In God’s presence

By Sr. Lucy Lee, O.L.M.
May/June 2011

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Sr. Lucy Lee with her friend Lenha who learned craft skills from Sr. Lucy and now supports herself by making hand decorated flip-flops.

Over the years I have had the opportunity to work alongside people with AIDS and cancer, as well as the elderly and the young, in Nigeria, the Philippines, Canada, and Brazil.

No matter where or with whom I worked, I was always aware of being in God’s presence when we gathered. We shared stories while I was teaching new craft skills. Faces lit up with the completion of a woven basket, a scarf knitted from recycled material, or a necklace strung by the knotty fingers of a senior. Oftentimes children nearby would be watching in awe.

When I first met Lenha in Brazil, she was a volunteer at St. Joseph’s Hospital for AIDS Patients and Infectious Diseases as well as at the Mary Mona Kelly Little Library. She had lost her teaching job, yet it impressed me that despite her own hardships she still wanted to help others. Since then, I have passed on to her some of my craft skills and she is able to support herself by selling flip-flops that she decorates.

Sr. Lucy also teaches crafts to young people at the library (below). Bela Vista, Brazil

It is so satisfying for me to see the smiles of women who have come to recognize their ability to make something that can be sold to friends and neighbours for an income, however small it may be. Most of all, they recognize the goodness of God in themselves.

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