Sacred Heart Students in Cameroon: Athanase’s Story

This summer, the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart are raising funds to help the Sacred Heart College in Cameroon, where students gather every day in classrooms that are still under construction. For most of these students, poverty and hardship mean life is a daily struggle, and education is their only hope for the future. Here, the students share their stories, telling us what the Sacred Heart College means to them.

 

“My name is Athanase. I am 15 years old and a student in Form 2 at the Sacred Heart Bilingual College of Lada II. I walk a distance of 2km every day to reach the college.

In order to make money, I sell bananas and groundnuts after school, and during the weekends and holidays. My parents are not working but my father is a bricklayer – sometimes he has work, and sometimes he has nothing, which becomes very difficult both at home and at school.

I thank God for sending me the Sacred Heart College, because even though I missed paying my fees, they permitted me to still attend class.

I’m doing my best.”

 

This summer, we’re working to provide a safe, comfortable space for students like Athanese to learn and grow. If you can, please help us to build a brighter future for the Sacred Heart community.

PLEASE HELP US TO CHANGE LIVES IN CAMEROON

Greetings from Tsakane, South Africa!

We were delighted to receive these wonderful pictures from Fr Alan Neville MSC, taken on his recent trip to the parish of St Paul the Apostle in Tsakane, Gauteng. Fr Alan paid a visit to Fr Martin Morrissey MSC, parish priest, and joined the lively and enthusiastic community of St Paul’s parish for Mass during his stay.

Tsakane is a township located outside Johannesburg, and, as is the case in many parts of South Africa, much of the population faces significant social and economic struggles. The community of St Paul’s parish, however, is a vibrant one, who find great joy and unity in their faith despite the daily challenges they face.

“Everyone is welcome at St Paul’s,” reads the church information. “Come just as you are – we’d love to get to know you better.” This warm, inclusive nature was demonstrated clearly as parishioners welcomed Fr Alan with open arms!

We’re sending our very best to the community of St Paul’s, and we wish Fr Martin continued success in his ministry there.

 

Sustainable Living: MSC Sewing Livelihood Programme in the Philippines

In early 2017, the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart assisted in the launch of a new Sewing Livelihood Programme in Pinugay, in the Philippines. Over the past number of years, the MSC Missions Office in the Philippines has been reaching out to respond to the urgent needs of families and communities around the country, in a mission to teach people new skills, to alleviate poverty, and to help communities to become self-sufficient and sustainable.

With the help of financial aid from mission friends in the Irish Province, the MSC Missions Office in the Philippines were able to launch the MSC Sewing Livelihood Programme in the KKSV9 district, Pinugay, in February 2017. The KKSV9 district is a resettlement area for families who have been displaced from their homes, and poverty is a very serious issue here. Many families struggle with unemployment, hunger, and illness, and the skills offered by the Sewing Livelihood Programme have been a lifeline for those who had nowhere else to turn.

Tools for a brighter future

Armed with fifteen sets of sewing machines, and the members of the KKSV9 community worked together to set up their local sewing station. The programme began with four mothers, who were trained in operating the sewing machinery, and there are now fourteen women working in sewing and tailoring, with regular clients placing orders with them.

The success of the Sewing Livelihood Programme led to the development of a new project, and in June 2017, a Life Sharing Programme was established, focusing on the spiritual growth of the community. The group meets every Saturday for spiritual formation, with the aim of growing in harmony as individuals and a community.

“On behalf of the KKSV9 community, we would like to thank all of our mission friends in the Irish Province,” says Jahms Morga of the MSC Missions Office in the Philippines. “You have all been instrumental in making this life-changing programme accessible to the people of the Pinugay Resettlement Area in Baras, Rizal.”

The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in the Philippines continue to work with the locals of Pinugay to foster security, self-sufficiency, and community spirit. With the help of the Irish Province, the MSC in the Philippines have also been able to launch a local consumer store and a beekeeping project, giving local people the tools to build a positive future for their families and for generations to come.

For the latest updates from the MSC Missions in the Philippines, please visit their Facebook page.

PLEASE HELP US TO CHANGE LIVES IN THE PHILIPPINES

Jubilee Celebrations in the Irish Province

Celebrations abounded at the Sacred Heart Church in Cork on Thursday, June 28th 2018, as eight MSCs from the Irish Province marked the great occasion of Silver, Golden, and Diamond Jubilees. Friends, family, and fellow MSCs travelled from across Ireland, the UK, and beyond, gathering on the Western Road in Cork to celebrate in the glorious June sunshine on this very special day.

