Yesterday morning myself plus 2 other women met with the Mongolian lady dieing of cancer. It was an amazing time. Before we went up her stairwell I was told a little bit of her story. She is a mother of 10 children, 8 of them are grown, 2 are already married & 2 still live at home. She is highly educated, fluent in Russian & had a great job for many years. Years ago she had breast cancer, at that time her husband left her & their children. She survived breast cancer & tried her best to raise her children. A couple of years ago started feeling pain & found out that her cancer had moved to her bones. Not able to receive treatment, lost her job & what money she had has used to pay for the pain medication to live each day. She has spent most of her money for the medication & trying to continue living.
When we arrived the 1st thing we did was to take the flour, rice, milk powder & oil into the kitchen for her. Her sister welcomed us at the door & told us that over the last couple of days she has been is so much pain that she is not able to get out of bed. We walk into the bedroom which has her bed & her 2 remaining children's bunk bed. She was laying on her bed under the blankets with a large bottle of medication next to her. She has a smile on her face happy to see us & welcomes us to sit on the floor next to the bed. Her sister came in, poured us a small glass of Aloe juice & gave us some boave (Mongolian sweet bread.)
She was excited to see me (someone new) & wanted to learn more about me. As I shared about myself, our family & our family back home of Canada I noticed her pain, but the joy in her heart was so strong. She asked me about Mongolia, the food & other things. I told her that I loved Mongolian food & the Mongolian people. I told her about my Ukrainian & Croatian family heritage & then she started talking to me in Russian. We talked about how we liked that Russian people & a little bit about the Ukraine. We talked about funny stories about Mongolia & did a lot of laughing. When our time was finished I was sad we had to leave, but said we would visit in a weeks time.
She asked if the next time I could make some Ukrainian cabbage rolls for her to try as she had never eaten them before. She said that she would make me some Mongolian food because I like it so much. Just before we left she asked if we could come back to visit more because of her pain she cannot leave home. Yesterday I was so excited. This is one of the things a love doing. Just visiting the poor, sick & lonely to talk, share & be their friend because I care for them deeply.