APPENDIX

Across decades of shared life, André and Angel exchanged countless notes, messages, and reflections—small jewels of tenderness that marked anniversaries, separations, reunions, and moments of quiet gratitude.

Among these, Angel’s 2014 anniversary letter stands out as a luminous testimony of her devotion, written at a time of both profound love and growing vulnerability. It captures the essence of their union: faithful, courageous, and tender beyond words.

This letter is preserved as one of the most heartfelt documents of their lifelong journey.

André’s letters are contained in a book published in 2025 under the title of Letters from André to Angel Gingras (1969-2025) – A Chronicle of Love Across Years and Continents.

 

Angel’s Letter – January 1, 2014

January 1, 2014

My LOVE, my ALL, my ANDRÉ,

Today is our 45th Wedding Anniversary. I greet you with an unconditional LOVE and say, “Happy Anniversary.”

On this day, the only gift I ask—one that matters more than anything—is that we may celebrate many more anniversaries together, remembering what we promised each other on January 1, 1969: “Together Forever.”

From the very beginning, our love has risen to extraordinary heights, deepening with each passing year, growing with an exponential strength that has never ceased. On our 30th anniversary, you wrote to me:

“Today, I love you thirty times more than the first day. And the first day, I loved you infinitely.”

On our 40th anniversary, you wrote:

“Life is mysterious; who could have known that I love you more now than on the first day I met you in Manila? Who could have known that after so many years of profound happiness, of realizing our dreams, there is still room for more joy and more projects before us?”

At our 43rd anniversary, you wrote:

“Forty-three years of happiness; I love you more than ever.”

I cherish these words more than anything in the world. You know that I feel and say the same to you—perhaps differently, but with the same depth.

I LOVE YOU, and you alone. I love you to the n^th degree. I want nothing more than for you to be happy, healthy, and comfortable. To me, you come first—above all and everything. Our PremAA believes in: “We shall overcome.” And yes, “Que chaque minute nous rapproche!”

We are ONE—inseparable. We share life in every sense. Our oneness is built through so many layers, from so many angles. We are complete only when we are together. Our sharing—talking, listening, confiding, discussing, arguing, laughing, crying, sitting, watching, walking, looking, sleeping—has made us ONE: united in mind and body, in thoughts, aspirations, and ideals.

We stand side by side, complementing and supplementing each other. We depend on one another. To me, you are the only person in the entire universe on whom I can rely completely. You are my center of excellence, my inspiration, my conscience, my confidant, my protector, my guide, my health, and my happiness. You are my spiritual strength, my psychological strength, my intellectual strength, my emotional safety, and my physical safety. In one word, you are MY LIFE.

The proof of our LOVE is our wonderful, beautiful, loving children, whom we cherish. From the beginning, we invested in them with values, and today they possess admirable character. They are well-balanced, well-mannered, educated, and well-settled with their families. The love, joy, peace, and support they offer us and each other gives us immense happiness and peace of mind. We are blessed with lovable grandchildren. We wish our children nothing but the very best. We love them without limits and are deeply proud of them. We also enjoy warm, harmonious relationships with our extended families and friends.

We always organize family gatherings—birthdays, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day—bringing together our children and grandchildren. You take the lead in planning, preparing, and serving, while I do the little things. These gatherings offer precious opportunities to share, love, laugh, and keep our family united, supporting one another in times of need.

I learn so much from you in so many ways. As you often say, “Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction." Our shared goal has always been LOVE and PEACE, and we pursue it by helping the poor. Walking this path hand in hand, we have known the love and peace that service brings. We endured patiently our many separations over the years. Our love and loyalty have remained strong, unshaken, never needing doubt.

Our love for the poor has taken form through SOPAR, Bala Vikasa, the Foundation, Jana Vikasa, the BV Trust, PDTC, and CSRB. Through these, we have witnessed lives transformed—spiritually, psychologically, intellectually, socially, economically. The sustainable results that overflow from your insight, planning, writing, counseling, and tireless work cannot be measured. You are my conscience and strength. We are a team—but you are the team leader.

You often say that you are the thinker and I am the doer. Perhaps that is true in some programs, though we exchange roles from time to time. We have walked hand in hand through every chapter of our life: EAPI in the Philippines, our first apartment and row house in Hull, Saigon, Delhi, 20 des Érables, and now Ragueneau and Lac Profond. You always took the lead—with patience and care—in every purchase, plan, construction, repair, car, and maintenance. You know well that I am “nil” in these matters. Your simplicity in eating, and your habit of taking charge of the cooking during family gatherings, has made me “nil” in cooking too.

