Jan 27, 2022
Founded by MSCs in 1984, Centro Faustino Villanueva is a vocational centre dedicated to helping disadvantaged youths, located in the rural region of San Agustin, Alta Verapaz, in Guatemala.
With the motto “Open doors to education”, the centre currently works with 215 students from impoverished villages and vulnerable family groups, with a waiting list for places. Youths at the centre can study a range of three career skill sets: business administration, science, and teaching.
The remote setting of the school means that daily travel is extremely difficult for students of severely limited means, and so half of the students board at the school. However, the COVID pandemic has generated several social and financial crises in the region, and the centre has suffered greatly in terms of funding and resources.
The newest undertaking at the centre aims to provide students with invaluable life skills – an agricultural programme, involving tending to livestock and growing produce, which will supplement the food supply at the school, while also enabling students to take these skills back to their own localities to improve living conditions there. With suitable space and land for this agricultural endeavour, and basic equipment such as sheds and feeders for pigs and chickens, the centre is currently raising funds to set up and launch these farms as soon as possible, so the school can continue to provide opportunities for young people who otherwise have very little hope.
A total of €21,300 will provide the Centro Faustino Villanueva
with the livestock, vegetable seeds, and equipment they need to produce food for their community,
while bringing vital skills back to the students’ villages.
“With God’s wisdom and your support, we will continue to help our young people who yearn for a dignified and better life.”
~ Fr Jairo Uriel Sevilla Mendoza MSC,
Director of the Faustino Villanueva Centre
PLEASE HELP US TO SOW SEEDS FOR THE FUTURE IN GUATEMALA
Oct 14, 2021
In response to the continuing needs of people affected by the coronavirus pandemic in the Philippines, the community at the MSC Centre for the Poor initiative have established a new campaign which aims to help those in real and urgent need in a sustainable way.
The new campaign calls for participants to “Be a Food Security Frontliner,” encouraging supporters to respond to the needs of the poor and hungry while protecting and nurturing the land and the environment.
“People go hungry not because there is insufficient food on our farms, but because they are poor.”
“With two years of the COVID-19 pandemic and more years of uncertainty predicted to come, we have seen the gradual collapse of the Philippine health system, our domestic economy, social services, environment, and food system,” writes Fr Richie Gomez MSC, community leader at the MSC Centre for the Poor. “Soon, we will be witnessing a massive escalating hunger crisis due to food insecurity. People go hungry not because there is insufficient food on our farms, but because they are poor. Agricultural products go to those with the greatest capacity to pay, not to the most vulnerable people. As our farmers say, ‘Kami ang nag tanim, kami ang walang makain’ (‘We plant, but we have nothing to eat’).”
In addition to the COVID crisis, several other factors have severely impacted on the ability of poorer families to put food on the table. “Violent conflicts here in Mindanao, extreme weather due to climate change, biodiversity loss, and the economic downturn cause by the COVID-19 pandemic and varying degrees of community lockdowns have worsened the situation of vulnerable people,” explains Fr Richie. “In addition, water becomes increasingly scarce for smaller farmers when bigger investors use it in intensive irrigation schemes. All of these crises limit poorer people’s capacity to buy food, or to produce enough to be self-sufficient.”
“Let us not wait for the situation to further deteriorate, when it is already too late to act.”
“Let us not wait for the situation to further deteriorate, when it is already too late to act,” Fr Richie encourages. “Let us create a food system that protects the health of both humans and the environment – providing a healthy diet for 120 million Filipinos without destroying the planet.”
The food system is one of the singular most important social and economic concerns in the Philippines, where some of the most vulnerable people, including those in farming and fishing, are ultimately the foundation. Now, the MSC Centre for the Poor Agriculture Cooperative (MSC-CEPAGCO) is focusing on building its capacity for “a more resilient, diverse model of farming and food production… based on community decisions and open-source ideas can help to develop local food systems”, eliminating dependency on larger corporate endeavours.
The Food Security Frontliner enterprise looks at developing alternative models of agricultural production and marketing, which focus on being sustainable and fair as well as generating income. This will involve “the organisation of people’s cooperatives, the use of organic agriculture and modern technology for post-harvest production, ‘the farm-to-table’ marketing strategy, and the continuing formation of the Spirituality of the Heart through the works of Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation”.
“We will be green producers, bringing our produce to green consumers.”
Pope Francis has highlighted the need for a fair-trade system in an “inclusive economy,” and this is the essential aim of the Food Security Frontliner campaign. “This means that no-one will be left out in the cycle of economy,” says Fr Richie. “We will have a daily harvest from our coop members’ farms; we will be green producers, bringing our produce to green consumers.”
Together with disadvantaged youths on their scholarship programme, the MSC Centre for the Poor Agriculture Cooperative is implementing a programme on Environmental Management Systems, and creating income-generating projects to raise the quality of life for both rural and urban communities who use the two MSC Centre for the Poor locations, one in Butuan City and one in Del Monte Agusan del Sur.
