A humble experience: The children of San Gabriel

The children of San Gabriel

During her brief visit to Cochabamba last October, Hue invited the two of us to visit her ministry in San Gabriel where she and other religious sisters of Missionaries of Christ Jesus are serving the poor people of Bolivia. Hue is a young nun from Vietnam and along with Sr. Thuy, they are two Vietnamese expats currently living in Bolivia beside our group of 5 Vietnamese Maryknoll lay missioners from the US. Both Hue and Thuy are about the same age as our children and every time they come to Cochabamba to visit other congregation members, Hong and I always invited them over for some Vietnamese dishes which they seemed to really enjoy.

It was a Friday evening in December during the third week of Advent when Hong and I decided to visit Sr. Hue and her ministry.  Unfortunately, by the time we got to the bus terminal, the last bus to San Gabriel was totally full and ready to depart. Asking around for almost half an hour, we finally found a small van that was unloading passengers who just arrived from San Gabriel and the driver was about to turn around and go back. He agreed to take us and another family of 7 back to San Gabriel for a fare just slightly higher than the normal bus fare. More than happy, we jumped right in while the driver went to get a quick dinner. The van was small and quite old, perhaps built in the 70's, and barely had enough room for all of us.

The beautiful mountains on our way to San Gabriel

San Gabriel is a rural area about 4 hours bus ride from Cochabamba. However, due to a thunderstorm that poured heavy rain and caused multiple mud slides the night before, the road winding through the mountains was partially closed and our ride turned out to be a 7 hours journey through the dark before reaching San Gabriel just a few minutes before midnight. Somewhere and sometimes during the night, both our phones lost signal and we had no way to contact Hue. It was late and most businesses had closed and the rain was about to start again. The road around the bus terminal was quite muddy and full of pot holes the size of a large dining table. Totally different from Cochabamba, the weather in San Gabriel was hot and so humid that after walking just a few blocks, I started getting sweaty. It was the start of summer in Bolivia and the night here in San Gabriel resembled those hot summer nights in Saigon where I lived during my childhood more than 50 years ago.

Wandering in the dark with just the flashlight from our phones, Hong started to panic and complain why I did not ask Hue for her address before leaving.  Fortunately and quite surprisingly, we found a small internet cafe just a few blocks from the bus terminal that was still full of young children playing internet games. Finally, we were able to contact Hue via Facebook messenger and within 10 minutes, she appeared at the door and came to our rescue. It turned out that Hue had been waiting all night long for us and just went back to her house a few blocks away to find an umbrella.

As soon as we came to the house, Hue showed us to a small bedroom usually reserved for guests or visiting priests and nuns from out of town. I immediately jumped in the shower while the rain started pouring heavily outside with scary lightning and thunder. Within a few minutes, the light went out and so did the water from the shower head. Without electricity, the pump doesn't work and therefore no running water! Fortunately, both Hong and I were able to finish our shower before the water stopped running. Between the sounds of heavy rain and scary thunders, I could hear the frogs and crickets calling each other in the darkness outside our bedroom window. It was strange and eerie but somehow seemingly familiar to me, I quickly fell asleep and started dreaming about my distant childhood in Vietnam.

San Gabriel - so much like scenery often seen in rural areas of Vietnam

We woke up around 7 AM by the sound of roosters crowing and dogs barking in the neighborhood. The rain had finally stopped and the sky outside was bright but the sun was still hidden behind dark and thick clouds. We could hear the sisters  already awake preparing breakfast in the kitchen. Beside Hue, two other MCJ nuns also lived at this house in San Gabriel. Sr. Maria Jesus, a spanish woman with beautiful white hair, and Sr. Elizabeth, a Bolivian with a quiet smile, invited us to join them for coffee, bread and fruit at a small table in the living room. The smell of fresh coffee, toasted bread and ripe mango made me feel hungrier than ever. I realized that we had not eaten anything since our quick lunch the day before.

The neighborhood school

After breakfast, while the other two sisters went to work at a local hospital, Hong and I accompanied Hue to her children classroom in a nearby village. The school was about two miles from the house so we decided to walk there and stopped frequently along the way to pick up  some of Hue's younger students. Upon arriving at the school, I  could not believe this so-called "classroom" was a place where Hue would come to teach her students every Saturday. It was just an abandoned structure where village people used to come for an occasional meeting or other special gatherings.

The thunderstorm last night washed all kind of mud, tree branches and leaves inside the wobbly structure surrounding by stucco half-walls with chicken wires on top. While Hong and Hue went  to some nearby houses looking for a broom to sweep the floor, I tried to rearrange the dusty wooden tables and benches to resemble a classroom before other students arrive.  The little kids who came with us also tried to help sweeping the floor with whatever they can find while laughing and playing with Oberto, the neighbor's mixed German shepherd dog.

Hong, Sr. Hue and the kids trying to clean their so-called classroom with whatever they can find

It was the third week of Advent so instead of regular class, Hue and Hong taught the kids how to make Santa Claus, stars and angels out of foam plates and ice cream sticks so they can hang as Christmas ornaments at home. Hue also taught them how to sing simple Christmas carols in Spanish and Hong showed them how to paint their Christmas ornaments with water color. The children who finished first were awarded with chocolate candies and all of them also received some small Christmas gifts before teachers and students posed for a happy group picture.

After school, one of the kids decided to hold my hand while we were walking back to their house. Her little hand was warm and gentle inside my rather rough and dry hand. Half way to their house, her older sister ran to the side of the road to pick some strange fruits out of the tree for the two of us. The green and elongate fruit was sweet and looked somewhat like "trái điệp" often found in Vietnam. Suddenly, I realized that this was actually my calling for mission in Bolivia. As Maryknoll Lay Missioners, we are called to serve the poor and marginalized people from all corners of the earth. However, to serve alone is not enough but also to live with them, to live among those we serve just like a member of their own family. That's the life Hue and Thuy and other sisters of Missionaries of Christ Jesus have chosen to live. From different parts of the world, from Asia to Africa and Europe and the Americas, they all have the same mission and that is to become one of those who they have come to serve: what a humble mission and a humble lifestyle.

(To be continued)