‘We would have no peace if some of our friends
did not come to our help.”
Euphrasie Barbier,
Lyons 1871
June 2001
Natural Disasters – Earthquake in Peru; Floods in Orissa, India
Our Sisters in many parts of the world will
remember June 2001 because of events whose stories will be told for generations. Two
places that have been devastated by natural disasters were Peru with its 8.1 earthquake and India with the terrible floods in Orissa.
The RNDM Appeal for disaster relief funds for the
places where our Sisters work in Peru
has met with some generous responses. We are very grateful to the individuals and groups
who are sending funds to help the poor in the Peruvian towns where our Sisters are trying to support those who have lost the little they have. Special thanks to Caritas New Zealand, which is offering disaster
relief funds for Peru.
Our Sisters do not have a convent in Orissa.
Although eight of the young women at Barasat come from that district there is no report of
family damage there, thanks be to God. However, if people were offering money for relief
in India our Sisters in Calcutta would be happy to distribute it according
to the wishes of the donors.
Hogar Belen, Moquegua, Peru
The Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions were
invited by the Canadian Franciscans Fathers to join them in their Custody of Peru in 1967.
The mission base was in Moquegua, a green coastal valley in the midst of barren desert
mountains at an altitude of 3300 feet above sea level. 80% of the people are unemployed
and most live in mud or straw houses. Very soon the first Sisters started a group home for
abandoned children, for abandoned and abused women with children, and for those in need.
In 1999 Sister Loretta Bonokoski was honoured by the city of Moquegua for the invaluable work undertaken at Hogar Belen for more than 30 years.
Hogar Belen has attracted considerable agency,
group and individual support over the years and has grown to provide food and shelter, a
loving environment and spiritual and human formation for some 300 people all the year
round. RNDM Solidarity contributions build a washroom for them in 2000.
Although the earthquake caused some damage to
their buildings, Hogar Belen quickly became a relief centre for the local people whose
homes and small livelihood had been totally destroyed in just a few minutes. Photo: Hogar Belen children love their cow
Fundraising for our RNDM Millennium Mission Investment Fund
The fundraising campaign - to build a special
investment fund that will enable our Sisters to continue their work for women well into
the new millennium-
has begun.
The campaign booklet – Women Working With Women - is now available.[Just ask one of the Sisters.]
Donations to this Fund will work forever to generate on-going income for the
general missionary purposes of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions.
RNDM Mission Projects for 2001
This year the US$37,625 requested for the 11 RNDM
Mission Projects for 2001 has been fully promised by Australia, British Isles, Canada and France.Congratulations to the
Coordinators of the Solidarity Fund in each of those provinces, and to all our friends and
donors who are contributing so regularly and working to raise funds to help our mission
works.
Photo:
Two young women, Christina and Rita, training at Euphrasie Centre, Pyay, Myanmar. They aredoing the daily check on the 300 fowls- an RNDM 2001 Solidarity Project.
Report from Myanmar
1.MindonVillageMission<from
Sister Noreen>
Mindon is the central village
for a very small Catholic population. There is no resident priest in the district so we
have been living and working with the people here for about 10 years. We grow peanuts and
sesamine in the rainy season – for our 3 Sisters and the 6 boarders who live with us,
and to sell. But water is a problem; we have to carry water from a considerable distance
and buy it during the 4 or 5 months of our very dry summer when the ground is too hard to
grow anything much. Everything else we need has to be bought in the village.
We also work with Buddhist and
other Christian families in the district.
2.Income from the Fish Farm, Euphrasie Centre, Pyay <from
Sister Augusta>
In 1999 RNDM Solidarity funds
helped the Sisters to develop the fish farm at Euphrasie Centre so that it would become
income generating for the Centre. We can now report that the development work is producing
the results that we were hoping for.
Photo -
right: Sister Augusta shows her delight with the size of the fish in her Project. The
workers were transferring the fish so that the pond could be cleaned. The fish have since
been sold in the Yangon market for a healthy return.
3.Progress on
the Pago Property <from Sister Noreen>
RNDM Solidarity funds were given in
2000 to help develop the property at Pago as a source of income for our Province of Myanmar. The soil
is proving very difficult to manage and things have to be carefully planned with the
family working the property for us.
Photo
– left: The banana trees at Pago are flourishing.
Photo
– right: Sisters Noreen and Augusta discuss the plan for managing the crops with the family at
Pago.
For further information contact:
COORDINATOR RNDM MISSION SOLIDARITY – Sister
Mary Rose Holderness