“Our model farm in Del Monte Agusan del Sur has just been approved by the Department of Agriculture as a learning site for organic agriculture, and is soon to be a farm school for the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority,” Fr Richie says. “We want to empower small-scale farmers, the indigenous Lumad community, rebel returnees, people struggling with drugs and addiction, disadvantaged youths, and repatriated overseas Filipino workers.”
Currently, the MSC Centre for the Poor Agriculture Cooperative is working to raise funds to build three large greenhouses for organic vegetable production at the MSC Centre for the Poor Living Museum in Del Monte, Talacogon Agusan del Sur, in the Philippines, at a cost of 5,000,000 Philippine pesos, or approximately €85,500. This investment will provide the prospect of self-sufficiency and food security for generations to come.
“As an accredited cooperative organisation by the Cooperative Development Authority, our focus right now is to produce affordable, healthy food for all, producing healthy/organic farm products on a day-to-day basis.”
“This initiative is a concrete response to the needs of the poor,” concludes Fr Richie. “It is a concrete action that needs the support of our mission friends everywhere, in whatever capacity, including prayers and goodwill to promote a spirit of solidarity.”
PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MSC MINISTRY IN THE PHILIPPINES
Sep 29, 2021
Welcome to the Winter 2021 edition of the MSC Message!
• Read a special seasonal greeting from Fr Michael O’Connell MSC, Director of the MSC Missions Office.
• Join us as we congratulate Br Giacomo Gelardi on his Perpetual Profession to the Society of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.
• Catch up on the latest news from the mission fields, including the erection of the new MSC Province of the Pacific Islands and an update from our MSC brothers in Ecuador.
• Read more about the latest updates from our global COVID-19 relief ministry, with reports from Vietnam, Fiji, and our OLSH Sisters in the Philippines.
• Fr Alan Neville MSC writes from South Sudan, where he is currently ministering with the Loreto team in Rumbek.
• Read all about the beatification of the martyrs of El Quiché, including three MSC priests and seven lay catechists who were killed for their faith in Guatemala between 1980 and 1991.
Read the MSC Message Winter 2021
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Jul 29, 2021
Welcome to the Summer 2021 edition of the MSC Message!
This summer’s edition of the MSC Message is a slightly different one, as we share just some of the ways in which our MSCs have been working to provide COVID relief aid around the world.
• Read a special message from Fr Michael O’Connell MSC, Director of the MSC Missions Office.
• Find out more about the ways in which MSCs are protecting lives from COVID-19 in India, with reports from Fr Darwin Thatheus MSC, Regional Superior in Bangalore.
• Read about MSC COVID outreach in Brazil, from the distribution of basic care packages to the provision of safe and secure housing for families who have lost their homes.
• Learn more about MSC COVID relief aid in the Philippines, where communities are struggling desperately to fight the pandemic in the wake of appalling typhoons.
• Meet the new MSC Vocations team.
• Read a message from Bro Giacomo Gelardi MSC, who has been ministering throughout the pandemic in Killinarden, Dublin, an area already plagued by issues such as violence and drug and alcohol abuse.
Read the MSC Message Summer 2021
Jul 29, 2021
The MSC Mission Office in the Philippines is currently raising funds to coordinate a mission outreach programme for families who have been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, millions of people in the Philippines have lost their jobs and livelihoods, and have been relying on government assistance and charitable donations. This is of particular concern in areas where poverty has long been a pressing issue, where families were already living hand-to-mouth and were struggling to put food on the table. Now, with a second wave of COVID-19 wreaking further havoc across the Philippines, many families have the very real worry of how they are going to feed their children, as well as the overwhelming fear and uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus threat.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has affected so many lives of Filipino people,” writes Fr Samuel Patriarca MSC. “Millions have lost their jobs and businesses, which lead to a great impact in the livelihood and food system of the country. Food security is one of the main adversities that every Filipino has been dealing since the start of the pandemic. As the country is on verge of the second wave of COVID-19, more and more people become hungry and most of them rely on relief drives organised by the government and other civic organisations.”
The MSC Mission Office in the Philippines has been providing relief assistance where possible since the pandemic took hold, providing food and essential items to families in need. Their next mission outreach programme, which they aim to run this summer, will see relief distributions to 3,000 families across three of the most badly affected areas in the country: Luzon (Sta. Quiteria and Caloocan), Visayas (Camotes Island and Cebu), and Mindanao (Butuan and Agusan del Norte).
Each relief pack will provide food and basic items that will act as a lifeline to these families, at a cost of 500 Philippine pesos – approximately €8.50 – per pack.
Just €8.50 will provide an emergency relief pack
for a family in the Philippines. Can you help?
“We hope that through this project, we will be able to help the most vulnerable sectors of the society, the poor.”
– Fr Samuel Patriarca MSC
Director of the MSC Mission Office in the Philippines
PLEASE SUPPORT MSC COVID-19 RELIEF IN THE PHILIPPINES
Jul 29, 2021
The coronavirus has torn through Brazil, where the death toll of half a million people was the second-highest in the world in June 2021. With the situation labelled as “critical”, the pandemic continues to have a devastating effect on health, employment, and social and financial security – and our MSCs across Brazil are doing their best to help those who need it most.
