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MSC World Projects Appeal 2024: India

Empowering communities in India

For almost 40 years, MSCs in India have provided practical, spiritual, medical, and educational aid to communities in real need of help and encouragement. Today, we continue in our ministry as we adapt to the specific needs of changing times.

MSCs in Therkukalidaikuruchi Village in the Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu are working to raise funds to establish a new environmentally sustainable agricultural programme that will preserve and encourage the local ecosystem, while also providing opportunities for employment in the rural population. With approximately 30 acres of land devoted to the fulfilment of the project, the MSC Indian Union is working to develop a model farm that cultivates crops and native trees, while also rearing cattle and poultry, with the aim of “contributing to both environmental conservation and economic empowerment”.

The project will see 1,000 trees planted on the farm, promoting biodiversity and combating deforestation. A variety of crops and fruit-bearing trees will be cultivated alongside the farming of cattle and poultry, while a dedicated MSC team will also provide an educational programme for the local community, covering modern agricultural techniques, marketing strategies, and sustainable practices. The land will also serve as a spiritual sanctuary, “inviting people to connect with nature and experience its transformative power”.

The MSC Indian Union are working to raise a total of €35,300 for the establishment and development of their agricultural programme in Therkukalidaikuruchi Village. This budget includes expenses for tree planting, agricultural infrastructure, livestock management, educational programmes, and the development of a spiritual sanctuary for the local community.

€11,765 will cover the cost of planting 1,000 native trees.
€11,765 will be spent on the cultivation of the land, including the installation of an irrigation system,
planting and caring for crops, developing the land, and paying for essential labour.
€10,594 will purchase cattle and poultry,
along with the necessary equipment, feed, and labour for rearing.
€588 will be spent on educational initiatives and workshops.
€588 will be spent on the development and promotion of a spiritual sanctuary on the land,
including workshops and development programmes.

CAN YOU HELP US TO CHANGE LIVES IN INDIA?

Sustainable living in rural India

In his encyclical, Laudato Si’, Pope Francis calls for a harmonious relationship between humankind and the world around us, highlighting the inevitable connectedness between environmental, social, and economic issues. The new agricultural programme proposed by the Indian Union of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart will address the pressing needs of local communities in deeply impoverished villages, providing job opportunities, promoting sustainability, and enhancing education and quality of life for rural families.

With your help, MSCs in Tamil Nadu can work to encourage self-sufficiency and community empowerment, while also answering the global call for environmental stewardship.

“Our proposed project will contribute to both environmental conservation and economic empowerment… addressing the needs of the local community while fostering environmental stewardship. By supporting this project, the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart will play a pivotal role in fostering environmental sustainability, rural development, and community empowerment in the MSC Indian Union. Thank you for your support – we look forward to working together to bring about positive change.”
~ Fr Thatheus Darwin MSC
Indian Union Superior

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MINISTRY IN INDIA

MSC World Projects Appeal 2024: South Sudan

Making a difference in South Sudan

Irish MSC Fr Alan Neville has been ministering in South Sudan since 2020, where he now fills the role of principal at the Catholic University of Rumbek. At the heart of the mission of the University is transformation. Their work and the courses they deliver are designed to not only to educate the most marginalised in the community, most notably women, but also prepare to help build a South Sudan that is economically and socially more prosperous for those who follow in their footsteps. The journey, however, is a long one, and there have been plenty of challenges along the way.

The work of the Catholic University of Rumbek offers a real opportunity to support people. Research has consistently shown that the rate of return on education, especially third-level education, has helped people lift themselves, their families, and their communities out of poverty. The University began in 2019, working out of a local secondary school, before moving to its current location in an unfinished youth centre. It is an afternoon University, operating intensive classes, while also allowing students to earn wages for themselves and their families in the mornings.

The annual student fees are €140 for the entire year,
and are designed encourage meaningful commitment from the students.
Due to disruption caused by COVID, there are currently three year groups,
split across multiple qualifications with Bachelor courses in
Administration, Education in English and English Literature,
and Commerce, Religious Education and Citizenship.

