Part Four

Switching scenes, we went to visit our girl’s school, Notre Dame de la Sagesse (Our Lady of Wisdom). As on our last visit, the energy of the teaching staff was incredible and the kids all seemed to be having a good time learning. Although our orphanage, Maison d’Amour (House of Love) has about 200 girls living there, the school has 535 students, as we opened it up to the community so as to give the children there an equal opportunity for success. Over at the girl’s home, we were royally fed and entertained. Our priests reciprocated by offering the celebration of the mass for the sisters and the girls.

We then visited that beautiful place that I have described so many times before — our home for children of different capabilities, Enfants de Jesus (Little Children of Jesus). I immediately searched for Joshua, one of the two children at the home suffering from hydrocephalus with whom I had formed a special bond. This time he was lying down outside with the others, still motionless because of the weight of his head.

Unlike the last visit where I spent over ten minutes to get a response from him, this time he almost immediately started laughing when I spoke to him and caressed him. I had spoken to the group about him and one of our deacons, George Anderberg, sat next to him and sang to him in a melodic and gentle voice. His eyes lit up and he smiled sweetly. I marveled that a child that could be so easily overlooked, responded so strongly to an appropriate stimulus of love and caring. Our speakers brought a lot of joy to that home that afternoon.

After spending a few hours there, we returned to the hotel and had another inspiring reflection meeting.