“One person can make a difference and every person can try.” John Fitzgerald Kennedy
In 1994, Deogratias fled the violence in his native country of Burundi and arrived in New York with only $200 in his pocket. He found a job delivering groceries for Gristedes at 89th Street and Lexington Avenue. One day he made a delivery to the nearby Church of St. Thomas More and met someone who worked there, Sharon McKenna, a former nun. Deo had no way of knowing that this woman would set in motion events that would change his life.
The story of Deo and Sharon is told in brilliant narrative in Tracy Kidder’s best selling book, Strength in What Remains. “I told him (Kidder) he gave me a lot to live up to,” Sharon says with a laugh. On December 14, Kidder will discuss his book at St. Thomas More (photo, below).
When Deo met Sharon he was homeless with little hope of continuing the medical studies he had begun in Burundi. Remarkably, Deo will not only graduate from medical school soon, but in 2008, he also established Village Health Works now operating a clinic in Burundi. In its first year of operation, the clinic served more than 20,000 people, dispensing AIDS medication, vaccinating residents, and operating a deworming program. And it all started with the kindness of a stranger.
Of course, there were many others who helped Deo: a Hutu woman who risked her own life to help Deo, a Tutsi, travel to Rwanda; Muhammed, a worker at Kennedy Airport who shared his very humble lodgings in Harlem; Charlie and Nancy Wolf, who generously paid for Deo’s tuition to Columbia University; and, Dr. Paul Farmer, the subject of a previous Kidder book, who mentored Deo at Harvard. Yet, there’s no doubt that meeting Sharon changed the path of Deo’s life.
Delivery people in Manhattan are ubiquitous, but, in many ways, invisible. In Kidder’s book, we see through Deo’s eyes how it feels to be dismissed without a tip or a smile. No one who meets Sharon, however, suffers that fate. When Deo appeared at the church rectory, he found a woman who took the time to speak with him in his native French. Having found someone he could talk with, Deo returned again and again. “I happened to be in the right place that day,” says Sharon. Deo soon learned that Sharon’s interest in him was genuine. And she was persistent. Finding him a place to live became her mission. After many conversations and cajoling from Sharon, Deo moved in with the Wolfs, who would then help him gain admission to Columbia.
To those who know Sharon, what she did for Deo is not unusual. “Human kindness for Sharon is a big deal,” says Kathleen Suspanic, a parishioner at St. Thomas More who has done volunteer work with Sharon for many years. “When you hear about Sharon’s childhood you have a family that was so open to everything it made her less judgmental. That’s a gift that they gave her for sure.”
Sharon and her older brother, Charles, grew up in Norwich, Vermont, across the bridge from Dartmouth University in Hanover, New Hampshire. Their father graduated from Dartmouth and worked for the government, while their mother was Norwich’s postmistress. “Growing up in Vermont, you cherished everything—the land, the animals, everything you had and the people who came into your life,” says Sharon. “It bothers me to see the waste here. We take so much for granted. Just to be able to have a warm, clean shower is a gift.”
Although her family was not wealthy, anyone who needed help or lodging was never turned away. “My parents wanted more children, but couldn’t have them,” she says. “That allowed them to bring other people into our home.” The pine-paneled attic was nicknamed “The Penthouse,” and overlooked the Connecticut River. Over the years, many guests would enjoy those accommodations. Sharon’s mother, trained as a nutritionist, had a garden and was “excellent with food.”
After her freshman year at Wellesley College, Sharon participated in an international program that preceded the Peace Corps, traveling through Europe and the Middle East. “I had a vague desire to do something to make this a more peaceful world,” she recalls. Living for a time with a family in France, Sharon visited Lourdes and seriously considered becoming a nun. “Could I possibly be called to something like this?” she says she asked herself. She transferred to the Catholic Manhattanville and after graduation entered a Benedictine convent in Connecticut, where she remained for 30 years. When the abbess announced a program to construct more lavish facilities, Sharon decided to leave. Like Deo, she arrived in New York with little money and no job. She found her way to St. Thomas More and Monsignor George Bardes, then the pastor, hired her. One of her jobs was to tend the flowers in the church, something she loved because of her mother’s gardens. She also helped couples with wedding arrangements and taught Sunday school for four and five year-old children.
Sharon brings a small-town sensibility to New York. “I find the small town is here, too,” she says. “Everyone has a story and basic human needs and aspirations.” Sharon, herself, lives simply in a small apartment. In the book, Deo discovers her modest accommodations and feels guilty he has been taking money from her. Yet Sharon doesn’t believe she did anything extraordinary helping Deo or the many others she has helped in the past and will help in the future. “When we open ourselves to others, we are able to share in their stories,” she explains. “Compassion flows naturally.”
To contribute to Deo’s clinic, please visit www.villagehealthworks.com