These courses were chosen as best suited to meet the needs of the population. The University works to foster the local economy, generating opportunities for South Sudanese people for employment and growth. The business courses emphasise entrepreneurship and innovation, especially at the local level.

The current standard of teaching in primary and secondary schools is abysmally low, with most teachers working without even a basic qualification. Consequently, students can finish school with a limited grasp of maths and substandard literacy skills. This only serves to perpetuate a cycle of poverty. The University’s specific emphasis on education degrees aims to tackle this through high-quality lecturing by experienced educationalists, with placements in schools like La Salle and Loreto to model how things could be done differently.

“People really want to get ahead, and the only way for that to happen is through education. There is already significant interest in our next intake. Our students are great ambassadors in promoting our programmes, with several of our female students speaking about how it was possible to undertake a full degree programme with us despite the challenges they faced.”

CAN YOU HELP TO EMPOWER YOUNG PEOPLE
IN SOUTH SUDAN?

Altogether, there are seven large classrooms, a staff room, a storeroom, and two small offices that are unfinished. It is a substantial project, involving repairing the roof, installing ceilings, plastering the walls, fitting the floors, and installing an electrical system. Electricity for light and fans is essential.

During the heavy storms of rainy season, lecture halls become so dark that it is impossible for students to see their notes, let alone the blackboard. Driving winds cause dust storms in the classes, as there are window frames, but no windows. During the warmer times of the year, temperatures can reach 44ÂșC and above. Having only a corrugated metal roof turns the lecture halls into an oven and it quickly becomes unbearable. The development of the building to a proper standard, supported by ongoing maintenance, will ensure that it will serve the community in Rumbek for the foreseeable future. We are working to ensure that the lecture halls will be used to their full capacity, including facilitating events run by the Diocese, such as training and safeguarding workshops for teachers and staff, and a series of short, standalone courses designed to upskill the training of students and members of the wider Rumbek community.

With your help, we hope to raise a total of €208,693.
This includes…

€38,800 to repair the roof
€3,500 to fit new windows
€138,000 to carry out internal work
such as fitting ceilings and floors and plastering walls
€12,000 to carry out the electrical installation
€20,000 to complete the external finishes
€12,000 for services

“Your support will make a profound difference in raising entire communities out of poverty by empowering the South Sudanese to effect change themselves. You and your family and friends have a place in all my Masses and prayers.”
~ Fr Alan Neville MSC
Principal at the Catholic University of Rumbek

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR WORK IN SOUTH SUDAN

Fr Alan in South Sudan: Those Who Can, Teach

Schools are always busy in South Sudan in February. The academic year here runs differently from Ireland and England, with our long holidays based around Christmas. So the back to school trials and tribulations began earlier this month. Students have to register for their studies, including paying their fees. When you have a number of children, this can be a substantial amount of money. Usually, the Catholic schools charge the equivalent of two bags of charcoal or just one chicken for the entire year. The underlying ethos is education is for everyone, but everyone should contribute something, insofar as they can. For Loreto, the fee includes a daily meal, their school books, treatment in our clinic (malaria is still around, and never, ever underestimate the number of scrapes 1,300 children can get into), and of course their studies.

We had our opening Mass for the Upper Primary children last Friday and I spoke to them about the great gates of the world, such as the Gate of India in New Delhi, the Golden Gate in Jerusalem, and the Arc du Triomphe in Paris (technically not a gate I know, but the kids were most impressed with the photo). Then we talked about the gate to Loreto Primary School. While nowhere near as famous, elegant, or ancient, they are beautiful in their own way.

The fact that these young children can come through those gates every day, in a country that is largely at peace right now, is a gift. As we do the school runs in Ireland, stuck in traffic, with the rain beating relentlessly against the windscreen, we can easily take this for granted. Here, the peace we are enjoying is a blessing and not one easily forgotten. Just to our north, our immediate neighbours, Sudan, are in the grip of a savage civil war for the last ten months, from which will emerge only losers. The devastation will set back the country by a generation at least and the suffering has been immeasurable. In South Sudan, we are still building here after decades of conflict, and we are aware of how quickly it can all be taken away.

