Sydney
9 December 2001
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Holy Spirit paid me a visit ...
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Holy Spirit paid me a visit ...
When we have helped even one
person we feel we have done God’s work
By Marilyn Sharp
The Holy Spirit paid me a visit 10 years ago. After Mass one weekday morning I happened to start talking to a Vincentian who was that day going out on home visits to help people who had phoned requesting assistance.
After talking with this person it was as if someone tapped me on the shoulder, and I realised, that I would like to do something like this to help those less fortunate than me.
I want to share some of my home visitation experiences with you.
Our group’s week begins on Monday afternoon with a call from the regional centre to advise of the visits for Tuesday that week. Client history cards are then collected for the scheduled visits.
Practicality determines that we are able to handle 15 calls per day. On many occasions there are calls that cannot be followed up immediately. These are held over until the Thursday run.
Tuesday morning comes, the car is loaded up with frozen bread, donated goods for the Centre, the client cards, Society stamps, vouchers and my colleague and off we go at 8:30am.
Every person we call on is one of God’s creatures. Anyone of us could have been born into less fortunate circumstances than we were. The people we visit are all struggling for survival and they come from many different cultures and backgrounds.
No matter how good any of these people are at budgeting, trying to live on social security and support from voluntary organisations is really a life of poverty. The people we serve have learnt to live life the hard way.
We provide assistance in many forms; we give assistance with food – usually a voucher to the local supermarket – we help with electricity accounts, providing a voucher contributing towards paying the bill, we help with furniture and we help by just being there to listen to problems.
There is no way that we can have all the answers, but it just helps people, knowing that somebody loves them enough to take the time with them and show they care.
We also visit many people who are using drugs or, in some cases, home detention prisoners or offenders who have just come out of jail. I can honestly say that we have grown to really love these people and take each case as much to heart as if they were our own family.
We visited a client rec ently who lived in a block of units. He is severely intellectually handicapped and has a very dishevelled appearance. Now, if you were to bump into this fellow on a dark night you would probably feel a bit nervous. But this man would not hurt anyone, and in him you can really see the face of God. He always needs our help with food and electricity.
His home was very clean and tidy but lacked a TV. We asked him what he did with his time - did he watch TV? “No problem,” he told us. He visited everyone in the block and watched his or her TV! We asked him if he would like his own TV and his reply was “Yes please!”
We came back to our conference and discussed this client. The following Wednesday out of the blue somebody donated a TV. He was absolutely thrilled.
A huge problem we have found is the lack of a social network for back up in times of crises for our clients. Generally, if you or I needed help we would only have to ask around and somebody would probably oblige. Or, if you were moving into a flat, you would have Aunty Mary’s couch or Mrs Smith’s toaster given to you to help out.
Our clients have nothing and no one to back them up. In a lot of cases they don’t even know how to cook because they have never been shown. Their existence is very much hand to mouth. With absolutely no resources to fall back on, clients are completely at our mercy in times of difficulty. This is one reason we are needed.
At Christmas time, the people in our parish contribute generously to the Christmas Appeal. Out of this we spend more than $8,000 making sure that every family we visit is given some help with food for Christmas.
During July and August, clients are already questioning the possibility of being considered for Christmas vouchers as they rely so much on us helping out with food.
We usually distribute the vouchers on the Saturday before Christmas; quite often all the food has been eaten before Christmas comes.
It is very common for us to go into a house where there is absolutely nothing in the cupboards. We visited a lady who had lived on black coffee for five days. She told us that if she kept drinking it, it would make her stomach feel full and she wouldn’t feel so hungry!
When we have helped even one person who really needed our assistance we feel we have done God’s work.
Every day is very demanding and we stagger through the front door at about 4pm with the need for a quiet time to unwind, reflect and ponder on the day
It is very difficult not to carry the problems of clients with you all the time. There is a need to maintain balance and objectivity, together with a passion to keep on trying to provide the key to unlocking opportunity for these delightful people.
Of one thing we are certain – from every day and every visit – we have seen the face of God, increased our own faith, and encouraged the people we serve.