The Feast of St. Clare was a memorable and joyful day for 12 women and their children of a village at Mizan Teferi that is named after St. Clare.
MCSPA members have been supporting these women and their children who live together in a closed and isolated village. This is because these women had suffered from leprosy and after a long period of medication their leprosy was cured but people still shunned them because they continued to be considered as contagious. Their village was named after St. Clare in the hope that the saint might intercede for them and accompany them in their daily life. We have been supporting them with medical expenses and clothing, teaching them health and hygiene, and spending time with them by accompanying them to the hospital and doing different activities.
One of the women, named Dafaat, asked, “Who are you people that you care for me and even accompany me to the hospital, something which even my children cannot do most times?”
We answered that it is the love of God that is uniting us together so that we can help one another because we need each other to lean on. Jesus died for all of us because He loved us.
One doesn’t have to be a super-woman or man to help. All it takes is a generous heart that is ready to share the little that it possesses, and these are the talents.
Once we truly live out our experiences, we become aware that we cannot let things remain the way they are, forgetting what we have experienced and seen. Instead, we have to participate and share, even if it is just a minute of listening to the other person. It is empathy that brings us together and helps us to be united with each other.
Esther Kerubo
