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The Breath of Life An Easter Miracle in Jamaica
SVD Brother Saves the life of a Child

“There is a boy in the pit!”

From the moment he heard these words – Holy Week and the resurrection of Christ will live in Linh Pham’s memory “for a long time.”

Linh is a 2003 Divine Word College graduate who is completing his Cross-Cultural Training Program in St. Thomas, Jamaica. In his Easter greeting of April 6, 2007 to Fr. Ken Anich, SVD, at DWC, Linh begins by describing his pastoral ministry duties. He says, “I was struggling at first, but now it’s better…except for teaching Bible class on Monday, April 2nd, in Golden Grove.”

A small community of more than three hundred sugar cane workers, Golden Grove houses them in barracks owned by the St. Thomas Sugar Company. And here, in Golden Grove, Brother Bernie Spitzley, SVD, Fr. Walter Mendonca, SVD, and Linh Pham teach Bible classes to some forty children.

Linh’s job is to work with the youngest children, ages 5 – 9. “They are so full of energy, so I do my best to keep them busy coloring images from the Bible. I was about to lead the entire group in prayer when a man screamed: “There is a boy in the pit!” and we ran to the back of the yard, where a 10 ft. pit for a toilet was built.” The pit, filled with water from recent rains, was over 5 ft. deep.

A man jumped into the green-brown, murky water and pulled out the lifeless body of a 4-year-old boy. As Linh gathered the students to pray, Mendonca called for medical assistance.

Bro. Bernie, a 1977 graduate of Divine Word College, sprang into action.

“For over 15 minutes, he kept trying, clearing vomit and dirty water from the boy’s mouth and nose – breathing new life into the lifeless body,” Linh wrote. “I still can hear the people standing around crying: “let him go, he is gone.”

But Bro. Bernie kept on, refusing to give up, and “surely life returned to the little boy,” Linh noted. Finally, help arrived, and the boy was taken to the local hospital. When they stopped to visit him later that evening, “his mother was most grateful to Brother Bernie for his efforts.” “And yes, we can all say a miracle took place,” said Linh.

“That Monday of Holy Week will have a special message for me, as I prepare myself to enter more deeply into the dying and rising of the Lord Jesus. We at Golden Grove experienced new life breathed into a young boy… Jahiem David, who was dead and was given new life.”