Early Days on Mission

I have completed one year in Fiji. After my Hindi course in Suva I came to Labasa a few days ago. Fr Pat McCaffrey, the Parish Priest of Labasa, brought me here to Naleba settlement three nights ago. Fr Pat showed me to my small room at the back of the church and then returned to the town. It is simple living here - no electricity, no fridge, no gas, no oven, an outside pit toilet and shower. It was only when Fr Pat had gone that I realized that he hadn’t told me what to do for meals.

I woke from sleep in the middle of the first night. I looked out over the darkened cane fields to the distant sea glimmering faintly in the moonlight. A flash of lightening suddenly lit up the whole countryside below where my missionary journey would begin. I went back to sleep then but was wakened at daybreak by persistent loud knocking at my door. “Get up, Father. It is six o’clock!” I opened the door to find Gabriel, a mentally challenged young man, anxious to see me up early and about my work like everyone else in the settlement.

After some prayers I made a cup of tea using a kerosene stove and ate some crackers with peanut butter. I then had a look around my room and the church before exploring the surrounding area. One of my neighbors was a Muslim family. They called out to me in a friendly way. While chatting I discovered that the daughter in the family had cut her foot. I got my first aid kit, cleaned the wound and put a plaster on it. Her mother graciously offered me lunch. I was glad to accept.

Yesterday, I did a similar round of the neighborhood and changed the dressing on my neighbor’s foot. I again gratefully accepted the offer of lunch. On both evenings I went further afield to some Catholic families and after evening prayers was invited to share dinner.

This morning, Gabriel arrived to tell me that his grandmother wanted to talk to me. This fine old lady looked agitated. She said, ”Since you came here you have had lunch each day with a Muslim family. You are supposed to come here to my house for lunch like the other priests. You belong to us, not to them!”