Help 2 Women Change Their Lives
Donation protected
Hi, my name is Gabriel. Thank you for reading this note, which relays a meeting that deeply moved me and I’m asking for your considerations.
My friends, family and acquaintances know that I have spent the last year as a volunteer at Benedictine monasteries in southern India and Sri Lanka, teaching English, working with disabled children, and meeting people and cultures. I have met people in many different circumstances, and I have witnessed poverty previously unimaginable to me. I write today about one meeting that stands out in all of my experiences.
The attached picture depicts Massilamani and Selama, two sisters who live high up on the tea hills of central Sri Lanka. They spent the first part of their lives working on a plantation as tea pluckers, going from plant to plant picking the tea leaves that are then dried and sold for drinking. Plucking tea is a tough job that doesn't pay well. In Sri Lanka, tea pluckers make on average only $0.60 per day. Even before any of the recent tough luck, they have lived tough lives.
Some years ago, Massilamani started to go blind. She was unable to afford medical help and has spent the last 10-15 years of her life completely blind. After Massilamani went blind, her sister Selama supported the two of them. But a few years ago, Selama too started to go blind. And then Selama fell and broke her hipbone. Unable to afford proper medical care, she visited a local ayruvedic doctor a few times with little result. Unable to walk and without an actual bed, Selama spends her life on the floor of their small one room house. Massilamani and Selama have no other relatives to take care of them. Somehow in all of this poverty and blindness, they have managed to survive.
Because Massilamani and Selama spent so many years working for the tea plantation, they can remain in their windowless, single room in the workers’ rowhouse they share with 15 other families. Because of their blindness and inability to walk, the other families see them as a burden and won't let them use the two toilets that everyone shares. Massilamani and Selama have to wait until night and then crawl out of their room into the tea fields that surround their house and do their business there.
As the attached video shows, Massilamani and Selama have no running water, no heat, and no air-conditioning. When it rains, water leaks into their room. With no money or dependable source of food, most of their meals consist of crackers and biscuits and some water. To put it simply, their situation is dire.
I came to meet Massilamani and Selama on a walking tour with Brother Cruze, a monk at Montefano Sylvesteran Benedictine Monastery in Kandy, Sri Lanka. Brother Cruze, one of the most remarkable people I’ve ever met, has known these sisters for several years and told me their story. A monk in a poor land, he does not have any money or income. His time is spent visiting families in their homes, visiting people in the hospital on their deathbeds, and helping the most needy in the community her serves.
Brother Cruze’s compassion is truly remarkable. At Christmas, for example, all of the monks got expensive white cloth as a present from the Monastery so that they could go to a tailor and have new robes made. One day shortly after Christmas, I saw Brother Cruze leaving the monastery with his Christmas present. I asked him where he was going and why he needed his cloth and he told me that he knew a very poor family in the community who had several young children. These children were growing quickly and in need of new school uniforms. Instead of giving himself a nice new white robe, he was taking this cloth to that family so that those poor children who really needed the cloth could have new uniforms for school. Truly, Brother Cruze is cut of another cloth as he dedicates himself to his mission on earth.
In talking about Massilamani and Selama with Brother Cruze, I wondered out loud how I could help. He told me that they need three things to make their lives a little better: access to medical attention for their eyes and Selama's legs; relocation to a larger town with care facilities; and getting them into an elders’ home that would provide care, food and lodging.
To cover all three of these things, Brother Cruze says it will cost $400. That is right, $400 will give these women medical care, the transportation they need, and an opportunity to spend the rest of their lives in a retirement home. The flip side of a poor nation is that most things are much cheaper. Pretty amazing.
Perhaps this story sounds like a cliché, but trust me that it is real. I hope my words convey even a little of how this meeting touched me. I write this story to ask my friends and family to consider contributing a modest amount to sponsor these sisters for the rest of their time on earth.
Any donated money will go Brother Cruze himself, who will arrange the help for Massilamani and Selama described above.
I vouch for Brother Cruze and his dedication to seeing the funds distributed properly and effectively to help these two sisters.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I appreciate your patience and generosity in helping me help Brother Cruze help Massilamani and Selama. God Bless.