A sign of things to come

Thankfully, in the Catholic University, education continues to flourish too. This is in large part due to the generosity of our MSC benefactors, who have helped us fund the complete renovation of the library, as well as the purchase of blackboards and chairs for our lecture rooms. Just this morning I joined one of our students on his first visit to the school where he will have his teaching placement. It’s wonderful to see. Over the course of the next twelve weeks, he and his classmates will experience what teaching in secondary schools is really like. It will be a steep learning curve for them, as a classroom filled with fifty teenagers in the throes of teenage angst can be a tough crowd to please. Increasingly though, the youth are seeing the value in education and the depth of their commitment is impressive. When our students graduate, they will be among the first properly trained teachers who have qualified from Catholic University in Rumbek. It is a sign hopefully of things to come.

The rest of the University students are sitting midterm exams at the moment. There is no better incentive for them to commit themselves to their studies. Just outside my office window, a number of our final year business administration students are having a small group discussion. It’s something quite typical of any university, but the fact that four of the five participants are women is something that is decidedly atypical here. In total, just over a third of our students are women, up from just twenty percent two years ago. There’s a lot to be done still, but at least we’re moving in the right direction. As I write this, there does seem to be a lot of laughter coming from them. Perhaps I have underestimated the fun that is to be had from managerial economics.

Nhialic ke yin (or God bless you),
Fr Alan

Selected images courtesy of Paul Jeffries.

Read more from Fr Alan’s missionary journey in South Sudan:

An outstanding achievement for the MSC Centre for the Poor

Congratulations are in order for the MSC community and their superb team at the MSC Centre for the Poor in the Philippines. On December 15th, 2023, Fr Richie Gomez MSC, community leader at the Centre, attended an awards ceremony hosted by the Villar Foundation in Las Piñas City, where the MSC Centre for the Poor Agriculture Cooperative (MSC CEPAGCO) were honoured to accept an award for being one of the Outstanding Community Enterprises in the country.

Since its establishment five years ago, the MSC Centre for the Poor has gone from strength to strength, with the MSC CEPAGCO providing invaluable assistance to local communities throughout the COVID pandemic and beyond. With a dedicated focus on food sustainability and care of our common home, the agricultural cooperative aims to educate and empower both rural and urban families and communities with the skills they need to create sustainable livelihoods, while nurturing and caring for the earth for future generations to come.

From addressing plastic waste to organising clean water programmes, the MSC Centre for the Poor Agricultural Cooperative are tireless in their work to improve the quality of life of the people in their programmes, while working in harmony with the natural world.

“Thank you Villar Foundation for recognizing our effort and advocacy on organic sustainable agriculture, environmental protection, food security and poverty reduction,” posted the Facebook page for the MSC Centre for the Poor as they shared the news of the 2023 Villar Sipag Award. “Congratulations to Fr. Richie and to all MSC CEPAGCO staff and volunteers who have been instrumental in winning such award!”

We add our congratulations to theirs, and we wish Fr Richie and all the MSC CEPAGCO community continued success in their phenomenal efforts to make an instrumental difference to the lives of disadvantaged families in the Philippines.

Images via the Facebook page for the MSC Centre for the Poor

IF YOU CAN, PLEASE SUPPORT MSC CENTRE FOR THE POOR

 

MSC emergency response to flooding in the Philippines

The MSC Mission Office in the Philippines have been working in rapid response with the MSC Centre for the Poor to issue essential emergency aid to several communities that have been critically affected by severe flooding in the Mindanao region.

The relief project aims to help as many families as possible who have been displaced by catastrophic flooding across the Mindanao area in late January/early February. Flash flooding has caused landslides and as yet untold destruction in this region and beyond, with the death toll climbing to the high teens in the days following the disaster. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced, while homes and business premises alike have been destroyed, with power outages and interruptions to the water supply also reported.

