July 2015
The Missionaries of Charity Home of Joy For the Sick Children
The Missionaries of Charity Home of Joy For the Sick Children is one of 18 houses of The Missionaries of Charity around the Philippines founded by Mother Theresa of Calcutta whose mission is to serve the poorest of the poor.
The Missionaries of Charity Home of Joy For the Sick Children is administered by 12 nuns whose lives they have sacrificed to love and to serve the sick and the poor. As the name of the place connotes, it is an orphanage or a center that houses mostly sick children (infants, toddlers, and children 6 years old and below).
The place is in Tondo, Manila. It serves as home for 59 children consists of 16 boys and 43 girls—mostly sick and/or are physical/mental challenged. Many of them are suffering from hydrocephalous, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, blindness, and/or combination of these. Most children are abandoned—with some of them left there by their parents as they are physically and financially unable to take care of their sick children.
As per Sister Verna (she is the Sister who accompanied us around and she is from Bangladesh), young boys who reached the age of 6 are later transferred to their counterpart missionary which is the Missionaries of Brother.
We were able to interact with some of the children and Sister Verna gave us background about each of them. We saw how the sisters and a few helpers and volunteers cared for the sick children as if they were their own. Unlike most other charity institutions and unlike the other Missionary of Charity homes, their Home of Joy for the Sick Children prohibits taking pictures of the children. We can only take photos of the outside of the vicinity. The Sisters strictly adhere to the teaching of Mother Teresa. They believe that if people really wanted to help and get more people to join, we do not need to show them pictures of the children in their sorry state. Instead, they invite people to actually come and visit the children at the Home of Joy for Sick Children and extend whatever help they can give straight from their hearts.
We were informed that all the orphanage of the Missionaries of Charity in the Philippines share whatever donations they receive. If some of the 18 homes lack supply, the others will send in their excess supplies.
TWe brought some infant formula, milk, rice, biscuits, diapers, toiletries, vitamins, etc. We know that what we brought for the children are not enough to support their needs for a long period—and surely not also enough to somehow ease their discomforts. They are nothing compared to the love and sacrifice that the sisters have been selflessly extending every day of their lives.
More than the material things we provided, we offer the children and the sisters and workers our commitment to pray for them. We offer our love and prayers for the sick children as they continue to fight for their lives. We also fervently pray for the continued physical and spiritual strengths of the Sisters and workers who try to ease the children’s sufferings as they continue to give their lives for these children.