Rad­hi­ca Sookraj

Scores of peo­ple from var­i­ous re­li­gious faiths spent hours wait­ing in line to make of­fer­ings to the stat­ue of Sipari ki Mai, at the La Div­ina Pas­to­ra Church in Siparia over this East­er week­end, hop­ing to get a mir­a­cle of good health.While they wait­ed, many de­vout be­liev­ers gave tes­ti­monies that they were cured af­ter wor­ship­ping the stat­ue, which is al­so known as Moth­er La Div­ina Pas­to­ra.A wor­ship­per, Vic­to­ria Rati­ram, whose 17-year-old daugh­ter Ash­ley is paral­ysed, said the stat­ue al­ways brought her so­lace.

"Since I start­ed brin­ing Ash­ley here, she start­ed mak­ing a lot of progress," she said."She can­not move her hands and I have to feed her, bathe her and do every­thing for her, but now she can use her feet to write her name."She has her own com­put­er and she can text her sis­ters us­ing her feet."She added that peo­ple who made of­fer­ings to Moth­er La Div­ina were grant­ed pros­per­i­ty, health and hap­pi­ness.Dar­lin Dhani­ram, of Ch­agua­nas, who shuf­fled around us­ing a walk­er, said she had an op­er­a­tion and lost con­trol of her legs.

"I know that I will get a mir­a­cle...I am hop­ing that I will be able to walk on my own once again," she said.Po­lio vic­tim Maria De­lores Coutou, 27, al­so made of­fer­ings at the church.Her moth­er Rad­ha Nathoos­ingh said: "Since my daugh­ter was born, she could not walk or talk, but this church brings great heal­ing and bless­ing...I draw strength when I wor­ship here."Car­ol Boodoos­ingh, who is re­cov­er­ing from a stroke, said she took ad­vice and went to wor­ship Moth­er La Div­ina Pas­to­ra four years ago."Three of my ar­ter­ies are clogged but since com­ing here, I feel much bet­ter," she said."It was the best thing I could do, be­cause I know that I will be cured."

Church co-or­di­na­tor Ve­na Fer­min said the in­flux of wor­ship­pers to the church con­tin­ued to grow an­nu­al­ly. She said peo­ple who prayed to Moth­er La Div­ina Pas­to­ra were al­ways pleased be­cause she grant­ed their wish­es.She said she start­ed sewing dress­es for the stat­ue eight years ago."Moth­er (La Div­ina Pas­to­ra) worked a mir­a­cle for me...Here is a place of mir­a­cles," Fer­min said.Most of the wor­ship­pers make of­fer­ings of mon­ey, rice, olive oil and flow­ers.In ad­di­tion, sev­er­al par­ents brought their chil­dren for their first hair­cut.Bar­bers were seen shav­ing heads and chant­i­ng hymns and prayers as they worked.Hun­dreds of des­ti­tute peo­ple al­so gath­ered at the back of the church await­ing alms.