Irish Provincial Leader, Fr Carl Tranter MSC, opened the Jubilee Mass with a warm welcome to all present. Fr Carl was himself celebrating his 25-year Jubilee, and in his opening address, he spoke of God’s love, which “empowers, heals, and transforms”.

 

“As each of us look back over our lives today in gratitude, as we remember and recollect with members of our family, friends and fellow MSCs, we might allow ourselves to be amazed and astonished at what the Lord has been able to do in and through us, often in spite of us!” Fr Carl said. “We recall being given appointments or responsibilities we felt wholly ill-equipped to undertake; we remember times of great struggle and challenge, even seeming failure; and we delight in the memories of love, success, joy, wonder, gratitude, growth, communion, friendship and consolation. We recognise each as a gift and a grace. This is what gives us cause to celebrate today. Not anything we have ‘achieved’. A couple celebrating 50 years of marriage are not celebrating what they have achieved, but the gift of love which has endured through the years, which has sustained them despite the challenges, and which has borne fruit in so many different ways across the different seasons of their lives. As MSCs, we celebrate that same great gift of love today.”

The commemoration of this year’s Jubiliarians was a joyful celebration of community, fellowship, and thanksgiving, recalling the triumphs and the challenges of the years gone by and looking ahead with faith, hope, and love.

Congratulations to the Jubilarians!

Silver Jubilee (25 years)
Fr Con O’Connell MSC
Fr Carl Tranter MSC
Fr Terry O’Brien MSC

Golden Jubilee (50 years)
Fr Patsy Kelly MSC
Br Donie Hallissey MSC

Diamond Jubilee (60 years)
Fr Eugene Clarkson MSC
Fr Eamonn Donohue MSC
Bishop Emeritus Hugh Slattery MSC

New Boreholes for Loreto Rumbek

Early in April, Loreto Rumbek were able to employ a drilling company to implement three new boreholes for the benefit of the local community. The Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart have been working with the Loreto community in Rumbek since the summer of 2017, and it is with great joy that we receive this positive update from Maker Kuei.

Two of the new boreholes were placed in communities where local residents did not have easy access to an improved water point. The third borehole was placed next to the new Loreto Primary Health Care Unit facility, which is scheduled for completion in August of this year.

“South Sudan has a six-month dry season that can be extremely brutal to families that are already borderline or severely food insecure,” explains a spokesperson for Loreto Rumbek. “These new water points become a centralised point for community gardening, water collection, and sanitation – a lifeline for a community during the harsh realities of the dry season.”

Local resident Mary Akol describes just how much of a lifeline these water points are. “This new borehole is a blessing to me,” she says. “Even if I am late, I can get water. The children can pump water too. I plan to plant kudra, okra, and pumpkin.”

For the past year, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart have been working in partnership with Loreto Rumbek to bring hope to the people of Maker Kuei. We are proud to be able to support the Loreto Rumbek community in their ongoing work in South Sudan, and we extend our sincere thanks to our mission friends in Ireland and around the world for continuing to care.

For more news and updates from Loreto Rumbek, please visit their website.

PLEASE HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN

Sustainable Living: MSC Beekeeping Livelihood Programme in the Philippines

With the help of the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, an MSC Beekeeping Livelihood Programme was launched in Antipolo in the Philippines early in 2017. Since then, the programme has been progressing at a great rate, and Jahms Morga of the MSC Missions Office in the Philippines has recently been in touch to update us on developments in Antipolo.

The MSC Beekeeping Livelihood Programme aims to support the local bee industry, advocating positive environmental awareness and promoting healthy living through a sustainable livelihood scheme. In providing local people with new and useful skills, this programme is opening up avenues of employment for many, while promoting and developing independent local business.

 

So far, the programme has conducted basic beekeeping seminars and workshops across five communities – Antipolo, Cavite, Bulacan, Pangasinan, and Quezon Province. More than 50 local people have been introduced to life in the apiary through the programme, and it is already providing the tools for future employment and self-sufficiency in an area where this is much needed.

“We hope to extend the programme to other communities,” says Jamhs Morga of the Philippines MSC Missions Office, “in order to further promote sustainable employment while raising awareness of environmental care and protection.”

For the latest updates from the MSC Missions in the Philippines, please visit their Facebook page.

PLEASE HELP US TO CHANGE LIVES IN THE PHILIPPINES

Sowing the Seeds of Knowledge in South Sudan

Over the past six months, the Loreto Rumbek community has been working in tandem with Misean Cara and the local community of Maker Kuei on their new Seeds of Knowledge project.

