When the Jewish shepherds heard the Angel announce them the birth of Jesus Christ, they were at first petrified by the sight. But what followed soothed their hearts as the message given to them by the Angel was filled with hope and light in a dark and cold night.
When the Jewish shepherds heard the Angel announce them the birth of Jesus Christ, they were at first petrified by the sight. But what followed soothed their hearts as the message given to them by the Angel was filled with hope and light in a dark and cold night.
Luke, a disciple of Jesus and one of the Biblical writers, wrote in his letter to Theophilus the words uttered by the Angel. “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David (Bethlehem) a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord”.
Luke beautifully portrays the picture in his letter and the scene described by him echoes the writings of another Biblical author, who lived 400 years before Luke, but carried the same message in his book, Isaiah. Isaiah who wrote about the birth of Jesus called him a great light. Like the shepherds who being in a dark night saw a great light, Isaiah writes “the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shined. For unto us, a child is born, unto us a son is given”.
Isn’t this the essence of Christmas? Isn’t this why we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ year after year. Not just to decorate our houses with stars and Christmas trees and feast on rich plum cakes, but to give light to the unprivileged who are still in darkness. Darkness of lack, darkness of poverty, darkness of illiteracy, darkness of hatred and darkness of neglect.
"The message of the cross and the birth of Christ, is all about acceptance regardless of the colour of the skin or other differences" - Gill Amma.
It was this message that echoed in the heart of Katheleen Dawn Gill, a country side girl from New South Wales, as she sailed from Australia to India as a 21-year-old, to share the light with unprivileged kids at a Children’s Home in Chennai, run by the Salvation Army Charitable Organisation.
At 77 now, Katheleen Dawn, called fondly as “Gill Amma” or “Mummy” by her children at Haven, the home she worked in for more than 15 years, is still energetic and running with the same zeal she had as a teenager. She was recently at the Salvation Army Guest House to meet the children she had raised almost forty years ago.
“I still remember the call I had from God. I was watching television one day and there was a footage about some Indians on it. As I was watching it, I heard a strong voice speak to me. It said, “Katheleen Dawn, these are the people I want you to work with”. Nobody would call me with my full name, other than my mother when she is angry. The moment I heard it, it knew it was God,” she narrates with gleaming eyes.
Though she was not very receptive of the call, she could not deny it either as she was too scared to say no to God. “I sat on it for a few years while I worked at a hospital wishing it was just a dream. Then I heard the same voice saying the same words again. This time around, I knew I had to go,” she says.
One of the major hindrances she had at that time was her shyness and lack of confidence. “As a kid, I would run and hide even when my aunties came to visit us and would come out only after they had left. I could not imagine myself talking with people and tried very hard to get rid of my shyness. I always felt I lacked the skills required to be who I was called to be,” says Gill Amma.
However, she mustered up her courage and sailed alone from Australia to Chennai in 1965 and began serving children as The Youth Secretary (TYS) at the Haven in Vepery in Chennai. Like her name, Katheleen was indeed Dawn to many lives in darkness at her new home and life opened up an altogether new perspective.
“In the initial days at the Haven, we had atleast 13 new born babies. Some of them were given birth at the home and some where abandoned at our doorsteps by their parents. I was used to working with children at the hospital and it was something I liked. So it was easy for me to do my job. I just had to train myself to be strict so as to raise the kids properly. They were very vulnerable as kids and we had more than a few girl children too. I had many sleepless nights and even went around the campus at night to watch guard,” narrates Gill Amma.
On a few occasions, she had personally rescued children from grave situations when unknown men had entered the campus.
While security was a huge problem at the campus, as they did not have a wall initially, with less sponsorship and patronage, food and ration were also major troubles for Gill Amma and her team to feed the children.
“When I got to the hostel, there were 60 members including children and adults. There were too many mouths to feed and it was here we started seeing miracle after miracle. We prayed and all our prayers were answered. There were many times where one person or the other would drop in some food or hand us a cheque leaf. We would not have survived if God did not help us all the while,” she says.
It was indeed the miracles that kept her going all the years she served at the Haven. Having seen a few children die due to sickness and fighting a severe Hepatitis condition herself, she was in a battle of her own. As her health worsened, Gill Amma had to leave home a few times to allow her mind and body to recover. However, once she was well, she always came back until she finished what she was called for.
“There were numerous occasions where I had felt like going back to Australia. But I just could not do it and as years went on, I started feeling comfortable. Though the hepatitis left me bed ridden and out of mission centre for close to a year, I encouraged myself to continue being at the home,” her confident tone says it all.
Leaving her field in India in 1980 could have been very difficult for her. But coming back to see the children she had raised and meeting them all under the same roof after almost 40 years has surely boosted her spirit.
“It was so emotional. I remember them as mischievous kids and seeing them grow into successful business people, theologians, professionals, husbands and wives, I am more than happy,” she sounds elated.
At the get together, she had a wonderful time of singing with her children. She even served food for her children and their children and thanked them coming together as one and be a part of the same family again. “Mummy was very strict with us and would give us a beating whenever we did a mistake. But we had seen her pray for us with tears in her eyes and take good care of us. We can now see how her raising of us has shaped us,” says A. Jeevarathinam, one of her children.
For Gill Amma, the message of the cross and the birth of Christ, is all about acceptance, regardless of the colour of the skin or other differences. “I believe Jesus came for everyone of us and not for any particular person or group. We ought to have an open mind and share the love of Christ with everyone regardless of who they are or what their belief is,” she says.
Isn’t It The True Essence Of Christmas?