An Oasis Of Care

– Lena Silver Lyngdal’s “quiet realm of care, discipline, and warmth” (p. 56 in Remember the Women!)

”Amerika! Det ordet hadde lenge vore som ein draum, ein fjern idé forma av brev og lengsel. Men då dei steig i land, var det ikkje draum – det var støy, lukt, språk ho ikkje hadde opplevd før. ” (s. 51 i Remember the Ladies!).

The experience is that of sixteen-year-old Lena, as she comes ashore together with her mother, Asgjerd, and all her siblings after an eleven-day sea journey. During the voyage, Lena holds, rocks, and comforts a crying baby in her arms when a fellow traveler, a single mother, can no longer cope. Upon arrival, Lena holds her little sister Marie close to her. Three months later, Lena takes over and cares for her siblings when her mother suffers a nervous breakdown:

”– Eg skal ta vare på dykk. Alle saman! Ho visste ikkje korleis. Men ho visste at det måtte gjerast. » (s. 52). Lena vert sjølv mor til tre barn og steller for dei åleine, då mannen hennar er meir ute og på reise enn heime.

“Then she began to take people in. Patients, she called them. Old, sick, lonely. She cared for them, washed them, cooked food, carried water. She registered herself, and the doctors began to call. Before she knew it, she was running her own small care home in the living room.” (p. 55) In 1929, Lena enrolled and began caring for sick and lonely women and men in her own home. “A quiet realm of care, discipline, and warmth.” (p. 56)

Lena Silver Lyngdal died in 1994 at the age of 105.

^{In the days leading up to Christmas, we meet one of the book’s ten Norwegian women each day. They represent a large and diverse group of female voices that are only now, at the 200th anniversary of Norwegian emigration to America, beginning to be heard.}

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