She Did What She Could

August 1998. We had gone as missionaries from Chennai to Kolkata with our four month old son, Giftson. There was this timid and poor Santali tribal girl from a small village from the neigbouring state of Assam. She looked tall and pale. Her tribal dress looked worn-out too. Many students like Maduri had come in the same week of our arrival there to the then run down old facility of Calcutta Bible Seminary (CBS). During the first week as I kept building my bonds with the new students, I found Maduri wearing the same dress all through. I wanted to help her. As a family newly shifted to the city of Calcutta, I had only taken few of my best sarees. The rest of our household things were yet to come. I gave Maduri some of my sarees. She accepted my gift with her typical smile. It took some more days for me to understand that she came from a tribal culture where they choose to wear the same dress until it wears out. This incident gave us an opportunity to teach students like Maduri about basic cleanliness and hygiene.

Maduri was an average student at CBS. She was not so good at academics. But I remember during her final year of studies in 2002, when CBS ministry by then had extended its activities in the Sundarban islands, it was she who opted to go as a missionary first there. She and another student named Shenbagavalli started to work in the Namkhana block, a totally unreached area with the gospel, by staying in a rented house. Today churches and worshipping groups have come up not only in that block but in several other blocks in Sundarbans, all because of the pioneering ministry of students of Calcutta Bible Seminary like Maduri.

Maduri after graduation went as a missionary to Gujarat. She was still timid but her missionary zeal was great. She joined VBS ministries which has its headquarters in Palayamkottai, Tamil Nadu. She travelled the lengths and breadths of India to places in Gujarat, Jharkhand and West Bengal. She used to come to Bangalore quite often (we by then had moved to this city from Calcutta) bringing candidates from various states for VBS training. She visited our house in Bangalore and saw Giftson, our son grown as a young lad by then. During one visit, I saw her thrust a 500 rupee note in his hand and she said, “Giffy this is for you.” It was a moving scene for me because I could see the way God had transformed Maduri not only spiritually but  also economically. During that visit  sitting near to her, I heard from her stories regarding translating children's materials in various languages and about conducting VBSs ' in remote villages in India. I told her, “Maduri, you are a lady apostle to our nation.” She smiled back.

She used to talk to me quite often over phone to the extent that sometimes I had to say, “Maduri, I am in the middle of this work. Can you call  mea little later?” Now I know that I have to wait for my turn to talk to her in heaven. Her main concern in all those telephone calls centred around one cause. She was deeply concerned for her own tiny village in Assam. She shared about the frequent tribal wars in her place which have left so many as orphans. I also learnt through her that children in her place have no access to good education. She often told me of her willingness to donate a huge piece of land for building a school and was pressing me hard to visit her place in this regard. I regret that I could not plan a trip while she was alive.

1970-2012

Maduri was basically not a healthy girl. Since she traveled widely and frequently her health which was already poor, started to deteriorate. Phone conversations  became less frequent in the last few months. When I enquired through other sources I was told that her health grew worse with repeated attacks of typhoid. I was also told that in spite of her poor health conditions, she did her ministry faithfully in Gujarat and Jharkhand until November. Choosing to remain as a single, she toiled hard like apostle Paul .

20 December, 2012. I was conversing with Rita, a contemporary and friend of Maduri, during our mission trip in the Sundarban islands. I was thinking a lot about Maduri on that day and was desperately wanting to talk to her over phone, only to know later that it was on this very same day she went to be with the Lord forever. Tearfully I went down my memory lane bringing back thoughts of all that Maduri meant to me. In the midst of tears, a wave of happiness overwhelmed me when I began to think about her contribution to our nation as a lady apostle. One thing that is bothering me however is her vision for her village in Assam for “a school.”

One day I want to visit Maduri’s place with a team and then would prayerfully look forward to see a school built in memory of her. And I want my friends and well-wishers to be in that team to see Maduri’s dream come true!

"She did what she could." (Mark 14:8)