SOLIDARITY NEWSLETTER #3/2000

RNDM Mission Solidarity News is published four times each year – March, June, September and December.

RNDM Mission Solidarity is the office that promotes mission solidarity in communications and in funding

for the missionary works of the 900 Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions in 20 countries worldwide.

Donation – THANKS

This month we record our special thanks to the Comboni Missionaries of Montclair, New Jersey USA. They have passed on to the RNDMs of the Papua-New Guinea mission US$1000 for our works there.

Report from Philippines <from Sister Kathleen Prendergast>

Catechist Programme, Gumaca

Sister Fe Felizarta has recently inaugurated a 9-month programme for 25 catechists in the parish of St Vincente Ferrar, in the diocese of Gumaca. The population of the entire parish is 50,000 and the people are poor fisher folk and farm labourers who eke out their existence by working for absentee landowners. They live in fear of the ongoing and escalating armed struggle between the military and the New Peoples’ Army and are often caught in the crossfire and forced to flee their homes.

Most of the people are Catholic through tradition but have had little or no faith formation. Many of the adults and children have not been baptized, and marriages tend to be common law – mainly because of poverty. Fundamentalist groups easily influence the people.

When trained, their catechists will have and adult approach towards their own faith formation and the knowledge and skills to catechize their children in the barrio schools. In time they will be responsible for seminars in preparation for the sacraments of Baptism, First Communion and Reconciliation, Confirmation and Marriage, involving families as a whole. Thanks to RNDM Solidarity Funds this programme is becoming a reality. The catechists have become enthused about how they might generate income to continue this ministry. Already they have persuaded local business people to contribute towards a room for their training, part of which will house a small food and local craft stall. Proceeds from this will hopefully keep their programme running. A little seeding money goes a long way. Thank you !

Sister Salota Aimalefoa has been observing the cultural patterns of the people with whom she works.  There are interesting links with her own Samoan culture, especially in the communal ownership of  property and goods.  Using ideas from Samoa, she and the people have come up with a creative and culturally acceptable way of disbursing the Honorarium granted by Misereor, Germany as payment to the Manobo Health Workers of  the various villages.  Part of the money will go to the respective villages for community development - provision of spades, hammers, nails, seeds; another part will be put aside for health-related emergencies and functions in the villages and the Health Workers themselves will  receive a portion in return for their services to their communities.  This decision has the wholehearted approval of the people who are already responding to this incentive with enthusiasm.  And the amount per month?   US $10 per village!

- Another example of how a little goes a long way in the missions.  Thank you Misereor.

Constitutions of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions, 1979

N.55 We have as our chief concern in our missionary activity the proclamation of the message of salvation

of which the church is to be the sign lifted up before the nations.

Literacy Programmes

Our Sisters have five literacy centres for women in West Bengal and Bihar. Some of these women are labourers. After cooking for their family they do some buttoning and stitching for frocks, but they are paid almost nothing for this work. The women are happy because they say it is better to get 2 rupees than to have no money ! [42Rs = 1US$]

Another group are Hindu refugees from Bangladesh – young women who have been married already for a few months and spend their day breaking stones for a small income. They come for basic literacy classes in the evening.

The Sisters also organise some awareness sessions for the women, alerting them to their rights and to how they can be manipulated and exploited by their employees. These women and girls have very little freedom for themselves, and just to sign their names is a matter of pride. Photo:  After breaking stones all day literacy studies are fun

Orphanage and Dispensary, Kalyanpur

The mission at Kalyanpur was started many years ago by Mother Aime when Mother Teresa [Missionaries of Charity] was looking for care for the orphans from the Calcutta streets that her Sisters were bringing back to the Home for the Dying. With the help of Misereor [Germany] and Terre des Hommes [France} the Sisters have built up a sizeable compound which is, in the main, self-sufficient at a basic level. The orphanage cares for about 60 girls – aged 4 to 14 ; about one third are orphans and the rest are from poor rural famiiles. The dispensary engages three doctors who are paid to work for the people. One Sister and her trained helpers offer mother and child care and programmes for about 400 women each month – including delivering several babies a month.

Self-sufficiency for the Sisters, Pago In 1997 our Sisters were able to buy a plot of land about one hour’s drive out of Yangon. We are trying to generate a regular income from the property to support the Sisters in our province. We have planted lime and guava trees, beans and flowers and we employ a family to live and work on the property. It will take a couple of years to establish this property as a source of real income for the Sisters. Meantime there are expenses for basic materials, housing and wages.  Thank you for your donations.

Photo : The family with the Sisters on the Pago property.