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<p>Many people would not enjoy cleaning bed linens by pounding them in a sink with their hands, then carrying them up three or four flights of stairs to hang them out on a roof to dry.</p><p>But for 19-year-old Grace Federo, of Plymouth Township, pitching in with the laundry on her recent, 20-day mission trip to India was &#8220;therapeutic in a way. You&#8217;d be talking to fellow volunteers and it was almost like a break from the sadness.&#8221;</p><p>Of course, the time she spent at the Shishu Bhavan House for Children and the Prem Dan House for the Sick and Dying, both run by Mother Teresa&#8217;s Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, was not entirely sad.</p><p>&#8220;As one of the little girls at Shishu Bhavan, a Missionaries of Charity orphanage, fell asleep in my arms,&#8221; Federo wrote in her journal, &#8220;I felt this overwhelming peace and these beautiful words popped into my head: This is what you were made for. I was made by love, for love, and I was made by God, for God.&#8221;</p><p>&#8221;These precious children, who were mostly suffering from cerebral palsy, blindness and seizures, were helping me get to heaven by simply letting me love them. Here, I thought <em>I</em> was helping <em>them</em>.&#8221;</p><p>Although she witnessed a great deal of suffering, Federo bonded with people she met, and appreciated the ways they showed her they felt a connection, too.</p><p>&#8220;When I was at Prem Dan there was this woman confined to her bed and a volunteer from Wales motioned for me to come over. She had a little cup of tea and a few little biscuits that she asked me to mush into the tea.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I had never seen a human being so thin, and alive,&#8221; said Federo, who spent the next hour feeding the woman the tea and biscuit mixture. &#8220;I could see her hip bones. I could see her clavicle. Some tea that dripped down her neck would collect there.&#8221;</p><p>When she helped the woman change into a fresh nightgown, Federo realized the woman weighed so little, &#8220;I could pick her up on my own.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I could tell that every movement caused her pain. I was running my fingers through her hair and just talking to her about my day. She probably didn&#8217;t understand what I was saying but she looked at me all of a sudden and just smiled. That was it. Just that little smile. I knew it hurt her to do that. When she did that it made every bit of it worthwhile. &#8220;</p><p>&#8220;I wish I could have brought her home with me.&#8221;</p><p>Federo, who had been working at part-time jobs and taking a few college courses back home, was wondering what to do next with her life when she felt called to undertake her mission trip.</p><p>&#8220;It has shown me I want to live a life of service, not necessarily traveling around the world and caring for the poor &#8212; that would be amazing &#8212; but looking at life as an opportunity to love people in the smallest ways. Each instance is an opportunity to forget myself and show them God&#8217;s love for them.&#8221;</p><p>Feeding people at Prem Dan, changing bed linens, rubbing lotion on dry skin, washing laundry and dishes were all ways Federo was able to show she cared.</p><p>At Shishu Bhavan, she found youngsters who simply wanted to be held, from &#8220;cute little Down babies&#8221; to an older child with a heart-breaking history.</p><p>&#8220;The most challenging thing was to see the good in things that really, really stunk,&#8221; Federo said, recalling &#8220;this one little girl, she would wrap her arms around your neck and her legs around your body. I thought she was 6 or 7 but she was actually 13. She looked a lot younger because she was malnourished.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;She had no eyes,&#8221; Federo said, launching into the most horrifying part of the story. &#8220;At first I thought she had been born that way but her father had removed her eyes. He had personally removed her eyes (apparently to make her a more effective beggar.) How do you see the good in that?&#8221;</p><p>Any hardships Federo faced on the trip &#8212; rats in a hostel; getting sick, perhaps from something she ate; breathing air of such poor quality that, as she read in a weather report, it was equivalent to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day &#8212; paled in comparison to the blind child&#8217;s situation.</p><p>Still, Federo said, &#8220;She brought so much light to our lives. She brought us joy. She wanted to be held, and I&#8217;m sure there was joy for her in that.&#8221;</p><p>In their free time Federo and other volunteers explored the streets on foot. She returned with photos that include a woman selling flowers, a man selling greenery, schoolboys the visitors joined in a soccer game, and a little girl whose parents wanted Federo to hold their child.