Distributing care packages in Muriaé
The São Paulo Social Work Project is based in the city of Muriaé, in Minas Gerais, Brazil, where MSC missionaries help the poorest people every day. The project works daily on two main purposes: The provision of essential medicines which are expensive, or unavailable via public health services, and the distribution of food baskets, containing basic necessities.
In addition to food and medicine, the project also provides families in need with nappies for young children, and hygiene and cleaning products, which are more crucial than ever in the current pandemic.
The São Paulo Social Work Project is funded by donations from local people, and additional resources made available by the parish. The distribution of food, hygiene products, and medicine takes place from the project’s head office, or care packs are sent by volunteers to the homes of those who are unable to collect them in person.
The monthly cost of the project is estimated at approximately €770. This currently provides food baskets for around 80 families every month, along with the distribution of over 200 medicines monthly.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, requests for help from the São Paulo Social Work Project have increased significantly, as many people in the region find themselves unemployed and without the means to support their families. MSCs in the region are currently trying to raise funds for a year’s worth of relief aid, amounting to €9,240 in total.
Just €9.60 will provide food, medication, and cleaning products for a family in Muriaé for a month.
A donation of €115.50 will give that family these necessities for a year.
A contribution of €9.60 will provide food, medication & cleaning products for a family in Muriaé for a month.
Sowing seeds for the future in Rio de Janeiro
The São Francisco de Assis Social Work Project was founded by MSCs in São Gonçalo-RJ, Brazil, in March 1988. The project originally began with the establishment of a community crèche to help single mothers and their children, before the implemention of a larger-scale project in 2005, which aimed to support disadvantaged parents and children in the area, providing opportunities for personal development and professional qualifications. With the help of this programme, single parents and vulnerable families have been able to work towards gaining education, qualifications, and paid work, all with the aim of providing independence, dignity, and an improved quality of life.
The São Francisco de Assis Project are now raising funds to help vulnerable families in Rio de Janeiro in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Their latest project, named The Desert Also Produces Flowers, will focus on:
- Promoting health and wellbeing following the pandemic, with specific attention on women’s health.
- Working with the local community employment centre to run workshops for people who are lacking in the necessary skills to find employment. These workshops will include computer skills, caregiving for the elderly and infirm, sewing and clothing production, and beauty courses.
- Developing and running educational courses to help people in financial difficulty to gain qualifications, prepare for the world of work, and improve their quality of life in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic.
The Obra Comunitária São Francisco de Assis are working to raise a total of €2,900 in order to be able to fund this new community programme, which will run for a period of 10 months.
Can you help to give a family in Brazil a second chance?
A focus on family in Pinheirinho
The ongoing plague of the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated existing problems of violence, marginalisation, and poverty in the area of Pinheirinho, in the city of Curitiba, and MSCs in the region are working to help vulnerable families who are struggling with a lack of facilities, a lack of support, and often, a lack of the most basic necessities.
The Projeto Família Viva, or the Living Family Project, hosts weekly meetings for 120 families in the area, with talks on themes such as addiction, health, family values, and spirituality. Monthly meetings also promote self-help, with particular emphasis on support for those struggling with alcoholism, or with family members who are dependent on alcohol.
Home visits are carried out by volunteers, who provide help and offer much-needed social interaction to those who are alone. Workshops are also held, teaching skills including knitting, embroidery, painting, and making clothes and rugs. Monthly bazaars are held to sell the products made during craft workshops, with all funds raised diverted back into the project.
The ministry provided by the Projeto Família Viva is invaluable; in addition, the group supply essential care packages to families in need every month, containing food, medicine, and basic necessities. MSCs in Pinheirinho are working to raise funds to continue the work of the Projeto Família Viva, and the provision of essential items to families who have been left without the means to support themselves as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
A donation of just €19 will provide a monthly care package for a family in need in Pinheirinho.
Can you provide a Brazilian family with this lifeline?
Just €19 will provide a monthly care package
for a family in need in Pinheirinho.
Providing a safe haven in Minas Gerais
The Pró-Moradia Housing Project was founded by Fr Tiago Prins MSC in 1992, in Muriaé, Minas Gerais, a region of Rio de Janeiro that is significantly affected by poverty. Fr Tiago developed this project with the aim of being able to give low-income families access to safe, secure, and comfortable housing.
Sadly, the number of people living on the streets in Rio de Janeiro is increasing rapidly due to the harsh rise in unemployment brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbated by the lack of support from the Brazilian government.
Each house costs approximately €1,600 to build, and the houses themselves are built on a volunteer basis by their future residents. MSCs in Muriaé are appealing for the funds to build 10 new houses, to help those families who have lost their livelihoods and their homes due to the coronavirus pandemic.
For €1,600, a displaced family in Brazil will have a new home. Can you help?
For €1,600, a family in Brazil will have a safe home.
Can you make a difference?
PLEASE SUPPORT MSC COVID AID IN BRAZIL
