Lucy was born on the 4th of November in 1940 to Mr and Mrs Luijendijk, missionaries on the island of Sumba in Indonesia at that time. She was the first and only child to the couple after 8 years of marriage, and very precious to them.
Growing up on Sumba has influenced her whole life. Lucy became convinced that she had to become a missionary. To be able to follow this ideal she started on the study of medicine at the Free University in Amsterdam. When she met her future husband, a student of physics at the same university they made plans to be able to go to Indonesia later. Lucy worked in the hospital until their first son was born. A few years later the three of them travelled to Indonesia to work at the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta. This meant that again parents and daughter were living in different continents, as in the mean time Lucy's parents had gone back to The Netherlands. This living far from their daughter was a heavy ordeal for her parents, which they accepted as part of their life of missionaries. After five years in Indonesia, Lucy, her husband Gerard and their two sons went back to Holland. It was difficult to find a job for Lucy, so she spent her time doing voluntary work in the local churches, all for the sake of the Mission.
After some years Lucy found the job that suited her interest, her capabilities and her possibilities. And so she could spend fifteen inspiring years at the central office of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands dealing with the relations in India. Fifteen years of learning, reading about India, travelling there every year. Time and again Lucy felt hopeless about all the problems, about the little there was which she could do. But also - at every visit to India - she met friends, who also feel and see the problems, but who manage to deal with them and fight for the rights of the poor, the Dalits; friends who inspired her. The visits were always too short to her liking, there was always so much to do, so many people to meet. And always at the back of her mind was the feeling that her mother was waiting for her. Husband and sons could manage very well on their own, but her old mother felt extremely lonely when Lucy was out of the country. Many travels have been shortened and sometimes it was difficult to chose between responsibilities. But everything has been accomplished based on her love for the people she grew up with, brothers and sisters in Indonesia and later in India.

Op verzoek van Frank Viswanth opgemaakt en naar hem toegezonden.