by Karen Moloney | Aug 29, 2024 | Latest News, News & Media, What we do
A New Academic Year
It’s all go as usual in the Catholic University of South Sudan, Rumbek Campus. As we are approaching the end of one year, we are already in full swing getting organised for the next. The University is small but growing, and we are committed to seeing it flourish. Earlier this month, we launched a promotion programme for our new intake. We arranged a series of Facebook ads, printed flyers, put posters up around town, made Church announcements, and hosted two radio talk shows with our students.
Without a doubt, our students are our best adverts and promotors. Many of our new applicants have come through their personal recommendation. Their collaboration is essential and invaluable. However, we are faced with two significant challenges right now. The first is that the basic educational attainment level remains low. There is still a great deal of investment needed in primary and secondary education. According to the UN, South Sudan has the lowest expected school attendance in the world at just 5.6 years on average. This is why the work of the University in training professional, qualified teachers is so imperative. In addition, there has been significant inflation since the beginning of the year, reaching 320% since January. This means that finding money for University fees is especially difficult. To this end, we have worked to make them as low as possible and continue to offer a partial scholarship to women. For many, it is still not enough.
Fostering Body and Mind
It is not enough to just educate our students, we also need to attend to their complete wellbeing. Here, that means addressing issues like Hepatitis B. Seventy percent of all new global infections of viral hepatitis B and C occur in sub-Saharan Africa due to insufficient interventions, and the rate in South Sudan is a real problem. Hepatitis mortality remains high due to low treatment coverage. To this end, we have been working with the Mary Ward Primary Health Care Centre to test and vaccinate all of our students and staff who wish to take part. Those who are found to be Hep. B carriers are referred onwards for further treatment. Three out of four students and staff have already received their first dose, with second due later this month, and the third in September.
Get that Job!
As mentioned already, the South Sudanese economy is struggling and opportunities for employment are few and far between. Any time there is a job posting, the response is immediate and overwhelming, with many not even being shortlisted, let alone interviewed! To support our students, we arranged a workshop on interview technique with a member of Caritas, one of the largest organisations working in South Sudan. He worked with them on the essentials of best practice, good preparation, effective communication, and strong presentation. The attendance by students was enthusiastic, with standing room only for late comers. If given half the chance, they have the drive and creativity to really shape and change the economy and their community for the better. Such sustainable economic development by South Sudanese themselves is at the heart of our vision for the University.
Full House
This week our end-of-year exams began and will continue until the end of the month. Around the campus, student study groups are running as they prepare for tests in managerial accounting, African literature, computer literacy, entrepreneurship and innovation, economics, and ethics. All our first and second years sat my Church history exam yesterday and the stack of their uncorrected scripts are staring at me balefully from across the office. It’s perhaps the only aspect of lecturing I do not enjoy… to put it mildly!
While the exams continue, we are also welcoming our new first-year students. They will begin their bridging course tomorrow, which is comprised of eight weeks of intensive maths and English to help them as they start their third-level studies. All going well, they will be ready to begin their first courses by the middle of October.
Nhialic ke yin (God bless you as they say here),
Fr Alan
Director,
CUSS Rumbek
Read more from Fr Alan’s missionary journey in South Sudan:
by Karen Moloney | Aug 22, 2024 | News, News & Media, What we do
It has been a productive summer so far at the Chevalier Training Centre in Wainadoi, Fiji, with various workshops and renovations keeping the CTC team busy.
Established by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, the Chevalier Training Centre opened its doors in 1992 with the aim of bringing practical skills and a useful education to underprivileged young men between the ages of 16 and 21. Every year, the centre welcomes up to 75 young men from disadvantaged backgrounds, improving their chances of employment and enabling them to make a valuable contribution to their communities and societies.
“Our mission is to help these young men to face life with confidence and dignity,” says the CTC community. “Our priority is to assist those who have the least hope.”