This project focused on helping 100 participants who have come from families that have been affected by local and national conflict. These families were struggling with severe poverty, and those participating in the project would have had very few resources to survive the upcoming lean season.

The Seeds of Knowledge project combined agricultural training and health education, with a “food for work” aspect which meant that each participant’s household received very welcome food and income.

The project finished at the end of April, just in time for the beginning of the rainy season. Each participant left the programme with two watering cans, one jembe (hoe), a small stock of seeds (including sorghum, groundnuts, kudra, and other vegetables), and a number of fruit-tree seedlings.

Many food security initiatives in South Sudan focus on increasing access and intake; the Seeds of Knowledge project, however, was the first to introduce early recovery and resiliency techniques in this area. In the face of the ongoing food crisis, this has given the households involved the tools for increased self-sufficiency, and vital resources in the face of hunger and poverty.

For the past year, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart have been working in partnership with Loreto Rumbek to bring hope to the people of Maker Kuei. We are proud to be able to support the Loreto Rumbek community in their ongoing work in South Sudan, and we extend our sincere thanks to our mission friends in Ireland and around the world for continuing to care.

For more news and updates from Loreto Rumbek, please visit their website.

PLEASE HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN

Perseverance and Pride: Salome’s Story

Having graduated from the Loreto Secondary School in Rumbek, South Sudan, Salome Piath Gum began work in the Loreto Primary School as part of the Loreto Graduate Programme. In this role, she is gaining invaluable skills and taking the next steps towards a positive future as a successful, independent woman. Here, Salome tells us how the Loreto Graduate Programme has changed her life for the better.

“I love my job.”

“I am the office secretary at the Loreto Primary School. My daily tasks include typing, printing, photocopying, recording results, filing, and answering the office phone. I facilitate the students as they attend the clinic, I issue school uniforms, and I make sure that the offices and classrooms are locked securely after the school day. I also act as a translator at meetings with the local staff and teachers, and take minutes during these meetings. Sr Orla is my mentor.

I really enjoy working with the students, especially when I’m giving uniforms to small children. They are very funny – they always make me laugh when we talk, asking me different questions about what I’m doing and what different things in the office are used for.

My job can be quite pressurised at times, especially during examinations. At these times, I am kept very busy typing, photocopying, and recording results on the computer. Some teachers also pass work on to me. However, I love my job, and I try to complete my tasks as quickly as possible so that everything gets done.”

“At home, I face a bigger challenge… but I persevere.”

“At home, I face a bigger challenge. I am the eldest girl in the family, and I am an orphan. I want to continue with my education, but I face a lot of difficulties. My siblings are suffering, because they are in school and they don’t have enough food. My cousin paid my school fees during my secondary school education, but is unable to pay for my university studies.

I accept the situation and I persevere, hoping that I will get the chance to study further. My ambition is to go to university. I have already learned computer skills, communication skills, and administration skills. I was not expecting to have the opportunities to develop my translation skills, but I can now easily translate Dinka into English and vice versa.

In the future, I would like to be able to train others in clerical and administration skills. I can also use these skills to work anywhere in the community. I would like it if this programme could be expanded further in order to help more of our graduates who are looking for similar opportunities.”

We at the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart are proud to be able to support the Loreto community in their graduate programme, and we extend our sincere thanks to our mission friends in Ireland and around the world for continuing to care.

PLEASE HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN

MSC Missions in the Philippines: Mayon Mission Outreach Programme

Since February, the MSC Mission Office in the Philippines have been working to bring aid to families affected by the eruption of Mount Mayon. Between January 13^th and February 1^st 2018, the volcano of Mount Mayon erupted more than 35 times, and over 85,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes by the middle of February.

The volcano continued to spew lava and ash for some time following these eruptions, causing thousands of cases of respiratory diseases and severe overcrowding and lack of supplies in evacuation centres. In some cases, over 20 families were crowded together in one classroom, just so that they had somewhere safe to stay in the aftermath of the eruptions. The MSC Missions Office in the Philippines were on the scene to provide evacuees with immediate essentials such as food and clean water, and they are now continuing to support displaced families by providing vital aid.

In May, the MSC Missions in the Philippines ran a School Supplies Distribution Project in Buhatan Elementary School in Sto. Domingo, Albay as part of the second phase of the Mayon Mission Outreach Programme. A total of 224 students were given a school supplies kit, containing notebooks, paper, crayons, pens, pencils, an eraser, a pencil sharpener, a ruler, scissors, sticky tape, and a tumbler.