Your hospitality is extraordinary. You welcome so many groups from India, often for extended stays, and you sacrifice your privacy and comfort for their sake. You performed beautifully during our visits to India—meeting Bala Vikasa staff, families, communities—graciously receiving their generous, though sometimes overwhelming, hospitality.

You gave your fullest strength to your professional life in service to the poor during your years at CIDA, never taking a single day of sick leave even when you had earned it. After retirement, you have given even more of yourself—voluntarily—to SOPAR and Bala Vikasa, continuing your mission of helping the poor to help themselves.

We are happy and proud that our children are following in our footsteps, standing tall with us in our mission. You are their guiding light. This is our Gingras–Singareddy legacy, which they will cherish and continue.

My LOVE, you are simple yet strong, silent yet eloquent. You are straightforward and honest, standing firmly for what you believe in, speaking truth courageously. You have always said you reach God horizontally—through serving the poor. Your life is indeed one in union with God. You constantly empty yourself for those you love: for me, your ANGEL; for our children—ERIC, SUNITA, and MARC; and for GOD in the poor.

On this 45th Anniversary, my deepest, most profound wish is simply to be with you always. We are ONE. But the best part of us… is YOU—my ANDRÉ. Our LOVE is unique, intense, and infinite. As we always tell each other:

“We will manage.” “We shall overcome.” “Together—Forever.”

Words cannot express everything I want to say.
Now I am speechless… numb… empty… LOST…

Nive na PremAA, Nive na Jeevam, Nive na Sarvam.
(You are my Love, my Life, my Everything.)

Yours forever,

Angel

PUBLICATION OF THIS BOOK:

Bala T. (Angel)

Singareddy-Gingras

Gatineau, Québec

January 1, 2026

EPILOGUE

The quiet light that remains

There comes a moment, after all the chapters have been lived, when the heart rests and looks back—not with regret, not with longing, but with a deep, quiet gratitude. Life, which once unfolded in urgency and movement, now reveals its secret shape. What seemed scattered becomes whole. What seemed ordinary becomes luminous. What seemed fragile becomes eternal.

As I reflect upon our journey, I see not only the paths we walked, but also the light that accompanied us. I see a young woman and a young man meeting in Manila, unaware that their lives were about to be transformed forever. I see two hearts finding the courage to choose love in a world that did not fully understand their choice. I see letters written in trembling hope, vows formed in secrecy, and a faith stronger than any storm.

I see decades of shared life—children born, futures shaped, nations crossed, dreams woven. I see our steps through villages in India, holding the hands of women whose strength humbled us, drinking the water of wells that entire communities built with pride. I see the children and youth developed into shaping the future. I see the faces of those who walked beside us, those who believed in our mission, those whose dignity and resilience changed us more than we could ever change them.

I see our family—our children growing like trees reaching toward different skies yet rooted in the same soil of love. I see grandchildren whose laughter became the music of our later years. I see the gatherings that filled our home with warmth: candles glowing on Christmas evenings, deep conversations around the table, quiet moments when simple presence said everything words could not.

I see illness entering our life not as an intruder but as a shadow that made the light more visible. I see André facing each day with an elegance of spirit that cannot be taught. I see how suffering revealed the depth of our love, how fragility opened the door to tenderness, how the nearness of uncertainty made each moment precious. Illness did not diminish our life—it illuminated it.

And now, as the final pages of this book settle into silence, I understand something that took an entire lifetime to learn:

that love is the true measure of a life;
that service is its natural expression;
that gratitude is its lasting fragrance.

Our story is not only ours. It belongs to everyone who walked with us, to every village that trusted us, to every woman who rose with new courage, to every youth that reached his strength, to every individual who drank clean water, to every colleague and friend who shared in our mission. It belongs to our children and grandchildren, who carry forward the values we lived, sometimes without knowing it. It belongs to the quiet breath of hope that moved through thousands of lives and touched ours in return.

If there is one truth that remains after all the years, it is this:

Nothing given in love is ever lost.
Nothing lived with sincerity disappears.
Nothing offered with humility fades away.

What endures is not the work of our hands but the imprint of our hearts.
What endures is not the magnitude of our actions but the spirit in which they were done.

What endures is the quiet light that grows when two lives are given wholly to one another and to the service of others.

And so, as I close this book—not as an end, but as a pause—I carry with me the profound peace of a journey fulfilled. I carry the blessing of having loved and been loved, of having served and been transformed, of having walked beside a man whose goodness shaped my destiny.