On February 5th, the MSC Centre for the Poor began distributing vital emergency relief aid to families impacted in Tagbina, in Surigao del Sur. With the emergency response team springing to immediate action, a total of 142 families have received urgent aid so far, as they attempt to recover from the devastation wreaked by the flood waters.

     

The relief project is ongoing as the outreach team continue in their efforts to help families to repair and rebuild across different areas of the Mindano region. Together, the MSC Centre for the Poor and the MSC Mission Office Philippines are organising the next phase of the mission response project, to support families who have been displaced by flood waters in the districts of Talacogon and San Luis, Agusan del Sur.

Together, we keep our MSC brothers in the Philippines Province, and the communities of Mindanao, in our prayers, as they work to rebuild lives and livelihoods in the face of this overwhelming ordeal.

Images via the Facebook page for the MSC Mission Office Philippines, Inc.
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Welcoming a new year at the Holy Family Care Centre

With the dawn of a new year, the team at the Holy Family Care Centre in Ofcolaco, South Africa, have hit the ground running. With more than 10 children joining the community at the centre in the space of a few days, the centre’s director Sr Sally Duigan writes, “The new year – and especially the school year – has got off to a very action-packed start!”

Founded in 2002 in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, the Holy Family Care Centre has been providing care for young children who are very ill, often with HIV, for over 20 years. Many of these children have been orphaned or abandoned, and have nowhere else to go. Run by the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, with the support of the MSC, the centre can accommodate 70 children and is stretched to capacity with many children needing urgent care.

Welcoming new manager JJ

The team at Holy Family recently welcomed a new manager, Jeanette Joalane Lesise, affectionately known as JJ.

“I never knew or even thought that I would ever leave the City of Gold, the hub of Gauteng to Ofcolaco,” writes JJ in an update on the Holy Family website. “Here I am, in the middle of mango and sweet corn farms. Surrounded by nature, fresh breezes of air, sweet melodies of birds, beautiful sunsets, hot summer days and showers of rain as the sun goes down.”

“I am surrounded by love, joy and happiness,” JJ continues, describing herself as a “special mom to 76 kids”. “These bundles of joy are from 0 to 18 years old. Upon my appointment, Lerato* was my first, a 4-day old baby girl. After three days here at Holy Family Care Centre
 I had my first experience of welcoming a three-year-old Mpho. Well, Mpho* was temporarily placed with us and 4 days later his social worker fetched him to be placed with his relative who was willing to be his guardian. As for Lerato, she will be raised here unless of course, through the mercy of God she is adopted or fostered.”

“Holy Family Care Centre is a home away from home, for myself, for passionate Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, the wonderful staff, the committed volunteers, and all children placed on our doorstep. This is now my life,” she finishes.

Grade 12 scholars

On January 24th, JJ attended the local high school, where a celebration took place for the Grade 12 class of 2023. Sr Sally tells us, “We are very proud of two of our girls, who just obtained their Grade 12 certificates. It is the first time we have had children in Grade 12 and we are very proud of them.”

With 2024 off to a promising start, we wish Sr Sally, JJ, and all the team at Holy Family a bright year ahead!

IF YOU CAN, PLEASE SUPPORT THE HOLY FAMILY COMMUNITY
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Congratulations to the winners of the MSC Christmas Raffle 2023!

MSC CHRISTMAS RAFFLE 2023

 

🌟🎄 Christmas Raffle Prize Winners:🎄 🌟

 

1st Prize: Shopping voucher to the value of €1,000

M O’Malley,

Raheen,

Co. Limerick.

2nd Prize: Jingle Bells & Whistles Luxury Hamper value €500

E Irwin,

Ballymun,

 Dublin 9.

3rd Prize: All I want for Christmas Hamper value €400

A Roberts,

Mallow,

Co.Cork.

4th Prize: Festive Feast Christmas Hamper value €300

J Hourigan,

Dungarvan,

Co. Waterford.

