Tuesday afternoons are something I look forward to...
from 3-6 every Tuesday we are expected at the house of the Missionaries of Charity to do nothing but play, teach, and love. (oh, and sometimes lovingly reprimand)
In January we tried going to help the sisters for the first time. We volunteered at the lunch for the poor and often homeless that crowd the street outside the sister's door awaiting a warm meal. It was beautiful to see the work the sisters do, to meet some of the people who both work there and receive the gift of warm food and shelter.
Yet it wasn't the perfect fit at the time. We were two young women who didn't speak much German--there was not a lot of possibility for sitting and really talking with the people and making contact with them. It was more a service in which you were always the outsider, the server who wasn't able to cross the barrier of hunger in order to be with them for more then the minute in which they asked you for more bread. The service is of course important, necessary, and beautiful, but it was not what we felt we were called to at the time to establish as a place where we consistently helped. Oh and of course, from every other man there was the question-"Are you married" or "Do you want to meet me somewhere after this?" (and of course, in broken english). One time when one man asked me if I was married, I responded that yes, indeed I was. To Christ (sometimes I find its the safest haha). And he replied, "Oh! How many children do you have?" (umm....I don't think he understood my response :) )
Anyways....a couple of weeks ago, Fr. Jacques and Alina went to help out once again at the lunch and give it another try to see if maybe it would be a good fit for Fr. Jacques or if the sisters were in need of any other help. They came back with much the same feel from the help they gave during the lunch, but it also turned out that the sisters have turned their third floor into a home for women and children, most of whom are refugees from Chechnya and Dargestan. Chechen or Russian is spoken most of the time, so the women and most of the children (except for those who go regularly to school) cannot speak German. Thank God Alina speaks Russian!!
Nearly all, if not all, of the women do not have papers and thus cannot work. Most of the children go to school or children's care from the state during the day, but when we arrive on Tuesday there some kids who need help with their homework or just a playmate, especially one that will speak German with them and help them learn. Of course, since they don't understand a word, sometimes communication is difficult and Alina is my constant translator. It really is such a grace that she speaks Russian, because she has started to spend some time with the woman helping them understand German better.
So we spend the afternoons doing homework and playing--playing hairdresser, hand games, string games, reading books, coloring, playing Go Fish (yes..gotta bring a little something American in the mix), and their favorite game--riding on my shoulders and spinning in circles. We just arrived back from spending the afternoon which involved a lot of the latter, and my head is still spinning. (the picture above is me telling them that i will only do it two times....I learned my lesson from the first afternoon during which they had a neverending supply of "rides")
I would especially like you to pray for one of the women there and her two sons and one daughter (the daughter is in Alina's arms in the 5th picture from the top) . Since it is only women and children who are allowed in the house, some of the husbands and older sons who are still with the families (some were shot and killed in the war and some are simply no longer together with the family) are already stable in an apartment or in another type of home, and sometimes with a job. But most of them are living on the streets and finding money where they can because they don't have papers to be here either. One of the woman, Louisa, just heard the day before we visited that her husband was caught by the police without papers and is now in jail. Already to be separated from her husband is difficult, but to know he is now in jail is an even greater difficulty to carry. So please keep them in your prayers.
Playing pirates!
(the boy on the left is the son of Louisa)
They always receive food from the sisters...looks like they'll be eating potatoes this evening!!
Alina spends a great deal of the time learning with this boy (I have no idea how to spell his name!). He is 10, but has never correctly learned a language. With the mix of Russian, Chechnian, and German he has never even learned how to count or an alphabet. He communicates well enough, but when it comes to going through the alphabet or counting even above ten he is at a loss, so Alina is starting from the beginning.
Unfortunately both this little boy and his sister (not in the picture) are sick
such a dear! Dzhenet (jchenette is how you pronounce is) is 8 years old. She speaks German very well because her brother taught her as she was growing up. Her two older brothers work here in Vienna, and she lives here in the house with her mother and her little brother (the little boy in the second picture from the top). She is goes to school everyday so I help her with her homework. Today we even did some english! She has quickly become a good friend...mostly because she knows she can get a should ride from me :)
he loves the camera
Dzkenet and Alina