Life continues beyond these pages.
Love continues beyond all seasons.
And the light we kindled together will go on shining—in our family, in our mission, and in every heart, we touched along the way.

This is our story.
This is our truth.
This is the gift we leave behind.

15. The Meaning of Our Journey — Love, Values, and the Legacy We Leave

1. Life Beyond Years: The Invisible Thread

A life can be narrated through dates, places, and milestones, but the true story—our story—unfolds along an invisible thread.
It weaves itself through choices whispered in the quiet of conscience, through promises made with trembling certainty, through sacrifices embraced without regret.

What remains after decades together is not the chronology of events but the inner music that held them together:

the intuition that guided us,
the courage that accompanied us,
the tenderness that sustained us,
and the grace that shaped our days.

The outer journey took us across continents.
The inner journey took us into the depths of the heart.

2. A Love That Grew in Silence and Strength

Our love began modestly—secret letters, stolen minutes, unspoken hopes. Yet it grew with a strength far greater than the world around us could measure.

It was a love:

·         tested by distance.,

·         forged in uncertainty,

·         anchored in faith,

·         strengthened by suffering,

·         and crowned by a lifetime of presence.

Love became our compass.
It illuminated the path even when circumstances obscured the way.

It never demanded grand gestures.
It lived in the quiet attentions of daily life.

3. The Values That Formed the Foundation

Behind every chapter of our life lay a constellation of values that guided us like northern stars.

Simplicity

We chose what was essential and allowed the unnecessary to fall away.
Simplicity gave us freedom—freedom to serve, to listen, to love deeply.

Justice

Justice was not a slogan for us; it was a moral necessity.
It breathed through our decisions, our work, our sensitivity to the marginalized.

Service

Service was the quiet pulse of our vocation.
To serve was to recognize dignity, to honour suffering, to stand where love is needed most.

Human Dignity

Every woman, child, farmer, widow, and worker we met held a sacred worth.
This belief shaped SOPAR, Bala Vikasa, and our philosophy of development.

Faith in humankind

Faith was the anchor, the shelter, the horizon.
It carried us when our own strength faltered.

These values formed the architecture of our life—simple, solid, and radiant.

4. The Legacy of Family: Our First and Most Beautiful Mission

Among all the works of our hands, nothing equals the quiet greatness of our family.

Our children—Éric, Sunita, Marc, and Shobha—carry within them the essence of our journey:

gentleness,
responsibility,
loyalty,
faith,
and a natural inclination toward service.

They embody the fruits of our love.

Our grandchildren, each a universe of promise, extend our legacy into the future. Their smiles, their openness, their unfolding lives remind us daily of the sacredness of continuity.

Family was our first mission, our daily vocation, our sanctuary.
It is in the warmth of shared meals, the laughter of children, the unity of celebrations, and the quiet of ordinary evenings that our love found its most joyful expression.

5. The Legacy of Mission: When Love Becomes a Movement

SOPAR and Bala Vikasa were not born from strategy.
They were born from compassion—from a desire to respond to the silent cry of humanity.

What began as a simple commitment evolved into a model of development admired across continents.
Villages transformed.
Women rose to leadership.
Youth discovered their voice.
Water flowed where there was scarcity.
Hope took root where despair had lived for generations.

This mission carries our fingerprints, but it does not belong to us.
It belongs to the people—
to their courage,
their wisdom,
their perseverance.

Our joy lies not in the recognition but in knowing that somewhere, in thousands of homes, lives are better because we listened, we believed, and we loved.

6. What Endures When the Noise Fades

Looking back, what remains are not the diplomas, positions, travels, or achievements.

What remains is:

the fidelity of two hearts,
the children who blossomed under our care,
the villages strengthened by solidarity,
the women who stood taller,
the friendships forged through service,
and the quiet certainty that we walked the path we were meant to walk.

A life is not measured by what we accumulate but by what we give.
Not by how far we go, but by how deeply we love.

7. A Message for the Future

To those who will come after us—our children, grandchildren, and all who will one day read these pages—we entrust these simple truths:

Choose love, even when it demands everything.
Serve with humility; it will reveal your true greatness.
Stand for justice; it will give you peace.
Walk with faith; it will give you courage.
Treasure each other; life is precious and brief.

If our story teaches anything, let it be this:

Love lived sincerely becomes a force.
Love lived together becomes a legacy.
Love lived for others becomes a light for the world.

And in the final accounting of life,

Love is all that remains,

and all that truly matters.