5th Prize: Christmas Eve Luxury Hamper value €200

A D’arcy,

Naas,

Co. Kildare.

6th Prize: Christmas Eve Luxury Hamper value €200

A McKeown,

Castleblaney,

Co. Monaghan.

7th Prize: Christmas Eve Luxury Hamper value €200

S O’Reilly,

Arva,

Co.Cavan.

8th Prize: Christmas Eve Luxury Hamper value €200

A Pigott,

Ennis,

Co. Clare.

9th Prize: Christmas Eve Luxury Hamper value €200

P Greene,

Athlone,

Co. Westmeath.

10th Prize: Christmas Eve Luxury Hamper value €200

A Doherty,

Derry,

Co. Derry.

Special Seller’s Prize: Christmas Eve Luxury Hamper value €200

M Donohoe,

Ballina,

Co. Mayo.

⭐

This year’s Christmas Draw took place on Monday, December 18th 2023.

We would like to extend a sincere thank you to everyone for taking part. 

 

Click here to read a special Christmas message from Fr John

 

Please note that the MSC Missions Office will be closed over the Christmas period,
from 3.30pm on December 23rd to 9.00am on January 2nd.
With warm wishes to our mission friends everywhere for a happy, healthy, and safe Christmas season.

 

 

 

 

Highs and Lows in South Sudan – Fr Alan MSC

Whistling Tunelessly

What is the meaning of happiness? Philosophers have speculated on the topic since the beginning of the human story. The answers provided to date are varied and many, but few would include driving along a dirt road, at night, in the rain, perched precariously on a half a driver’s seat (the rest has somehow mysteriously disappeared over time) in a pick-up truck that your average NCT technician would not only refuse to examine due to concerns for their personal safety, but would happy fire bomb with a Molotov cocktail from the comfort of their office. Yet, this is where I found myself a week ago on a Thursday night, whistling somewhat tunelessly as I drove alone. Happiness. It comes in the most surprising of places.

 

The destination for my rather battered pickup filled with tables was our clinic, which the following day, would the site of the Loreto Graduation. Over fifty young women marked the end of their formal studies with us and are now looking forward to their Senior Four national exams in just over a week. The day is not just a graduation though. It means much more, as it is a visible sign of how far these young women have come in the face of many challenges. The number of women successfully completing secondary school in South Sudan remains one of the lowest in the world according to the UN.

So, for these young women and their family who attended, it really is something to celebrate. It symbolises a continued new chapter in the history of the country, where slowly (in reality too slowly) women are making their own way in the world. The early mornings and late nights of study, along with their daily classes, have paid off. For their graduation their families all gathered to give thanks to God for what has been achieved in a Mass with Bishop Christian. After that, it was all singing, dancing, and sharing food with one another, but overall it was pure joy. Even the hardest of heart could not help to be happy there.

 

A Runaway Train

Only two days later, I had another interesting experience. On the Sunday evening I was getting ready for the week ahead, planning for the work in the University and the schools, when I began to feel unbearably cold. A quick check with one of our nurse practitioners confirmed my suspicions. I had my first bout of malaria. If you haven’t had it, it’s difficult to accurately describe. Your fever alternates between being roasting hot and then freezing cold. It’s bizarre to ever think you will end up shaking with the cold, in bed with two blankets, when the room temperature is well into the 30C, but there I was. Thankfully the Sisters moved me into the Convent to keep an eye on me. Hardly necessary in my opinion, as all the world knows how easy Irish men are as patients. You’d hardly think we were sick at all! I was thankful for their care by the time I finished.

 

Anyway, aside from fever, there are headaches, body aches, nausea, and lots of other things that are perhaps not fit to print. The vivid dreams were something of a shock. In one in particular I found myself at a Eucharistic Congress in a large stadium, when a runaway train barrelled through the proceedings. I hopped on for fun, managed to avoid hitting three trams, before eventually crashing the train just outside a Spar in Ireland. The manager came out to thank me, took my photo, gave me flowers and chocolate, and then charged me for both of them, which I thought was a bit much.