Many students at the centre would not have had the opportunity for a comprehensive education, for several reasons including poverty and challenging family backgrounds, while others are struggling with unemployment while lacking the necessary skill sets to find work. As such, CTC students learn important life skills such as time management and financial management, while also taking on a curriculum of subjects including cabinet making, carpentry, welding and fabrication, motor mechanics, farm management, and animal husbandry.
The Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart has a long-standing friendship with the community at the Chevalier Training Centre, with our mission friends and benefactors here helping to raise funds for the centre most recently in our 2022 and 2023 World Projects Appeals. The students themselves also generate income for the centre, through local carpentry and construction jobs, selling their farm produce, and an annual bazaar where goods created during school workshops are sold.
The Facebook page for the Chevalier Training Centre has been keeping us up to date with the latest happenings at the school, with July proving particularly productive for staff and students alike. At the beginning of the month, CTC students attended a talk focusing on the dangers of drug abuse, eradicating sexual violence, and the importance of mental wellness. The talk took place at the Holy Spirit Parish, and was facilitated by members of the police force and the Ministry of Health. The CTC Facebook page shared a picture of participants on the day, with the motto “Be Responsible, make the right choice, stay away from drugs”.
July also saw the completion of renovations to the carpentry workshop at the Chevalier Training Centre. The workshop itself has been refurbished, and equipped with new tools for lessons.
“We are forever grateful to APTC Country Manager and their Operation Team whom are in partnership with our Institution,” reads a post on the CTC Facebook page. “They have refurbished our Carpentry Workshop. Today we witnessed the handingover ceremony and they also equipped the newly refurbished workshop with basic relevant tools. These opportunities have immensely contributed to our needs to education and skills development especially in the TVET section.”
Congratulations and well done to all involved with the latest achievements at the Chevalier Training Centre, and we look forward to hearing about further successes and community achievements in the coming months.
Images via the Facebook page for the Chevalier Training Centre.
*
by Karen Moloney | Jul 31, 2024 | News, News & Media, What we do
A NEW PATHWAY FOR VULNERABLE CHILDREN
MSCs in Brazil established a shelter for the care of young children in the NiterĂłi region 35 years ago. Here, they have been working on their Pro-Child Movement, which aims to promote positive change in the lives of children from 6 to 14 years of age. There are currently 60 local children in care here over the course of two daily sessions, morning and afternoon. Each session lasts for four hours and caters to 30 children.
The services here are provided by professionally trained staff who help the children across a variety of disciplines, including motor skills, tutoring, sports, cultural awareness, and spiritual guidance. With a positive, productive outlook, the Pro-Child team aim to broaden horizons for these children, and minimise the very real threat of their being drawn into the drug trade.
EDUCATING FOR A BRIGHTER TOMORROW
The team here help the children with homework, also assisting with learning difficulties, and run educational activities including workshops, cultural trips, and games and films that stimulate learning and development.
Monthly meetings take place with the parents, strengthening contact with families. Many of these children come to the shelter from diverse backgrounds; they are often being raised by their mothers and/or relatives, as they have been abandoned by their fathers for various reasons including alcoholism, drugs, domestic violence, and unemployment.
The team at the shelter have now started a programme welcoming mothers to regular round table discussions, which is a very helpful way of finding out about the reality of the daily lives of the children in their care, enabling them to build stronger and more effective supports.
The house is located close to local communities, but it is very old and in need of constant repair. A wall separates the house from a hill, and in rainy season, this suffers severe water damage and requires constant maintenance to avoid collapse. Repairs are also continuously being made to the ageing electrical and plumbing infrastructure.
PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MSC MINISTRY IN BRAZIL
by Karen Moloney | Jul 31, 2024 | News, News & Media, What we do
SOUP KITCHENS IN MARACAIBO
MSCs in Maracaibo, Venezuela, are running several soup kitchens across multiple locations in local barrios, urban neighbourhoods where the populations are very poor. One such facility is in the barrio of Virgin del Carmen, where poverty is rife and living conditions are extremely difficult.
