The first beginnings of my life at RTU was in 1986, when at the age of 19, Brother offered me work as an Office Assistant, due to problems in my family. My knowledge of English was poor, but Brother was very kind enough to train me to write, type and speak in English. I considered this as a great foundation stone for my personal development as well as my future career at RTU in childcare.
In my personal life, he helped to build a house for my parents on a loan basis. He was the first person to attend my marriage blessing. Back then, he ran an adoption programme for abandoned babies on behalf of the authorities, and unable to have children, he arranged for me and my husband to adopt a child. On 27th April 2000, he presented a beautiful daughter when she was just 7 days old who he had saved from female infanticide.
In May 2000, RTU’s first HIV+ girl child, Swathi, came from Secondrabad. She was neglected by her parents because of HIV. In this situation, he worried and was very compassionate towards this HIV infected child and wanted to give her a good life. Then he planned ahead and prepared us all to accept other HIV+ children and care for them. He exchanged a lot of details about HIV to impart to the foster mothers in the Children's Villages. I saw the real affection he had towards these children. This touched me very much.
Though he was a Christian brother, he respected all the religions and attended the local Hindu and Muslim festivals. Seeing my religious look, some public and Government officials were surprised and asked me, “How have you been remaining as a Hindu while you are working under a Christian person? Did not he convert you to become a Christian?”. But I said to them, “Brother is here only for the poor and caring for the children, and not for any religious purposes”.
In my experience, we used to receive an orphan baby during Christmas and on his birthday. This and all the children who were brought to us, he considered as a gift of God.
I saw Brother James as my guru, father, guide, trainer, teacher, supporter, counsellor, animator and good friend. I am sure I will travel with his spirit until my end.
G Shanmugalatha
Assistant Director
