Sabira's conversion, from Mumbai's streets to caring for HIV sufferers, like a “Mother Teresa"
Mumbai (AsiaNews) - Sabira was only seven years old when she ran away from home with her brother. It was 1991, and the two children were running away from a life of absolute poverty, hunger, a violent mother and the ghost of a dead alcoholic father. On the streets she got to know Sr. Seraphim, of the Sisters of Charity, who brought her to the Jesuit hostel Snehasadan in Mumbai, where street children are welcomed and cared for. It was here, along with her brother, that Sabira encountered the Virgin, "a woman everyone prayed to, but I did not understand why." But many years later, as an adult and no longer in the hostel, she decided to convert to Catholicism and serve the sick with the "love and joy of Christ," like Mother Teresa.
Sabira Mohammed
Yasin Sheikh - this is her full name - was born June 12, 1984 in Mumbai, to a
Muslim family. Speaking
to AsiaNews, she says that "life at home was unbearable. Together
with my brother I ran away." On
September 8, 1991, Sr. Seraphim found the two children when, among the
thousands of people who flock to the Dadar Railway Station and decided to take
them with her to Snehasadan.
"The
hostel - says the girl - was founded by the Jesuits, who ran it along with the
Sisters of Charity of the order of St. Anne. I remember well that all of the children
prayed to Mary. I, who did not know who this woman was, I
could not understand why others 'prayed' to someone else, who they called
'Mother Mary'. I was thinking about my mother, who had been so violent with me".
However,
"the sisters told me I could pray to anyone, but I had to pray because it
was important. Later I asked the other children why they prayed to Mary, and
they told me that she would answer them and their prayers. Nevertheless, I
still did not understand" .
Despite this
"misunderstanding", Sabira's life continued serenly. "The
nuns were very kind and motherly - she says - and soon made me feel at ease,
safe and loved in this shelter, without lacking anthing." Sometime
later, she enrolled in school, lagging behind the other students because her
mother had never allowed her to study
"One
day - she recalls - I needed a small favor: I had finished the shampoo, so I
asked Mary to help me. I told no-one, but a few days later a donor to the
hostel gave us a huge bottle of shampoo. It
was the first time I experienced the love of Our Lady! Since then, I began to
pray every day to help me study. Though I was not good at school, I always passed
the exams. "
Sabira suffered
another blow when, at age 16, she was diagnosed with a painful form of
arthritis, which resulted in long periods spent in hospital. However
she still managed to finish high school, after which she enrolled in the Mother
Vanni school of nursing, in Andhra Pradesh. Despite
the many hospitalizations, in 2010 she graduated as a nurse practitioner.
"About
mid 2010 - she said - I started working
full-time at the Holy Family. My arthritis was under control thanks to intensive
treatment, so in January 2011, a colleague of mine, Anita Barboza, invited me
on a four-day
retreat at Tabor Ahram, a prayer center dedicated to Our Lady. For two years
I've had no pain, and no need for treatment or drugs. "
Little by little, "I began to reflect on my life and all the wonders with which Mary and her son Jesus had blessed me and my brother. He had finished his studies and had got a good job. The love of Christ and Our Lady stirred my heart. " Sabira started to go to Mass on a regular basis: "I wanted to receive this Jesus, whom I loved so dearly. Deep in my heart I wanted to be baptized and become Catholic, to serve Christ with love and gratitude."
Thus, in July
2012 she began the journey of the catechumenate. However
a new attack of rheumatoid arthritis, led to another hospitalization in severe
pain. "I
have not given up - says Sabira - to the temptation of the devil. I never
thought 'God does not love me', because I knew that the love of the Lord was
with me."
Today,
with the help of a Snehasadan program to trace the families of street
children, Sabira and her brother returned to live with their mother in a house
bought by the boy. Sabira
is a nurse with Doctors Without Borders who works with people with HIV / AIDS
and tuberculosis, and her greatest desire is "to be like Mother Teresa to
serve the sick with love and joy, the joy that comes from knowing that He first loved us. "
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