Sr. Karina is the Sister in charge of organizing the volunteers once they arrive in Kolkata. This woman is so absolutely vibrant! I really don't know how she does it; I would think she would be exhausted from having to always deal with these crazy people coming in and out of the homes and her life. But she never shows her exhaustion. Every time I see her, she smiles and says, "Oh, hello, Melissa! How are you doing?" (I really can't believe she can remember my name.) I went to a talk of hers a few weeks ago for the english speaking folks, and she had us all cracking up the entire time with stories of various other Sisters, her own work with the Missionaries, and of course, Mother Theresa. I've started working at the orientations, keeping records for the government, so I hope to get in good with her there and become one of her Golden Children.
I work with Sr. Aneill, a Sister from Albania, a lot at Kalighat, and she is another firecracker! She was chasing a couple of the patients around the other day with a plastic snake the other day, and they were all LAUGHING and SCREAMING. It was great. And she is ALWAYS play-arguing with the patients, and just making us all die of laughter.
Even tonight at Kalighat, one of the Sisters I didn't know made me laugh! A friend of mine, Elijah, had some firecrackers with him and when Sister came by, he asked if she would like to see a few. She got SO excited by the prospect of fireworks. He brought out a sparkler and one of the sparkly shower type ones. The sparkler wasn't lighting, but she just kept at it out of excitement, and when the the shower one went off, she absolutely lit up! It was so lovely to see.
And the Sisters as a group are just all so cute! It's wonderful to see just how human they are! They're just such a chatty group of women. The Seattle kids were sitting in the Mother House one night after Adoration while the Sisters were having their dinner. We were outside the dining hall, and it was so much fun just sitting under the window and listening to their loud, undecipherable conversation and their girlish giggling.
My final story wasn't in the e-mail because it happened after I wrote it, but it's too wonderful not to share. This past Wednesday was Children's Day in India, and all of the houses that take care of children had some sort of celebration. I got to Shishu Bhavan and was told that we would be going to Mother House for a puppet show. I figured some puppeteers were coming in or something and there just wasn't enough open space at Shishu Bhavan, so we had to go there to see them. But it was in fact the Sisters who were putting on the puppet show! We had a brief song and dance from a group of the novice sisters. One of our kids apparently knew the dance to one of the songs, and it was the sweetest thing watching her get up to dance with them. And then, the main attraction! About 8 Sister hid behind a curtain and used handpuppets to dance to songs about Jesus. It was adorable, to say the least. And Sr. Karina, who I already mentioned, came out with one of those giant birds on puppet strings and danced with the kids. It was great. Oh, those Sisters. I don't think I've ever seen so many kind and generous hearts in one place. It's beautiful.
I've survived my first bout of sort-of serious sickness! But thank heavens for AMAZING friends, Advil, and antibiotics. I'm back alive, and feeling better than ever.
