Collaborators of the House of Light on the Hill, filiated to the Fraternidade – International Humanitarian Federation, and located in Carmo da Cachoeira city, Minas Gerais, Brazil, went to Boa Esperança city, Minas Gerais, on Tuesday, 11th of October, to pay home visits to cancer patients assisted by the Vida Viva Volunteers Association of that city. Several homes struck by the presence of the illness were alleviated in their pain by the spiritual music, the prayers and the fraternal company that the visitors offered.
Praying corner of a cancer patient.
During the visit, the collaborators talk, and specially listen to the sick people, worn out by physical and emotional pains, exhausted by the prolonged chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments that they use to undergo more than one hundred kilometers from their homes. When they talk, the testimonies show that some deal with the test with more strength and others with less.
Divine spark
“All of them receive us with so much love, so much joy that a divine spark lights in their eyes when we begin to talk to them, to listen to them and to sing Christic and Marian songs”, comments Miriam Galvão, the coordinator of the social assistance services at the House of Light on the Hill.
Soon a feeling of profound unity involves all and pervades the house. “We forget time; when we realize, 50 minutes or one hour have passed and we must quickly excuse ourselves and leave for another house where another brother, another sister, awaits us, with their own history and sufferings”, explains Miriam.
Spiritual canticles strengthen the sick.
Mr. Pedro is 84. Due to the cancer, he has both legs amputated and a hand without movements. In his house, located in a small rural property, he has the company of a daughter that has mental disturbances and other two sons that do what their best to help the family. Despite the situation in which they live, Mr. Pedro does not lose the good humor he has always had and the unshakeable faith in God, in the Virgin and in the Saints. The 1st of October was the day of Sainte Therese of the Child Jesus”, he comments suddenly, with a voice subsided by the years and by the illness.
Hour nine
From the dusty sofa, where he spends most of the day, he points to a ramshackle radio and shares that every day he listens to the Holy Mass and prays the Holy Rosary and the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy. Then he begins the report of experiences, who knows if real or imaginary. Everrything is interrupted when the clock announces three o’clock p.m. An inner voice seems to tell him it is time to tune in the radio, and he obeys. The visitors understand and, wishing him that the Love of God keep accompanying him, they say good-bye: “Until the next visit, Mr. Pedro!” He thanks with the greatest smile that his disfigured face permits him to form and he wishes to all “May Our Lord Jesus protect you”. From a distance, it is possible to see him leaning with difficulty over his faithful companion, the old radio device, to continue his daily ritual.
House of support of Vida Viva in Boa Esperança.
These visits have been taking place for four years, monthly or bi-monthly, in the context of the collaboration that the House of Light on the Hill offers to the Vida Viva Association of Boa Esperança, an entity that since 2012 offers support to one hundred oncological patients. As Sildelia de Souza Guarda, one of the founders, tells, the support offered includes medical, dental, psychological and therapeutic services offered free of charge, as well as the distribution of medicine, diapers and baskets of fruits and vegetables. Little by little, the work expanded and began to benefit the family members of the assisted. The psychological support began to include the children that became orphans due to the sickness. Nowadays the association has 25 volunteers and one clerk, lives on donations and on the resources it obtains with the management of a bazaar and with the conduction of beneficent activities.
