A TRUE CHRISTIAN
He has no pretensions about himself. If one observes him in his ordinary life, as he goes to
work at his Printery on Chaussee Road, one might well conclude that he is an ordinary run-of-
the-mill guy, going about his daily chores of making a living at what he has chosen to do, i.e.
operate a commercial printing shop, providing bill books, letterheads, slips, brochures and
whatever else people do in such establishments.
That is because Augustus Justin is truly a great human being. His humility and apparently
casual approach to life are all part of the greatness of which he is made. They are all part of
his character and clear manifestations of the biblical command that we should serve each
other simply for the sake of serving: doing so in the name of God and expecting no reward.
I have read of the Martin Luther Kings, the Sister Theresas and Mohandas Karamchand
Ghandis of this world, and have always admired their work among the poor and sick, their
fights against injustices and for bettering the lot of oppressed peoples everywhere.
In our Windward Islands and in the wider Caribbean, I have heard of people doing great work
of charity and organizations helping those in need.
In my work as a journalist, especially in the days when I travelled far and wide, it was my
privilege to meet with, talk to and interview scores of persons who ran, or worked in homes
for the aged, hospitals, mental institutions, convalescent homes, orphanages and many other
such institutions. I have interviewed such persons in Europe, North America and many islands
in the Caribbean.
Never have I been impressed by anyone in the way I am impressed by Augustus Justin. Yet
somehow I feel that I am not qualified to write about the man. I have a subconscious feeling
that what I write will be a poor tribute to a great man, a Christian so profound, yet appearing
so simple so ordinary that I am unfit to comment upon his actions as he travels his path on his
journey to eternity.
Despite my feeling of inadequacy, I have this compulsion to sit at my computer and do my
best even if that would fall far short of what is required.
As I start to type I ask myself the question which all journalists should ask about every article
– we call it the Five Ws – Who, What, When, Where and Why.
I am able to answer all the Ws very easily except the why. I cannot satisfy myself about why
I suddenly feel so obligated to write in praise of this man whom I have known for almost
twenty years.
I am bothered by the question and probably will remain in that state of mental confusion, so I
put it down to the fact that perhaps I had known him in a very casual and superficial manner,
but never understood him until relatively recently.
Then I continue to ask myself do I understand him now? Frankly, it is almost impossible to
understand the depths of a man with the type of Christian dedication and the aura of
calmness and serenity, the acceptance of life and things spiritual and the commitment to
service which men such as Augustus Justin possess.
Yet it is only in recent times that I have begun to even try to fathom the man.
He is best known for his one-man crusade to help some of our senior citizens who now live in
the comfort and protection of the Adelaide & Frances Memorial Complex which is situated in
the upper Waterworks Road area, and this week ended its 10th celebrations; but believe me,
he does much more than provide a home for the elderly.
Gus, as I prefer to call him, is a comforter, a counsellor, a spiritual advisor and many other
things for many people who never go to his home but who are desperately in need of his
advice and counselling in the most crucial hours of this existence.
The most wonderful part of all this is that he gives his time freely to all who need him – and
this is literally meant, he does not charge one cent directly. There are no hidden charges, no
tricks, and no gimmicks. He operates strictly on faith and gives of his time freely to anyone
and everyone who comes for his assistance.
Amazingly, Augustus Justin is not a trained psychologist, psychiatrist, nurse or anything of the
sort. His expertise and it is nothing short of that, is based upon his faith in the Bible and is
belief in God.
I can attest to his gifts, his wisdom and his counselling without any fear of contradiction
because I saw with my own eyes the marvellous effects they had upon my own sister Beryl
while she was fighting a serious bout of cancer which she eventually succumbed to.
At first Beryl was petrified about the possibility, indeed the probability that she might die.
After a few sessions with Gus she became much more relaxed and very much calmer
eventually she was able to accept the reality of death and I can truthfully say that towards
the end she was prepared to begin her transformation to her higher state of existence.
I attribute my sister’s eventual acceptance of the inevitability of death and the manner in
which she was able to accept her fate to the Divine intervention of God, through the
instrument of Augustus Justin and for this I shall always be grateful to him.
I have never before told this to anyone, not even Gus and the first time he gets to know it
will be when he reads this – he is a strong supporter of ONE CARIBBEAN. I have purposely
kept this a secret to myself because I foolishly felt that there would be sceptics out there who
would doubt it and perhaps even ridicule me.
Now, however it does not matter what people think. When the truth is told what should
matter is that the story teller knows it to be true. It would be nice for the listener (in this case
the reader) to believe what is written, but the disbelief makes it no less true.
And so I seem to have come to the answer for why I am writing all this. It is that we all in this
nation of ours, perhaps with a few exceptions, are simply taking one of our greatest sons for
granted and not doing what we should in order to assist him in his work of helping people of
all walks of life in the many and different ways he has been helping.
As the Adelaide & Frances Memorial Complex began planning the celebrations of its tenth
anniversary, I became more and more involved in looking at Gus and his operations and had
the privilege of being taken on a guided tour of the home by him.
He picked me up in his car and took me together with a guest he had from Sweden to give us
both the tour. As I entered the car I realized that this was the one time in my life I would
remain almost silent. This is most unusual for me.
I have always prided myself in being a good journalist (rightly or wrongly) and to do that one
should never enter a situation with a feeling of inadequacy. Yet somehow I feel just that.
To this moment I cannot explain why. I have interviewed presidents and prime ministers,
governors, some of the world’s greatest intellectuals, super stars, doctors, priests, rogues,
vagabonds, vagrants and murderers. I have done them al with the confidence that I was
good enough and never have I been short of questions, but there I was with a man whom I
have always considered my friend and I simply could not decide what to ask him while we
were going to visit the home.
At the home a strange thing happened to me which he and his friend could bear testimony to.
Throughout the visit I had big, thick, humps appear on my skin – we call them “goose pimples”
I felt a strange presence, a great feeling which I cannot describe, but which was very
beautiful. I told this to Gus and his friend and showed them the goose pimples.
When we eventually left the home I was convinced that the job which Augustus Justin was
doing at the Adelaide & Frances Memorial Complex was a job of work which is inspired by God
and which should be supported by all persons of goodwill. I also felt there should be a
greater input from the government because, after all he was doing something which is of
service not only to the twenty or so people who live at the home but to the entire nation.
The government should see his work as taking part of a greater responsibility off their
shoulder and contribute significantly to it.
We all should consider that we owe Gus a great debt and there would be no better way for
us to collectively pay that debt than for us all to contribute in whatever ways we can to
assisting the Adelaide & Frances Memorial Complex and the government should set the pace
by making generous donations to the home.
ONE CARIBBEAN salutes Augustus Justin and the entire board of the Adelaide & Frances
Memorial Complex and may God bless them all!
Dennis Sinclair Da Breo
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