in
East Africa at the time, Mother reached out to Margaret Calles, our connection in
South Africa and mentioned my predicament. Margaret had visited Kenya previously
to work with us and stayed in our family home, so she knew me well. She operated
a travel agency in South Africa and very kindly arranged a ticket for me to fly
from Nairobi to London. I felt so fortunate. In London, I was able to briefly meet
my three brothers and their families before staying for one night with Ann Blaikie
the first layperson to volunteer with Mother in Calcutta and the founder of the
Co-workers of Mother Theresa, who lived in Surrey. Early the next morning we departed
by ferry to Calais and onwards by coach to Paris. It was a fantastic chapter in
Paris where we got to meet global links and learn through talks and videos what
work the Co-workers were doing in their respective countries. There were dignitaries,
religious and lay guest speakers also invited. On the third day of the conference,
two co-workers asked me to join them over lunch for a quick trip to the Basilica
of Sainte-Thérèse of Lisieux. The Basilica turned out to be 200 kilometres away
and with the horrendous traffic, took 3 hours to reach. The Basilica was inspirational
and equally stunning both architecturally and decoratively, but we ended up missing
the entire afternoon of the conference. The next day when I saw Mother, I told her
I was sorry to have missed the previous afternoon to which she smiled and replied
“My girl, how lucky you were to visit the Basilica, I wish someone could have taken
me.”
In 1990, Mother was happy with the work we were
doing in Kenya and wanted us to share this with her other homes in Africa. She appointed
Johnny and I as International Area Links for East and Central Africa.
There was no fundraising allowed in Mother’s
name or the name of the Missionaries of Charity, as Mother always believed when
a need arose, God provided. We established a group of benefactors who generously
gave money as well as donations of supplies, medicines, and other necessities for
the home. Mother opened two more homes in Kenya; one in Kibera for men and the other
in Otiende for children. Huruma became a home only for the elderly. Our co-worker
group also grew to 50 in number, and we were able to service each home with our
meals once a month. Mother had always told us before you begin your service of the
poor, remember to begin with a service in
your own home, with your family, then radiate it outwards to the community,
especially the less fortunate.
We often exchanged letters with Mother in those
pre-internet days. Every time she came to Kenya, we went to the airport to meet
her as Johnny had arranged special permission from the Immigration Minister, Mr
Kwinga, to meet Mother at the plane and escort her out of the airport. Through one
of our benefactors, we were able to arrange a small plane to fly Mother from Wilson
Airport to Suguta (to start her mission) and Johnny accompanied Mother on that trip.
She had a warm relationship with my mother, Mary Lobo, and referred to her as “her
older sister”. She knew each of our six children by name and often asked after them.
By then, Jerry our third son, was in the U.K. and John our eldest had emigrated
to Canada. Mother was familiar with James our second son who supported us a lot
with our work at the homes and our three daughters Mary Ann, Melita and Michelle
who were always by our side when we visited and worked at the homes.
In 1993, we emigrated to Canada. While happy
to be reuniting with our three children - John, James and Mary Ann who preceded
us, it was with heavy hearts that we relinquished our responsibility of leading
the co-workers in Kenya. We passed the baton on to our original co-workers and friends
to continue the work we began. In 1994, Mother called for a dissolution of the formal
international co-worker organisations around the globe fearing they had become too
institutionalised and called instead for the volunteers to return to their grassroots
origins. Around that time, many of our original group of Co-workers also began leaving
Kenya for new lands. We continued to keep in regular touch with Mother. Her last
letter to us was in November 1996 and sadly, she died in 1997. Today, Mother is
a Saint, and in closing I echo my original sentiment, we are truly blessed to have
personally known and worked alongside Saint (Mother) Teresa in service of the poor.
Maura and Johnny Lobo in Canada ... a remarkable couple, a remarkable family
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