Sunday Guardian

November 2, 1997

Page 19

One night, as she was giving soup to a vagrant

she looked at him and felt she saw a vision of Christ.

That further transformed her life.

Just over eight years ago, Rhonda Maingot was part of the group of concerned citizens who began a project to show that private individuals can make a difference in the fight against drug addiction.

Since then, thousands of individuals have made the journey to a new life through the help of the New Life Ministries Drug Rehabilitation Centre, the nation's foremost programme for drug prevention and demand reduction initiatives.

Through a comprehensive package of prevention material, the centre runs an intensive two-year recovery programme for drug addicts from various walks of life.

New Life Ministries networks with several other key non-governmental organizations.

For Maingot, New Life Ministries is just one of several projects she has started and continues to work on.

Some twenty years ago, she founded the Living Water Community. A Catholic lay community, the organization offers daily and nightly assistance - food, medicine, clothing, shelter, cash donations as well as spiritual care, parental guidance and human love - to the poor, underprivileged, abandoned, battered and ailing throughout Trinidad and Tobago.

Out of the Living Waters project came several other projects.

Under Maingot's guidance, the mission also operates a "Caring Centre" at Duncan Street where every day 200 poor people, who live in night shelters, are given breakfast and lunch.

There is also a dental and medical clinic. There are baths available for the homeless as well as clothing. A "Caring Centre" has also been established in San Fernando.

The L'Hospice at Warren Street takes care of individuals who are terminally ill. There is also a "Half Way House" for battered women and abandoned children who are kept until age 13. Some of the children are sent there by the courts.

At the Marion House, 20 to 30 homeless youths are cared for and taught some trade, and helped to find work.

There is also another "Half Way House" for street children who ran away from abusive parents and step-parents.

Aptly, the motto of the Living Waters reads: "If any man is thirsty, let him come to me…and from his breast shall flow fountains of living water."

Maingot has also been instrumental in the setting up Trinity Television Network on Cableview's channel 9.

The Living Water Community is responsible for its operations and programming and, according to its organizers, the station attempts to reach and teach people in the community by touching on spiritual, social and cultural issues.

Asked about the work she does Maingot smiles warmly:

"What I do is not work. I never had this plan for my life but I feel privileged to be called by God."

Indeed, before her life of serving God, Maingot enjoyed a life of advantage. The fifth child of seven children, she was born at Pointe-a-Pierre where she attended the St Peter's School. She was one of the founders and a shareholder in Climate Control before it was brought out by Neal and Massy.

But despite the advantages of this well-off life, Maingot was not happy.

"At the age of 28, I had an experience with God," she said, "I felt a tremendous healing."

Saying that her greatest gift in life was realizing that she loved God and that God loved her, Maingot said:

"Each human being is a child of God and whatever we do in community will assist that person to participate in life."

It is the philosophy that drives of her life's work with the poor. "It's a privilege to work for the poor. The people I meet on the streets are precious to me."

"I wish there was a real will not to have poor people in our country and that those who make decisions would do everything to ensure that every person had the necessities of life."

She said that a country should not have so many people on the streets especially Trinidad and Tobago given that there are so many resources available.

Even though she prefers to keep out of the spotlight, she still appeals to the authorities to become more proactive in dealing with poverty and homelessness.

She has also on occasion, found the time to write letters to the editor, protesting against a plan to allow work on Sundays and once again, extorting our women to behave and dress decently during Carnival time.

Daily, Maingot shows that, as an individual, she can make a difference - visiting the poor and the homeless on the streets, giving food, taking the sick to the hospital.

"I feel very fulfilled as a woman", she said, "The period of my life that I'm living in right now is precious. Every day is precious and fulfilling.

As long as at the end of the day I was able to touch the life of one person, there is no other fulfillment that I could want."

And she has a simple message to share: "If we all learnt to live simply, everyone will be able to simply live."

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