Canadian Mennonite
Volume 11, No. 16
August 20, 2007
Mother pens book in son’s memory
Herschel, Sask.
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Mary Sawatzky is a mother in mourning. Four years after her son died, she is slowly putting the pieces of her life back together. But it has been a long, pain-filled walk.
Wade was a child who touched everyone’s life. A bright, loving, outgoing boy, he took time for all he met. He loved ladybugs and, when he spotted one, would pick it up and breathe a prayer of blessing for a friend. Only seven years old, he was already a pastor in his own way, showing concern for others and including those he knew in his nightly prayers.
“I used to call him ‘the little old man,’” says Sawatzky. “He had such an old soul.”
It seems almost incomprehensible then that a boy with a heart so full of love should face death so soon. In July 2003, the Sawatzky family had just returned from a holiday. With his 13-year-old sister Paige, weeding the garden nearby, young Wade was playing in the horse corral on their farm. Nobody saw what happened, but his sister found him lying in the dirt and he was rushed to emergency. Some believe he was kicked by a horse, but no one knows for sure.
Friends and family gathered in support as the Sawatzky clan watched in disbelief. Wade’s head swelled up and, after struggling through two difficult days, on July 19, 2003, he died.
In the year that followed this tragic event, Sawatzky was forced to face many seemingly unanswered questions: What did we do to deserve this? Why did this happen? Her heart ached to find meaning in the midst of pain.
“We felt we needed to avoid people,” says Sawatzky. “[We felt as though] this happened to us because we did something wrong.”
Further to that came fears of living without her child. Somehow she knew he was safe in heaven—and that was a comfort. She recalls, though, that “if I was angry at anyone, it was my son. Why did you leave me?”
Yet in the midst of the turmoil, she felt God’s presence. Looking back, Sawatzky knows God prepared her for Wade’s final hours. When she first arrived at the hospital, she noticed there was an organ donor sticker on his health card, but couldn’t recall who put it there. So when the time came to decide, the family was able to donate Wade’s organs.
After his death, so many stories about Wade came out, stories Sawatzky had never heard. People she didn’t even know passed on accounts of meeting her son; his smile or friendly hello always made a difference.
“In seven-and-a-half years, he touched a lot of people,” says Sawatzky.
Claire Ewert Fisher, co-pastor of Herschel Mennonite Church, where Sawatzky attends, agrees that Wade was unusual in his love for others. “His life seemed especially blessed,” she affirms.
But the emotional roller coaster continued for Sawatzky. Days were spent thinking what her son might have accomplished with his life or wondering what she could do so she and others wouldn’t forget him.
As she talks—sometimes choking back the tears that flow from unwilling eyes, at other times filled with purpose and plans for the future—she knows she wants to stay positive and spend her time doing for others. “A lot of how we deal with life is our choice,” she explains.
So she decided to create a book in honour of her son. Because Wade loved to pray for others—and because her own prayer time with her children was meaningful—she hopes other parents will be encouraged to pray with their children through her simple prayer book, God Bless: A Goodnight Prayer and Memory Book, which was published in 2005.
Strong enough to find the silver lining, Sawatzky admits she has come through the valley a better person and she has seen good come out of this. “I understand what it means now to love completely,” she says.
Her daughter, too—who suffered Survivor Syndrome in the year after her brother’s death, prompting a suicide attempt—has been able to share her experience with other teens. She has contributed her own poem to the book.
God Bless is sold at the McNally Robinson Bookstore in Saskatoon and is available from Sawatzky herself. For more information, call 306-377-2132. Proceeds from the sale go to help young women in Ukraine.
Egyptian church worker shares skills in Canada
Kitchener, Ont.
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Arsanuos Faltas meets people from many different countries and churches in his role as a church worker at a Coptic Orthodox retreat centre in Egypt.
This past year he has been using skills honed at the retreat centre to support programs at First Mennonite Church and House of Friendship in Kitchener, Ont., as a participant in MCC’s International Volunteer Exchange Program (IVEP).
Highlights of his year in Canada, he says, are the opportunities to use his Arabic language skills, and his understanding of other cultures and religions to break down barriers among people and faith groups in Canada.
A memorable event took place at First Mennonite this spring when he helped the church plan a mission weekend that included the participation of people from St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Church in Toronto. “We worship the same Lord, but we are totally isolated from each other,” Faltas says. “I see this weekend as a very successful step to break down some of the walls that history built.”
“It’s been really good to have Arsanuos on our pastoral team,” says Gary Knarr, pastor of First Mennonite Church, adding that Faltas’ sermons and his presence brought a greater understanding of the wider Christian community.
Through his work at the House of Friendship, Faltas has participated in interfaith meetings that bring together people from different religions.
“This would not happen in Egypt,” he says of the meetings, explaining that Christians today are a minority in his country, where the vast majority of the population is Muslim. “It has opened my eyes to accept others. It does not mean that I agree with their religion, but I’m listening and also sharing with them the precious gift that I have—the message of Christ.”
Faltas is also breaking down barriers among people at the House of Friendship, a faith-based organization that provides services for people who have a low income. Many of the newcomers are from countries where men are expected to be leaders of the community and be active participants in society, so Faltas started a men’s group at the House of Friendship to give participants the opportunity to meet other male newcomers and discuss their common concerns, thus reducing their sense of isolation in their new communities.