</p><p>When the visiting American later asked the Missionaries of Charity to explain the incident, &#8220;The sisters said, it&#8217;s always the white women they ask. They think we are fortunate and that our good luck will spread to them. It&#8217;s a superstitious thing but really sweet and really humbling.&#8221;</p><p>Recording the brief encounter in her journal, Federo wrote, &#8220;I held her for 41 seconds at most after I had taken the shot. Her parents handed her to me because they believed it would bring good fortune to the child and even to themselves.&#8221;</p><p>&#8221;It took me eight long seconds to process that these folks pretty much threw their baby at me, a stranger. Once my brain was done processing I spent the remaining 33 seconds praying for her, for who she would become, the life she would lead and the people she would encounter, and when I handed her back to her Ma, I realized it is a privilege unlike any other to love and be loved by the people of Kolkata.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">After Grace Federo photographed this mother and child in India, the mother wanted the visiting American to hold the child. As the Missionaries of Charity with whom Federo was volunteering later explained, the mother likely expected this would bring the child good fortune. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_grace.mother.with_.baby_.jpeg</photo0><caption0>After Grace Federo photographed this mother and child in India, the mother wanted the visiting American to hold the child. As the Missionaries of Charity with whom Federo was volunteering later explained, the mother likely expected this would bring the child good fortune. </caption0><photoCredit0>Photo courtesy Grace Federo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_grace.with_.schoolchildren.jpeg">
<div class="neCaption">Grace Federo, of Plymouth Township, standing fifth from left, poses with other volunteers to India and a group of schoolboys they joined in a soccer game. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_grace.with_.schoolchildren.jpeg</photo1><caption1>Grace Federo, of Plymouth Township, standing fifth from left, poses with other volunteers to India and a group of schoolboys they joined in a soccer game. </caption1><photoCredit1>Photo courtesy Grace Federo </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_grace.woman_.with_.flowers.jpeg">
<div class="neCaption">This woman was one of several vendors selling flowers. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_grace.woman_.with_.flowers.jpeg</photo2><caption2>This woman was one of several vendors selling flowers. </caption2><photoCredit2>Photo courtesy Grace Federo </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_grace.child_.by_.basket.jpeg">
<div class="neCaption">Grace Federo remembers this child as &#8216;kind of a character. He was just posing for the camera; his mother was laughing at him.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_grace.child_.by_.basket.jpeg</photo3><caption3>Grace Federo remembers this child as &#8216;kind of a character. He was just posing for the camera; his mother was laughing at him.&#8217; </caption3><photoCredit3>Photo courtesy Grace Federo </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_grace.people.washing.jpeg">
<div class="neCaption">Some Kolkata residents wash clothes outdoors. Volunteers with the Missionaries of Charity, in contrast, washed clothes indoors by pounding them with their hands in a sink, they carrying them to the roof to hang them out to dry. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_grace.people.washing.jpeg</photo4><caption4>Some Kolkata residents wash clothes outdoors. Volunteers with the Missionaries of Charity, in contrast, washed clothes indoors by pounding them with their hands in a sink, they carrying them to the roof to hang them out to dry. </caption4><photoCredit4>Photo courtesy Grace Federo </photoCredit4></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_grace.man_.with_.cane_.jpeg">
<div class="neCaption">This elderly man seemed happy to have his photo taken, Grace Federo said. &#8216;He smiled at me and I smiled at him.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo5>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_grace.man_.with_.cane_.jpeg</photo5><caption5>This elderly man seemed happy to have his photo taken, Grace Federo said. &#8216;He smiled at me and I smiled at him.&#8217; </caption5><photoCredit5>Photo courtesy Grace Federo </photoCredit5></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mary Therese Biebel</p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

Trip to India confirms local woman’s desire to serve