Fr.Terry writes.....

The photo on the front of this months magazine is that of

Sunnita, a young girl I worked with whilst at St Laurence’s

Hospice in Cernavoda, Romania back in 2000. You may not

have noticed at first glance that Sunnita’s right leg is twisted

into a deformed position, or that the splints on her arms are

there in order to prevent her from clawing at her face. I was

led to believe that both of these were a result of Sunntia

being tied up in a cot for the first few years of her life. In Romania 20 years ago when

Sunnita was a baby this was common practise with orphan children, not that Sunnita was

an orphan, as it was more likely that she had been abandoned by here parents because

she was HIV positive and they could not have paid the medical bills. It was the same

story for most of the other 42 residents at St Laurence’s Hospice, all between the ages of

St Laurence’s hospice was one of a number of hospices in Romania set up by Children in Distress in order to

reach out to children with HIV AIDS or other incurable illnesses. At the time of my visit on a two week

placement in 2000 26 children had died in the previous 5 years, 3 in the 3 weeks prior to my arrival. It was a

hospice where there was expected to be an sudden influx of death as a large percentage of the children were

between the ages of 10 and 14 and they had not had any children live beyond the age of 14, nor at that time did

As I was preparing to set out on my journey to St Laurence I could not help but ask the question, “Where was

God in this place of sorrow and little hope?” Upon my arrival at the hospice, it was my pleasure to find that my

fear of finding St. Laurence’s as a place of sorrow and little hope was far from the reality. This may seem a

strange thing to say about a place where there were 43 children suffering and dying from an incurable disease,

a place where in the last five years 26 children had died and many more were expected to follow. The reason

there was a different reality to what one would have expected, was simply because there was a love there that is

rarely found in today’s world, a love that could be truly said to be the love of God; a love that reveals his

presence even in a place that seemed to others a place of sorrow and little hope. This was because the central

message of God’s love and presence was being proclaimed through the attitudes and work of some of the staff

Nowhere greater was this expression of God’s love and presence demonstrated than through three British staff

and volunteers (Lorna, Samantha and Gale). Though each of the three demonstrated God’s love through

different ways and in the attitudes in which they undertook their work, each shared a common need to reflect

Unfortunately, I lack the ability and words to articulate the full measure of how these three women expressed

God’s love. This is partly because to look at their actions alone would give one the impression of a good and

kind person, the kind of person that anyone can be, and would like to be, regardless of whether they do it

through God or simply for self-satisfaction. It is only after you have spoken to these three women that you

become aware of how much God is a central part of their actions in which they proclaim his love and presence.

However, despite my inability to articulate the full measure of how these three women express God’s love and

presence, I will try to briefly set out their work, hoping that it will be taken into account that all that they had

Lorna who was the manager of St. Laurence Hospice, was a person of extreme piety, a piety that made you feel

at ease when you sat and talked with her, one colleague even described her as the Mother Teresa of Cernavoda

and rightly so. Some would say that the excellent work that she did with the children and staff was only that

which one would expect from a good manager, though it should be said that through her love for the children

Lorna excelled beyond that which was required of her in time, attitude and dedication to the children and staff

at the hospice. However, Lorna’s greatest demonstration of a good Christian life and an expression of God’s

love could be clearly seen in the assistance that she gave to those in the local community in which the hospice

was set (a place of extreme poverty). Members of the community often came to her in their times of need, and

if she felt that they were genuine (though this was often difficult to do, as it was part of the culture to take

advantage of anything you could get for nothing) she would give them food and clothes, help with hospital

bills, and occasionally give money, though she tried to avoid doing this as it was often not spent on that for

which it was given. One example of Lorna’s work with the outside community was with a family that she often

visited and would take clothes and food for the children. Nothing filled her more with joy than remembering

the excited squeals of the two little girls when she gave them each a shoebox of toys. With the older son of the

family, she helped the family to raise money for several operations after he had burnt the front of his body and

neck, operations that he would have never received, because they were well beyond the financial means of the

Samantha was not as open as the other volunteers were about her Christian background and how it had effected

her life and bought her to St. Laurence, I wondered if this was due to her reserved catholic upbringing. It was

evident though, through my conversations with Sam that her work and time at St. Laurence had come about

through Christian influences in her life. Sam’s whole attitude towards the children and the other staff was one

of love and care; it was one of a whole giving of herself, in time and effort. However, I found that the greatest

thing that moved me about Sam was something that was revealed to me by someone else; Sam was giving as

Gale had spent five years at St. Laurence as a voluntary worker, and in that time, she had known and worked

with most of the 26 children who had died. The greatest way in which Gale has reflected the love and presence

of God is through the way she has given the whole of herself to the children. An example of this is her

relationship with Marranella. When I arrived at St. Laurence, it was felt that Marranella would not last the

week. Obviously all the staff and volunteer workers began to give her special treatment, but with Gale, there

was something more. Gale built up a relationship that could  only be compared to that of a mother and child,

she built a relationship that could only mean more pain and heartache for her when Marranella died. Gale went

to every effort to make sure that Marranella knew that she was loved: she often took Marranella home; shared

her bed with her, stayed at the hospice because she was to ill to travel to Gales

apartment; she had had countless sleepless nights as she nursed her; and shed

many tears of a mother who grieves her dying child. On the final day Gale

stayed awake throughout the night nursing Marranella until the little girl had

fallen into unconsciousness, then she could only sit and listen to her breathing

getting shallower until she finally passed quietly away. All the while, Gale

was holding onto Marranella’s hand shedding the tears of a mother, yet once

Marranella died, she resumed the roll of a care worker, preparing her for her

funeral by dressing her in her birthday clothes and by leading the funeral

 These three women, though in different ways had shared and demonstrated the love of God which was very

much at the centre of their own lives. Thus in sharing God’s love, they revealed his presence in the midst of

In this world of sorrow and pain we shouldn’t expect God to reveal his presence necessarily through a

miraculous act – more often than not it is revealed in the acts and works of others like Lorna, Sam, and Gale,

About 3 years after returning from Cernavoda I received an email from Lorna, telling me that Sunnita had

sadly died. Also with the advent of new medical treatment and care many of the children were now living past

the age of fourteen and St Laurence hospice was about to start a  programme that would help the youngsters to

fit in with society outside the hospice gates when they came of age. Children in Distress has now spread it

work to a number of other Eastern Europe countries reaching out to many more disadvantaged children

including those on the streets. (Why not check out their website: www.childrenindistress.org )

Fr. Terry.