“We do remember her as we first saw her, sitting by the fireside awaiting our return from church. As we drew near and spoke to her, she shrank away frightened, while tears and sobs were her only response. An hour later we saw her quietly sleeping on her pillow, her hand tightly clasping a bit of candy, that sweet comforter of childhood’s sorrows. As she grew up to womanhood, she learned English and became our interpreter.” —Margaret Culbertson, writing about six-year-old Chun Fah, 1878
Chun Fah is one of the "success" stories we see in the mission home ledgers. There were so many successes, and there were also many losses. Donaldina Cameron made it a habit to leave a blank section after the names of the young women who were not able to overcome their fears and trauma, and either refused help in the end, or returned to their former lives in a brothel. I think of these blank spaces in the mission home ledger as spaces of hope and spaces in our hearts when we know we can love more, serve more, and accept all those in need of our time and love.
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