Chapter 5 – Eight Years in Paraguay
Back in 1870, her neighboring countries invaded Paraguay. And as a result, many young men died leaving behind only the aged and the womenfolk who were not able to till the farmlands.
In 1933 a group of Jewish refugees fled from Hitler's genocide programs to South America. The Jewish exiles who were seeking sanctuary came in droves along their young and aged to Paraguay.
Back in 1870, her neighboring countries invaded Paraguay. And as a result, many young men died leaving behind only the aged and the womenfolk who were not able to till the farmlands.
In 1933 a group of Jewish refugees fled from Hitler's genocide programs to South America. The Jewish exiles who were seeking sanctuary came in droves along their young and aged to Paraguay.
Towards the end of her stay in England (circa 1953), Teresa received a letter from the "Society of Brothers" in Paraguay. The Society was set up by a total 21 countries. When Teresa learnt that the Society was a haven for refugees and had no money to pay the nurses, she accepted the offer.
Not Speaking Chinese for 8 Years
During Teresa rounds whenever she did not understand the patients, she would consult her dictionary and record the new words learnt with her own phonetics into her notebook with 6 columns i.e. English, German, Spanish, French, Guarani (local Paraguay dialect) and her own Chinese phonetics. She was pretty fluent and conversant and could communicate with locals and the foreigners.
With more than 2,000 residents to look after in the Society's ground, Teresa set up served 3 clinics for the different language groups.
For Teresa, the work was attending non-stop to patients in the hospitals, homebound patients, pregnant women, mothers with their newborns and the leprosy patients.
Not only did Teresa look after the patients of the Society, she also visited the destitute families living around the area and took them food and medicine.
Work was endless in Paraguay. Very often Teresa could not retire to bed until past midnight. Sometimes she worked though the night and continued to do so the next day.
"On one occasion, at our busiest time I did not sleep for 6 days and 6 nights! That was a record! And on the sixth day while I was writing at my desk, I dropped my pen and bent over to pick it up but instead fell over and slept. My colleagues tried to wake me up by shaking me strongly but I slept on." Teresa
Teresa slept continuously for many days. On the 7th day, Teresa heard someone saying, "She is awake."
"Teresa is also my Name"
The general population was uneducated and had no notion of hygiene and sanitation. With their bad living habits, diseases and illnesses were widespread.
Patiently, Teresa educated the patients on how to clean themselves before breastfeeding, to sanitize the milk bottles and on how to take care of the newborns. She treated each women like her sister and accorded them with genuine care and concern.
As a mark of respect and gratitude for delivering their babies as their midwife, the mothers readily named their baby girls "Teresa". Soon "Teresa" became a very famous and popular household name in the locality.
"Joy can be real only if people look upon their life as a service, and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness" – Leo Tolstoy
The Dalai Lama's Book of Wisdom
Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond: A Meditator's Handbook
Food for the Heart: The Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah
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