How is it possible to suffer so much and still keep smiling?

September 10, 2009

Tags: Youth, Solidarity

How is it possible to suffer so much and still keep smiling?

The adventure began several months ago when it was confirmed that in July we would be able to participate, from Sweden, in a social project in Udbina, a town located in the region of Lika, in Croatia, where people are living with the consequences of the last war. The decision of implementing this initiative arose from Saint Josemarias words , which I have often meditated about:

”We should ask our Lord to give us a good heart, capable of having compassion for other people's pain. Only with such a heart can we realize that the true balm for the suffering and anguish in this world is love, charity. All other consolations hardly even have a temporary effect and leave behind them bitterness and despair”.

A group of university students from Stockholm and Malmö were willing to spend time with people in need of company, love and happiness, during their holidays.

In the morning of the 19th of July, a group of Croatian girls who also took part in the service project, were waiting for us in Zagreb; and in Udbina we met up with another group who arrived from England. We were a total of thirty-two people who shared the school classrooms of a as lodging and used sleeping bags. We organized ourselves to take turns to shower, and followed a schedule which included our meals and cleaning the school, which had become our home during those days.

Every morning we worked with elderly people who generallly lived on their own and in the country had very few material resources. The Red Cross staff followed and oriented us in our work, which includes cleaning houses, painting, washing dishes, preparing food and taking care of the elderly. We were able to overcome the language barrier by working with our Croatians counterparts who translated for us.
The elderly people needed to share their stories and tell us about their suffering. One of us commented at a certain moment: "How is it possible to suffer so much, and keep on living and also smiling without bitterness?" We felt the deep traces of sorrow that the war has left. For this, we realized that, more than the material help, what people really wanted was to be listened to.

video

Every morning we took turns to go to a nursing home, and in the evenings, we mostly played with the children. We managed to prepare a show to present to the elderly people at the Old-Age Home, the staff who worked there and anyone else who wanted to attend.
On the last day, we were all tired from all the hard work done, but our heart was filled with gratitude. A feeling of admiration for each other had risen among us. We were impressed with the energy and generosity of the Croatian youth. The spontaneous comments from other participants were: "They are incredible, I have learned a lot by watching them work and serve, being the first ones in doing the most difficult and least pleasant tasks." We had travelled because we wanted to help, we wanted to make a difference in someone's life; however, the change really took place in us.

One of the activities which had an unexpected success was the T-shirt and fans competition to design. It also became an easy way to involve more people from Sweden in the project, as they provided us with T-shirts and other donations.

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Now it has been several days since we returned from Croatia, and we have gotten together to share photos, videos and memories. We laughed remembering the fright we had when the Red Cross told us about being careful with the snakes. Priscilla commented on the sweetness of the elderly people, and how they transmitted their will to live. We have all thought about how easy we have it in our country and how we sometimes think we need more when it is not so. Catherine said: "When I got home I realized I had been all that time without the Internet, and not using the phone, and nothing happened.
When we began this trip we knew we would not be able to change the situation of these people, but we thought we would be able to help in some way. We were there to give them "something" and they gave us much more. We have learned what neither books nor teachers can teach.

During the trip, I was asking Saint Josemaria that those days leave a lasting trace on all of us, according to what he had suggested: A man or a society that does not react to suffering and injustice, and makes no effort to alleviate them, is not a man or a society that corresponsd to the measure of the love of the Heart of Christ.

Monick Tello
Stockholm, August 2009