This area is home to communities of native Indian and indigenous Wayu people who came originally from Guajira, which crosses the border with Columbia. They arrive with nothing, in the hope of a better life for their families and themselves, yet life in the barrio brings its own challenges.
The people here make their homes using basic materials, and take on what jobs they can find with little or no education, such as cleaning or housekeeping. Due to the economic and political crises in Venezuela, the people who owned their own homes and would hire domestic staff are now emigrating themselves, abandoning their houses in the hope of better prospects elsewhere, and leaving no work for those who remain to support their families.
BRINGING BREAD TO THE HUNGRY
The barrio of Mirtha Fonseca is named after an indigenous Wayu woman. This barrio has a sewage system running along its periphery, making living conditions very unhealthy for the people living there.
Irish MSC Fr John Jennings built a church here with the support of our mission friends in previous years, and MSCs in the area now work with the help of local catechists who prepare the people for First Holy Communion and Confirmation, while also helping with the church and liturgies.
Mass is said every Sunday at Maria Auxiliadora y San Jose church. Galwayman and local curate Fr Tom MSC, purchases bread each week, and after Mass, this is distributed to parishioners who are hungry and depend hugely on this weekly provision.
A LIFELINE FOR POOR FAMILIES
Our current soup kitchens also serve communities at the chapel of the Sacred Heart at El Cujicito and La Ezparanza high-rise apartments. The facilities on hand are far from state-of-the-art kitchens, but are the basic resources we have to feed as many people as possible.
Working together for positive change
Ministry to the sick is also a large part of our missionary outreach in Maracaibo. Our MSCs provide spiritual support to those in need, and bring food to nourish the sick and housebound.
Catechists working across the barrios also go out to local schools where the children have not been baptised, sharing the love of the Sacred Heart and offering spiritual guidance.
From vital nourishment to spiritual support, our MSCs are doing all they can to help those in real need across the barrios of Maracaibo – and with your help, we can do so much more.
IF YOU CAN, PLEASE SUPPORT OUR VENEZUELAN MISSION
by Karen Moloney | Jul 18, 2024 | Latest News, News, News & Media, What we do
It has been a busy few months in the Catholic University of South Sudan, Rumbek and, as always, life is filled with activity. The economic crisis has deepened, due to the war in Sudan and runaway inflation here. Teachers, nurses, policemen, and civil servants have now not been paid since last October. How people manage to survive at all is one of the enduring mysteries. However, the South Sudanese are a courageous and resilient people and life has to go on.
Joyful Graduations
We are a new Catholic third-level institution, so this year marked the graduations of our first class. Our four Diploma in Business Administration and two Diploma in Accounting and Finance students joined us in our mother campus of Catholic University in Juba. In addition to our Diploma class, thirteen more Bachelor of Business Administration and Bachelor of Education students will graduate later this year.
For many of them, they will be the first member of their family to have earned a third level qualification. It is a source of tremendous excitement for all involved. More importantly, after decades of deliberate underinvestment in the south before independence by the Sudanese government, these men and women are among the first groups of South Sudanese men and women to be graduate as local teachers and business people. Our Bishop, Christian Carlassare, was the guest of honour on the day, and spoke with pride about the difference the graduates would make in creating a stronger, most sustainable future for South Sudan.
We have also established a group for these new alumni, so that they can continue to avail of the resources of the University as they begin their careers. Access to the internet here is among some of the most expensive globally due to our isolated location. However, with the support of the MSC Mission Office Australia, all of our computers are online, allowing them to search for employment, carry out research, and prepare CVs and applications. For our current students, it has opened up an entirely new dimension, giving them access to textbooks, videos and online software that previously they could only have wished for.
Creative Collaboration
Resources here are few and we are always looking for innovative ways to support the professional development of our students. To this end we are collaborating closely with the Department of Human Sciences in the University of Salerno. Every three weeks, our Bachelor of Education students have a special input delivered online by a senior member of the faculty. They focus on some of the latest techniques and methodologies that will help develop their teaching practice. To date we have studied cognitive difficulties in youth, the design of classrooms to facilitate greater participation, and Universal Design for Learning.
