THERE are some conversations in life that could go on and on.
That was the hope after spending only an hour with Jill Lee Gibbs.
Some of her experiences as a nurse are unimaginable – as is the value she places on what can be achieved with eyes of faith on a Trinitarian God.
Jill’s story begins on Queensland’s Capricorn Coast.
Educated at St Ursula’s College, Yeppoon, she “followed” her older sister into nursing because “there weren’t many professions at that time” for her “type” of family.
The “type” Jill referred to is “poor”.
“My father was a labourer,” she said.
“(And) the expectations of what work path you would follow were different (to today).
“You either worked in an office, taught, worked in a shop or nursed.”
Jill said she “wanted to do something useful” and while working at The Mater Hospital, Rockhampton, she “had the good fortune of” meeting Bishop Francis Rush, then Bishop of Rockhampton, who provided a “link” with Wewak diocese in the East Sepik District of Papua New Guinea.
“Once when he was visiting the hospital I asked if I could talk to him,” Jill said.
“His was a friend of Archbishop Arkfeld of Wewak diocese.
“(And) I offered myself to go there.”
It was 1965 and “a wild time” followed.
Amused, she recalled “preparing by reading a book on snakes”.
“Nursing there was very different of course,” Jill said.
“I was sent to a coastal area where there were Holy Spirit Sisters, for orientation.
“After six weeks I was told I’d be sent to a little place called Kaugia. I had to start medical services in that area.”
Not daunted by the task Jill said she “was only just learning (the language of) Pidgin” and began “a little bush station” with no electricity and an airstrip ferrying supplies once a week.
First referred to by the locals as “nurse” this is where Jill’s story is endlessly fascinating.
She recalls patients as if having treated them yesterday.
“They brought in a child bitten by a death adder in one of the food gardens,” she said.
“The people knew which snakes were venemous … I had some antivenin and I got into her vein but she fitted and I thought, ‘I’ve lost it’ (the opportunity to save the child).
“(But) I got in again and she lived and that really made my reputation because they don’t see many people live after being bitten by a death adder.”
In time Jill was moved to another area and the locals called her “Sil” because they didn’t have the letter “J” in their language.
Before long, she gained their trust and witnessed “lots of dramatic things”.
“Once I sewed a bloke’s lower lip back on,” she said.
“They had a fight over land – they always had fights over land.
“One such fight happened at a ‘sing-sing’ and by three o’clock in the morning our small air strip was packed as everyone waited to see if anyone would die because then it would be on for young and old.”
All the while Jill said she “had to cope because what’s your alternative?” and then spoke of how faith in God helped.
“I was there because of that (faith),” she said.
“I wanted to do a type of nursing that was looking after people who were poor or needier (and) … in a densely populated area.”
Jill realised Papua New Guineans “have a fine sense of justice”.
“If you were cross with them about something that was legitimate they had no problems with that,” she said.
The area in which Jill worked was under the care of the Divine Word Missionaries.
“We had essentially two types of patients – sick and injured or maternal and child welfare,” she said.
“The sick and injured would be treated any time, day or night and for free (and) for our maternal and child welfare work, each village had a day marked out for them.”
Jill asked “not a payment but a thank you” and as such, people brought “a little something to say thanks (like) a few bananas, corn, a pawpaw, some green vegetable from their food garden, a coconut”.
“People were really good about that.”
In time the missionaries invited (the then) Movement for a Better World, an international outreach for “communitarian renewal of Church and society” to give a retreat in the diocese.
“In the mid-’70s I had never heard of these people,” Jill said.
“(And) I’d gone to retreats for lay missionaries but it was ‘old hat’ stuff and I wasn’t interested in that.
“That retreat was a real eye opener for me – a heart opener as well.
“I was struck by this group of priests and religious together.”
The group’s beginnings were in Italy when Jesuit Father Riccardo Lombardi “called urgently for reconciliation, unity and hope to heal the hatred, division and despair from which society was suffering”.
Their members are “passionate about promoting the type of collective change in ways of thinking, in values and attitudes, in ways of relating and acting that will result in a better world and a better Church”.
Jill said she was struck by the invitation to understand “the Trinity as a holy communion – a community of three divine persons who communicate among one another, with love and truth flowing freely among themselves and overflowing into and onto the whole human family”.
“(With that understanding) to say you are made in the ‘image and likeness of God’ changes your whole focus,” Jill said.
“Individualistic spirituality just hasn’t got a place … (and) that was a big revelation to me – that we are made in the image and likeness of God who is a community.”
Jill said she learnt “the Trinity is the key thing” in relationships.
“(It means) unity … dialogue and communication based on love and truth,” she said.
“The Gospel is meant to be lived … (and) we are meant to be Church with a ‘communion style’ of life.”
Upon her return to Brisbane Jill undertook another Movement for a Better World retreat and it was “an affirmation” of the former experience.
She then decided to officially “work with the group”.
It became Community for a Better World “after some trial and error”.
Jill spent 16 years based in Rome as a member of the international leadership team and was vice-director for the last eight years. During that time she travelled widely offering training and formation for groups in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Korea, India, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
Jill also worked with dioceses in the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, enabling them to “embark on a long-term journey of renewal towards a Church of communion and participation”.
“We had a particular planning method that allowed us to help people to take a really deep look at key aspects of life and culture and particularly religious culture,” Jill said.
While their retreats are fewer these days the values and outcomes already achieved remain.
The outreach also continues to “search for new avenues and ways to promote the ongoing renewal of Church and society”.
“To be members of the group we need to be people of hope,” Jill said.
The lay evangelist is also the co-author of Journey Together – a formation program for leadership of pastoral workers in parishes. The booklet, sold through The Leader, will soon be in its second edition.
Community for a Better World has an international meeting in Rome this month with two Australians attending.
While Jill will remain in contact with them from Brisbane, she will no doubt, continue to hope for and contribute to a “better world”.
Here’s hoping another conversation with her will also follow suit.