“The teachers and parents were very grateful for the help that was extended to their children,” says the MSC Missions Office in the Philippines. “We would like to thank the donors and benefactors who shared their resources for the procurement of school supplies. We would also like to thank the Mayon Mission Outreach team in Albay for helping us to prepare the school supplies kit and organise the outreach activity.”

For the latest updates from the MSC Missions in the Philippines, please visit their Facebook page.

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MISSION PROJECTS IN THE PHILIPPINES

 

Dedication and Diligence: Marius’ Story

Marius Rahayaan is a student at Siwa Lima St Joseph’s Technical School in Langgur, Indonesia. Built in 1970, the school is run by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart with the aim of educating young people in the region so “they can do something good for themselves and for their families”. In a region where poverty is a pressing issue, St Joseph’s provides the youth of the community with hope for the future. Here is Marius’ story:

“My name is Marius Rahayann and I am 22 years old.

I have a simple family, but I am proud of it. I chose to go to St Joseph’s Technical School because my uncle also graduated from this school, and he now has practical skills and can do something useful for his family. Seeing this gave me great motivation to go to the same school.

I am in the third class now. During my time in this school, I have been actively involved in all of my classes and programmes. I am diligent in my study, I work hard, and I have learned to appreciate and respect my teachers and my fellow students. I have received certificates for my achievements in learning and I am so proud of these.

I am especially proud because I now have the skills to do great things. I can make items which I can then sell to pay my school fees and contribute to my family. I am very glad to be a part of this school, and I am very thankful to be a student here. Above all, I am thankful to God for His blessings on me – may God bless us all.”

PLEASE HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN INDONESIA

Courage and Confidence: Elizabeth’s Story

Elizabeth Aghar Mark is a graduate of the Loreto Secondary School in Rumbek, South Sudan. She has remained with the Loreto community as part of their graduate programme, where the care, guidance, and tuition given have provided Elizabeth with the potential for a future filled with hope and possibility. Here, Elizabeth shares what the Loreto Graduate Programme has meant to her…

“I have the courage and confidence to accomplish the world.”

“I work as an office assistant, with Sr Orla as my mentor. I deal with photocopying, printing, and working with the school administration.

I enjoy my work, such as photocopying, printing, and making certificates and report cards, as it is giving me great experience in clerical and administration work for the future. Sometimes, there is a lot of work to do, and I have to work for more hours than I am supposed to some days. I see this as a challenge that makes me stronger, and I have the courage and confidence to accomplish the world.”

“At home, I faced another challenge, as some of my relatives wanted me to be married off.”

“At home, I faced another challenge, as some of my relatives wanted me to be married off. This was settled by my father, when I approached him and explained that I want to achieve further studies. My father agreed and suspended the marriage, and now my plan is to go to university and get a job so I can help to support my parents and my brothers and sisters.

In my current role, I have learned computer skills, office management skills, and teaching skills. I was not expecting to gain experience in teaching, and now I would like to be a lecturer in South Sudan after my further studies. I find teaching very exciting, and I hope that the Loreto community can continue with this programme, as it benefits so many graduates by preparing them for the future.”

We at the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart are proud to be able to support the Loreto community in their graduate programme, and we extend our sincere thanks to our mission friends in Ireland and around the world for continuing to care.

PLEASE HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN

Thank you from Saratov, Russia

At the end of April, the MSC Missions Office in Cork received a lovely letter from Fr Ondrej Slavik in Saratov, Russia. Fr Ondrej got in touch to extend his thanks to the mission friends of the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart for their kindness and generosity, as a recent donation has allowed for the purchase of a new minibus to assist in parish activities.

Together with Bishop Clemens Pickel, Fr Ondrej appealed for helping in buying a minibus for the parish of St Clement in Saratov. “I am very pleased to inform you that, thanks to your support, we were able to purchase a new VW Caravelle minibus for the pastoral activities of our parish,” writes Fr Ondrej.

“On behalf of myself and the whole parish, the people whom this car will serve, I express my most sincere gratitude.”

The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart have been working to share the message of God’s love in Russia for over 20 years, as the country’s churches began to rebuild themselves after their collapse during the revolution. The Russian mission began with just three MSC priests in 1995, and today, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart continue to support the work being done by local communities in Russia as we encourage social and spiritual development in regions in need.

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MSC MISSIONS WORLDWIDE