FOR
RNDMs, Associates, Friends and Sponsors
"…it is only when we let ourselves be evangelized that we can become a word of God for others."
September 2002 RNDM Directives #20 1998
RNDM Mission Solidarity News is published four times each year – March, June, September and December.
RNDM Mission Solidarity is the RNDM office that promotes mission solidarity in communications and in funding Thu Duc Madonna
For the missionary works of the 900 Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions in 20 countries world wide.
ALL are invited to contribute to our RNDM mission solidarity funds.
Report from Bangladesh <from Sister Monica Gomes> The Tea Gardens of Sreemongal
Sreemongal is situated some 200 kms northeast of Dhaka in the Moulvibazar district. Its gardens produce 90% of the tea leaves that Bangladesh exports. There are some 70 tea gardens in Sreemongal. The workers there were recruited by British planters form the Indian States of Bihar and Orissa in the early years of the 20th century. In the 1950s another Bangladeshi tribal group, the Mandi of Mymensingh, was also recruited for this work. These workers and their families, in total about 8000 people, are not recognized by the government which does nothing to provide for their welfare or for their education. The villages in the tea gardens still have no drinking water or sewage facilities.
The Holy Cross Fathers invited our Sisters to join them in this mission in the 1970s and to work for the women and children in the tea gardens. Over the years, by traveling regularly throughout the gardens and staying in the workers’ villages, the Sisters have built up and are supervising a network of 35+ small schools averaging 20 – 30 students of grades one through five. The Sisters also visit the families in their homes and care in the same way for the poor Khasi people in another 5 – 6 villages.
Because there is no public transport for the people of the tea gardens, each year the Sisters invite 10 – 12 girls to live with them in Sreemongal so that they can continue their education, at least through the secondary school there. The Holy Cross Fathers do the same for the boys. But there are another 80 boys and girls each year who do not get this chance. So with the approval of the parents of the girls and of the Holy Cross Fathers the Sisters have decided to open a hostel for the girls to enable more of them to get the opportunity for higher education. The Sisters’ dream is that higher education for the girls will open the way to liberation of their people from the virtual slavery of life in the tea gardens.
Photos:[left] The Tea Garden
children receiving their First Communion at Sreemongal.
In 2000 RNDM Mission Solidarity helped fund the education of some of these girls. Now much more funding will be needed so the Sisters are hoping to attract sponsors for all of these girls.
If you can help, please contact any Sister of Our Lady of the Missions.
Report from Vietnam 1. Rest Home for the Elderly <from Sister M Celestine>
In June 1999 an appeal was made throughout the Congregation for funds to help our Sisters in Vietnam build for their eleven elderly Sisters. Five of the Sisters were confined to bed and another two were confined to a wheel chair.
In June 2001 these Sisters moved into a wonderful new facility built in the convent grounds at Thu Duc. Each Sister has a private room with personal facilities. There is a chapel, refectory and laundry in the building, and there is provision for a consulting room in which the doctor or the nurse can attend to the health needs of any Sister.
Sister M Celestine writes "We want to thank all our provinces, Sisters and benefactors, both overseas and in Vietnam, for the generosity in helping us to provide better accommodation for our elderly sisters. …All this has been made possible by you. We remember you daily in our prayers."
2. Help for Leper Patients <from Sister Sheila O’Toole>
 |
"In this so-called age of advanced technology,
science and medicine it is hard to believe that people still suffer from leprosy, a
disease feared for centuries. Modern medicine is trying desperately to eradicate leprosy,
however medicines can never make whole again those who have already been handicapped,
disfigured and cast out by society… While leprosy is not fully understood, it is most
likely spread by airborne transmission from an infected patient to a susceptible host. It
may also be transmitted by skin-to-skin contact, biting insects or mites." Since 1994 Sister Sheila has been reporting to donors in Australia, New Zealand, England, Ireland and Vietnam about the sort of help that their donations enable her to offer to a number of people who have contracted leprosy and have been turned out of their homes and villages, to suffer alone, unsupported and in great poverty. Immediate care will include improved housing, clean well water, supplementary food – rice and tinned fish etc – clothing, and the means to start earning a little income e.g. some chickens or a cow. From time to time donations are used to get someone to hospital for treatment or for surgery. Once they have registered as having leprosy the Health Department is supposed to follow them up and to ensure that they have their medication and are taking it. Of course, because of termites and the weather conditions housing has to be regularly replaced. So Sister Sheila visits her friends once or twice a month to give each one some on- going support and to monitor their attempts at becoming self-sufficient. Left - Phom after hospital surgery |
Report from Myanmar Rice Harvester for Pyay <from Sister Mary Aung Seh>
During 2001 RNDM Solidarity helped to buy a rice harvester for the Novitiate community in Pyay.
Sister Mary writes "Up till now we used only the cow for harvesting the padi. It took many weeks and sometimes the rain came and spoiled the harvest. This year, 2001, we benefited with the new harvester. Our harvest is good, and it took three weeks only. Then we were able to hire the harvester to our own poor neighbours at a very reasonable rate.
Photos: [below] the rice harvester at work [right] the results to be shared with all our communities
For further information contact:
COORDINATOR RNDM MISSION SOLIDARITY,
Sr. Mary Rose Holderness
Suore di Nostra delle Missioni
Casa Generalizia
Via di Bravette, 628
00164 ROMA
Italy