My friends, family and acquaintances know that I have spent the last year as a volunteer at Benedictine monasteries in southern India and Sri Lanka, teaching English, working with disabled children, and meeting people and cultures. I have met people in many different circumstances, and I have witnessed poverty previously unimaginable to me. I write today about one meeting that stands out in all of my experiences.
The attached picture depicts Massilamani and Selama, two sisters who live high up on the tea hills of central Sri Lanka. They spent the first part of their lives working on a plantation as tea pluckers, going from plant to plant picking the tea leaves that are then dried and sold for drinking. Plucking tea is a tough job that doesn't pay well. In Sri Lanka, tea pluckers make on average only $0.60 per day. Even before any of the recent tough luck, they have lived tough lives.
Some years ago, Massilamani started to go blind. She was unable to afford medical help and has spent the last 10-15 years of her life completely blind. After Massilamani went blind, her sister Selama supported the two of them. But a few years ago, Selama too started to go blind. And then Selama fell and broke her hipbone. Unable to afford proper medical care, she visited a local ayruvedic doctor a few times with little result. Unable to walk and without an actual bed, Selama spends her life on the floor of their small one room house. Massilamani and Selama have no other relatives to take care of them. Somehow in all of this poverty and blindness, they have managed to survive.
Because Massilamani and Selama spent so many years working for the tea plantation, they can remain in their windowless, single room in the workers’ rowhouse they share with 15 other families. Because of their blindness and inability to walk, the other families see them as a burden and won't let them use the two toilets that everyone shares. Massilamani and Selama have to wait until night and then crawl out of their room into the tea fields that surround their house and do their business there.
As the attached video shows, Massilamani and Selama have no running water, no heat, and no air-conditioning. When it rains, water leaks into their room. With no money or dependable source of food, most of their meals consist of crackers and biscuits and some water. To put it simply, their situation is dire.
I came to meet Massilamani and Selama on a walking tour with Brother Cruze, a monk at Montefano Sylvesteran Benedictine Monastery in Kandy, Sri Lanka. Brother Cruze, one of the most remarkable people I’ve ever met, has known these sisters for several years and told me their story. A monk in a poor land, he does not have any money or income. His time is spent visiting families in their homes, visiting people in the hospital on their deathbeds, and helping the most needy in the community her serves.
Brother Cruze’s compassion is truly remarkable. At Christmas, for example, all of the monks got expensive white cloth as a present from the Monastery so that they could go to a tailor and have new robes made. One day shortly after Christmas, I saw Brother Cruze leaving the monastery with his Christmas present. I asked him where he was going and why he needed his cloth and he told me that he knew a very poor family in the community who had several young children. These children were growing quickly and in need of new school uniforms. Instead of giving himself a nice new white robe, he was taking this cloth to that family so that those poor children who really needed the cloth could have new uniforms for school. Truly, Brother Cruze is cut of another cloth as he dedicates himself to his mission on earth.
In talking about Massilamani and Selama with Brother Cruze, I wondered out loud how I could help. He told me that they need three things to make their lives a little better: access to medical attention for their eyes and Selama's legs; relocation to a larger town with care facilities; and getting them into an elders’ home that would provide care, food and lodging.
To cover all three of these things, Brother Cruze says it will cost $400. That is right, $400 will give these women medical care, the transportation they need, and an opportunity to spend the rest of their lives in a retirement home. The flip side of a poor nation is that most things are much cheaper. Pretty amazing.
Perhaps this story sounds like a cliché, but trust me that it is real. I hope my words convey even a little of how this meeting touched me. I write this story to ask my friends and family to consider contributing a modest amount to sponsor these sisters for the rest of their time on earth.
Any donated money will go Brother Cruze himself, who will arrange the help for Massilamani and Selama described above.
I vouch for Brother Cruze and his dedication to seeing the funds distributed properly and effectively to help these two sisters.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I appreciate your patience and generosity in helping me help Brother Cruze help Massilamani and Selama. God Bless.
Organizer
Gabe Hanson
Organizer
Duluth, MN
