Built From What They Had

The chapel on Lamb Holm is two army huts end to end, which is the first thing anyone notices and the last thing anyone remembers. A caretaker was unlocking it when Polly arrived, an unhurried man with a ring of keys. "What is your job?" she asked him, and he said he opened the doors in the morning, closed them at night, and repainted what the salt air took off in between.

Ang kapilya sa Lamb Holm ay dalawang kubol ng hukbo na pinagdugtong, na siyang unang napapansin ng lahat at ang huling naaalala ng lahat. May isang tagapag-alagang nagbubukas nito nang dumating si Polly, isang lalaking hindi nagmamadali na may hawak na kumpol ng susi. "Ano ang trabaho mo?" tanong niya rito, at sabi nito na binubuksan niya ang mga pinto tuwing umaga, isinasara ang mga ito sa gabi, at pinipintahang muli ang anumang inaalis ng maalat na hangin sa pagitan.

Inside, the huts disappear. Italian prisoners of war were brought here in the nineteen forties to work on the sea barriers, and they asked for somewhere to worship. What they got was corrugated metal. What they made of it was a vaulted ceiling, a stone chancel, a wrought iron screen and a painted altarpiece, and one of them, a painter named Domenico Chiocchetti, led the work.

Sa loob, naglalaho ang mga kubol. Dinala rito ang mga bilanggong Italyano noong mga taong mil nobe syentos kwarenta upang magtrabaho sa mga harang laban sa dagat, at humingi sila ng lugar na masasambahan. Ang ibinigay sa kanila ay yerong may kulubot. Ang ginawa nila mula rito ay isang kisameng nakabalantok, isang santuwaryong bato, isang rehas na bakal at isang pinintahang retablo, at isa sa kanila, isang pintor na nagngangalang Domenico Chiocchetti, ang nanguna sa gawain.

"What do you need to complete the work?" is the question the camp had to answer. They asked for cement, and were given cement. Everything else came out of what the camp was throwing away. The screen is scrap iron worked cold. The candle holders are corned beef tins. The stone of the chancel is plasterboard, painted so carefully that you have to lean in before it admits what it is.

"Ano ang kailangan mo para matapos ang trabaho?" Iyon ang tanong na kailangang sagutin ng kampo. Humingi sila ng semento, at binigyan sila ng semento. Ang lahat ng iba pa ay galing sa mga bagay na itinatapon ng kampo. Ang rehas ay bakal na kalat na hinubog nang malamig. Ang mga patungan ng kandila ay lata ng karne. Ang bato ng santuwaryo ay yeso, pinintahan nang buong ingat kaya kailangan mong lumapit bago ito umamin kung ano talaga ito.

The caretaker had left a small hand tool on the sill. "Could you show me how to use this tool?" Polly asked, and he did, and the explanation went past her the first time. "Could you explain that again?" He did that too. Then he went back to his paint, and Polly looked up at a ceiling that is flat metal pretending to be a curve, and holds the pretence from every seat in the room.

May iniwang maliit na kasangkapan ang tagapag-alaga sa pasamano. "Maaari mo bang ituro sa akin kung paano gamitin ang kasangkapang ito?" tanong ni Polly, at itinuro nga nito, at lumagpas sa kaniya ang paliwanag sa unang pagkakataon. "Maaari mo bang ipaliwanag iyon muli?" Ginawa rin nito iyon. Pagkatapos ay bumalik ito sa pagpipinta, at tumingala si Polly sa isang kisameng patag na yero na nagkukunwaring kurba, at hawak nito ang kunwaring iyon mula sa bawat upuan sa silid.