“Garden of God”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 777, 25 September 1929, Page 8

“Garden of God”

Intimate Glimpses of Makogai

SOME poignant memories of the leper island of Makogai are retained by Miss Doris Wilson, of Auckland, who was a passenger on the pleasure yacht Valkyrie when the craft visited the South Sea Islands some months ago.

An abridged account of Miss Wilson’s impressions of the self-sacrifice of the Sisters of Mercy and the pitiable plight of the lepers themselves is given here—impressions which seem to justify her title for Makogai of “The Garden of God.”

Compensations are few in this small colony so far from the beaten track, writes Miss Wilson, odd vessels pay very occasional visits here, and the Government yacht Pioneer call 3 from Fiji twice a year with visitors to the patients; holidays are few and far between and new sights welcomed by the workexs, whose sole outlook for years is to where the jagged reef-line cuts the bluey-green waves into a flurry of white foam. My first impression, as I stepped ashore from the launch on the Initial visit to Makogai leper station, was an indefinable foreboding; an indistinct suggestion of oppression as if a hint of misex-y and pain was hanging like a veil over the red-roofed, snow-white houses, and yet the sun was hi-ight and the flower-beds blazed in a myriad, coloui-s, jewels in the setting of verdant lawn which practically covers the island. How wrong I was! I came away from Makogai saddened because of the pain the patients have to suffer; elated because of the Spirit of God which shines in the faces of the ministers of these suffering children; and humbled for any discontent I had voiced in my short life. AFFLICTED CHILDREN The natives were mostly clad in their usual attire and an absence of institution uniforms was apparent; but the Fijian schoolboys were easily distinguished for their jumpei-s and trousers were of red and white-striped print—bright and cool—and these hoys are so full of mischief and the vivacity that characterises auy schoolboy the world over that it is incredible to have to realise that these children are lepers. Mostly the Sistei’s of Mercy are of French extraction, and their charming broken English, their smiling eyes, their deprecating little ways, and their anxiety to please ai-e in such exquisite harmony that contact with them necessarily alters life —they will live in my heart for ever as an unforgettable memory. The first ward we saw in the leper station was the children’s ward—pathetic evidence of such an early departure from life and a pai-ents’ tender care—and some of the children are such little tots. The ward was enormous, airy and glitteringly clean in every detail. Huge windows, open wide, let in a constant stream of cool ail' which mitigated any offensive odour which, care and evei-y cleanliness apai't, might creep in. From the beds a wondex-ful view of the blue, blue sea made an artist s canvas to bi'ing joy to the most critical.

Some of these .beds are so tiny—so j helpless —and so very neat. Little | pillow-cases are embroidered beautl- ! fully and the bright cottons, in many instances, are woven into loving words on which the heads of tiny exiles rest I after their prayers have been said ! and the lights turned out. I In the Chinese house, one of the l many separate, white-roofed houses, I were several had cases. Against the j side of a bed in a corner crouched a I Chinese, his praying attitude one of j utter despair; the ravaged face he | raised to our pitying inspection was la shocking sight. We walked through j many rooms and houses such as this; | many different nationalities are | housed, but all castes are separated. OPEN-AIR MOVIES The ice refrigerator is entirely run by a very clever engineer, Sister Suzanne, a Frenchwoman of absolutely radiant personality, and she also works the moving-picture appaj ratus. The moving pictures are flung ion a sheet suspended between two I palms, and the lepers seated around on the cool grass watch the succesj sion of pictures of people and places which perhaps they, in their far-off I island, will never see. Near this i building is the large store where the : patients shop twice a week with the I money they earn through working 1 round the island. | It is quite a town, this small colony | with Its workshops equipped with up-to-date machines; its milling and j turning machine, and other small en- ; gineerlng machines. The general I agricultural farming industry is making great strides; here all the food | required is grown by natives specially ! employed, and this is purchased by the lepers who are paid by the Government for all work done. The European quarters have five occupants, but only two of these were visible, for the others were incurable cases aud were in wire-enclosed rooms set aside for them. In the first room, spotlessly neat and filled with books and toys, was a tiny white lad of ten years old. When he was three years old a Solomon Islander who had the disease nursed him, and this wee kiddie had been badly infected with the leprosy. . . . He is placed in the sun and shade at | the foot of a large tree when his health warrants the move from his room, and there he gazes into the distance. Nothing on this earth can ever repay the workers there for their selfsacrifice—their tenderness and their j help—-and their days which are slipping past in the service of others.