India Pilgrimage

Address by Morgan Hindle (12.4) at the Christian Service Assembly

Good morning Mr Norman, official party, teachers, parents and fellow students,

My name is Morgan Hindle and I consider myself extremely blessed and fortunate for the life I live and the people that I have around me. In many respects I live a life of luxury but, most importantly, a life where I can truly feel unconditional love – something that not enough people in the world are able to say or feel.

I consider myself even more fortunate that I have had the incredible experience of a lifetime, to travel to India, to be able to experience and witness just exactly how some people have it in this world and for that I am forever grateful to my family and Trinity College for the opportunity to partake in such an immersion.

I can confidently say that the time spent on the pilgrimage, in particular the time spent in Kolkata was by far the toughest, most challenging and the most confronting that I have experienced in my life so far – both physically and emotionally draining.

In my lifetime, I too consider myself absolutely blessed to have not endured pain and suffering to any excessive extent; however, my eight and a half days spent in Kolkata, India, exposed me to this confronting real pain and real suffering that is so present in this world and that so many people tragically feel everyday of their lives. It was something I have never felt before, something I’ll always remember and something I will take an incredible amount of gratitude from.

It was moments, interactions, and experiences; that I had during my time in Kolkata that continue to stay with me to this day, a part of my pilgrimage that made it so profound yet so hard-hitting and revealing.

The day started at 4.00am as per usual, a Kolkata morning for the pilgrims as we got ready for another unbelievable day in the frantic, crowded and crazy city of Kolkata. By 4:45am the pilgrims made their way out of Saint Mary’s Orphanage where we resided, to the bus stop where we would catch the outrageous public transport bus that was scheduled to come at 5.00am. Some days it came early, some days it came late and some days it just didn’t come at all – but that is India.

A packed and bumpy ride that always managed to wake anyone up in case they weren’t already, took us through the streets of the city that never seems to sleep, to the motherhouse where we would have Mass every morning. The immense poverty on the side of the road as person after a person lay next to each other with only a cloth to cover them was always a constant reminder of just how lucky we have it.

“Leave all else at the door, enter this building with a smile, not a fake smile, a genuine smile, show as much love as you can to these people who have lived and will die alone with the only love they receive in their life being the love you give them today.”

I will always remember these words.

Together, with my travel group of Connor Duffin (12.4) and Damon Keizer (12.1) we were guided later that night to the local train station in Dum Dum, where we truly walked and interacted amongst the poorest of the poor. Collectively we comforted, held, loved and, for the lucky ones, gave blankets and some form of a meal. The scenes of this night stay with me to this day.

In particular, an experience with a man who lived on the train station by himself stood out and continues to stay with me. He had a terrible fever and was struggling to breathe. I remember vividly putting a jumper on this man who was too weak to put it on himself, the pain he was in was extensive and it was so terribly confronting to see a human in this condition; alone and suffering and stripped of their human dignity. Being at night, we had to move on quickly but the interaction with this man, be it the two or three minutes, was something very special to me. I truly feel I touched the heart of pain and was able to provide this man with love that he may have never felt before, an interaction to let him know that someone did care and someone loved him.

As we walked the platforms of this station we passed hundreds and hundreds of people sleeping on concrete with the only thing covering them being some cloth. People of all ages, babies to the elderly, disabled to the mentally challenged, all on concrete, all without adequate clothing and food and above all, all without love in their life. For this night, however, we were able to make a difference to some lives but the reality is that this is a day in a life for those who suffer the extreme struggle, hardship and immense poverty in our world. I remember not being able to sleep a minute of the night after arriving home, as I went through all I had seen, all I had said and everything I experienced on this particular night and through the day. This was a day in my life I won’t lose sight of quickly and something I am so thankful to have experienced.

As Mother Teresa once said, “Not all of us can do great things. But all of us can do small things with great love.”

Thank you.

Morgan Hindle (12.4)

After Mass we split into groups and made our way to our service placements founded by Mother Teresa. For me, it was Nabo Jibon Orphanage where a few of my fellow pilgrims and I assisted, cared and loved mentallychallenged males who had been collected off the streets and train stations and taken into this home – they are the lucky ones, as bad as it sounds. Serving in these placements was only until midday.

After lunch on this particular day, my travel group and I had the opportunity to spend some time in Kalighat, Mother Teresa’s first home for the dying destitute where we spent some precious time with those who were nearing their death. For many of these people they have gone their whole life without feeling love from anyone and before entering this building after a long day I was told by a man who has changed my life for the better – Jim McGinnis:

Benjamin Davies

Gordon Dean

John Pisano

Joshua Naylor

Leo Milazzo Pilgrims Selected in 2014 for the India Pilgrimage 2015

Each pilgrimage through India Becomes a special journey: A journey in faith, A journey of gifts – of receiving and bestowal. And each pilgrimage is a journey of self-discovery

In response to the call of Jesus, Present in all of our brothers and sisters, We embrace the people of India. We explore God’s unfolding mystery in their culture. We seek their wisdom and examine our faith in their world.

In humility, yet charged with hope, We offer some time and some service And learn something about loving and commitment. We come to share of our bounty And we strive to be ‘men for others’.

We return to our homeland and families, Richer for the experience. We return eager to share the ‘good news’ With family, friends and acquaintances, so that Together we will continue to build a better world. Together we will respond to the kingdom evolving.

Lochie Taylor

Marya Stewart

Rohan James

Rosa West

Samuel Fasolo