All of our students speak English as a second, sometimes third language and the demands of academia can present a significant challenge. To tackle this issue, we currently offer advanced English classes for our first and second years. In an exciting new partnership with the Loreto Education Centre, we are also setting up small group classes for students who need extra support, along with classes in English for business professionals.
New Beginnings
While these last months have been a time of saying goodbye to some, we are getting ready to welcome others. Earlier this week we launched our admissions programme for new students. While our Bachelor of Business Administration remains popular, the two Bachelor of Education degrees are our main focus. The development of well-trained local secondary school teachers is our central goal, and we see it as an essential component in the continued development of South Sudan.
As part our admissions drive, we will have students involved in talk shows on two different local radio stations, use social media advertising, put up posters around town, make announcements after Masses, distribute flyers, and most importantly encouraging our students to spread the news by word of mouth. As ambassadors for the University, their recommendation is the most effective way of engaging new students and they have been enthusiastic in their mission. As always, we endeavour to encourage as many women as possible to study with the help of our partial scholarship programme and along with our measures to facilitate mothers with young children. We are also one of the few institutions nationally that have a wheelchair toilet and a fully accessible campus. Here, education is for everyone.
Nhialic ke yin (or God bless you),
Fr Alan
Read more from Fr Alan’s missionary journey in South Sudan:
by Karen Moloney | Jul 11, 2024 | News, News & Media, What we do
The MSC community in Manila, capital of the Philippines, have been working on an ongoing project where discarded plastic bottles are repurposed and made into “ecobricks”, finding new life as fences, planter boxes, outdoor furniture, altar decorations, and even chapel walls.
Part of the “Sowing Hope for the Planet” campaign, a worldwide movement to promote environmental awareness, the ecobricks project is just one of many efforts in the MSC mission for ecological sustainability and care of our common home. MSCs in the Philippine Province are also extremely active in the Laudato Si’ Action Platform, a Vatican initiative based on Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, not least with the remarkable efforts of the community at the MSC Centre for the Poor and their accompanying agricultural co-operative.
Fr James Espuerta MSC was rector at the Manila seminary from 2018 to 2023, where he led countless workshops in the construction and use of the ecobricks. Each brick is comprised of a 1.5 litre plastic bottle, which is then stuffed with smaller pieces of plastic, all compressed with a bamboo stick. Often, the plastics and bottles are painted in bright, appealing colours. The creation of a single brick is time-consuming, and can take a full day to be produced.
“If we have plastics, instead of throwing them away or into the trash or to the garbage cart, better to keep them and then organize ecobrick-making,” says Fr James.
A recent article by Earthbeat reports how the MSC ecobrick initiative began in 2019, at the seminary in Manila, and has since expanded into 15 parishes in the care of our MSC brothers. A chapel in Santo Nino Parish, on Camotes Island in Cebu, has been constructed using ecobricks, and several plastic banks are in operation, whereby people in need can trade plastic they bring from home, or pick up on the street, for food.
Ecobricks help to reduce the costs of building materials while also promoting recycling and ecological awareness, and MSCs in the Philippines are very much aware of the need to reduce the use of single-use plastics in addition. “We have to care for our common home. And plastics destroy creation,” explains Fr James. “Human beings are not the only residents in the world. We also have our brother creatures, and we have to take care of them.”
“Being responsible for the use of the plastic could be a good way to save our environment,” Fr James says. With the support of our mission friends here in the Irish Province and around the globe, MSCs in the Philippines continue in their mission to work in harmony with the natural world, while developing sustainable and self-sufficient lifestyles for the vulnerable and disadvantaged communities in their care.
Original article and images via Earthbeat:
https://www.ncronline.org/earthbeat/science/philippines-catholic-priests-tackle-plastic-waste-brick-brick
*