Whatsoever You Do

Now, rambling, nonsensical vivid dream aside, the harsh reality is that malaria is easily one of the main causes of child death in our area. It always bothered me that at the end of the first year pandemic we had six or seven viable vaccines available. Malaria kills over 600,000 people a year, but still we are waiting on a vaccine. Simply put, rich people don’t get malaria, so there is not impetus to find a cure in the same way we came together to tackle Covid. The part of malaria that is most responsible for deaths is the fever. Young children often don’t have the strength to deal with the high temperatures, but all that is needed to reduce their temperature is a simple paracetamol.

 

Today is the feast of Christ the King and our Gospel from Matthew is one of Jesus’ most challenging and pointed lessons. It’s the story of the final judgement and the separation of the sheep from the lambs. Those who cared for the poor, the naked, the imprisoned, and the sick are welcomed into the Kingdom of God as the Father’s own. Those who don’t, aren’t. But I think there is more to the story. When the people question Jesus, he replies, “Whenever you did this for the least of your brothers and sisters, you did it for me.” We are not just called to serve those in need. Jesus wants more. He wants us to recognise the presence of the divine in them. To see the image of God in everyone, especially those typically most despised. We are all one family. When one suffers, we all do.

 

It took five days for me to get over my first experience of malaria. I was lucky to have a clinic nearby, access to medication, and a caring community. Not everyone is. That is why the work of not just the school, but the clinic here is indispensable. Life has its highs and lows, and as we give thanks for one, we must remind ourselves to work to help those in the other. That is what Christ demands of us. Nothing less will do.

 

 

PLEASE HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN

Read more from Fr Alan’s missionary journey in South Sudan:

The MSC Message : Winter 2023

Welcome to this year’s Winter edition of the MSC Message!

‱ Read a special greeting from Fr John Fitzgerald MSC, Director of the MSC Missions Office.

‱ We welcome  Fr Joe McGee MSC as the new Provincial Superior along with our new Provincial team, Fr Dave Nixon MSC and Fr Manus Ferry MSC, Fr John Bennett MSC, Fr Alan Whelan MSC.

‱  More updates from Fr Alan Neville MSC in South Sudan, where a Peace walk was in progress and new members were welcomed to the diocese.

‱ Fr Remigius reaches out to us to help rebuild his parish Church which had been damaged by high winds in Keelakarai, in South India.

‱ An update from some of the work we have done in the Phillipines after Typhoon Odette Appeal in 2021.

Read the Winter 2023 edition of the MSC Message
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Typhoon Egay survivors receive relief from MSC Missions Office Phillipines

The MSC Mission Office Philippines took part in the distribution of relief goods to the families who were affected by Typhoon Egay in Sitio Nalasin, Camanggaan, Vigan City last August 18, 2023.

Super Typhoon Egay, was a highly destructive tropical cyclone that had significant impacts on several countries. It became the costliest typhoon to hit China, and the strongest and most powerful typhoon to strike the Fujian province in China since records began in 1950. The typhoon caused extensive damage in the Philippines, Taiwan, China, and Vietnam in late July 2023.

The typhoon led to 137 fatalities and 285 injuries, with a notable incident involving the capsizing of the MB Aya Express, causing 27 deaths. Widespread floods affected 9 out of 17 regions in the Philippines, impacting over 2 million people and prompting the evacuation of more than 300,000 individuals.

Source: MSC Missions Office Philippines

IF YOU CAN, PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SACRED HEART FAMILY
IN THE PHILIPPINES

 

 

 

MSC Summer Message 2023

 

Welcome to the Summer 2023 edition of the MSC Message!

 

 

 

 

Read the Summer 2023 edition of the MSC Message
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Give Peace A Chance – Fr Alan MSC in South Sudan

 

The world of education in Central Africa is small and even after only a short while you can link up with people from all over. With this in mind I Whatsapped a friend who is a religious priest who runs a Catholic university in Khartoum to see how he was doing. In short, not well at all. When he replied he said he had been forced to shutter the university and he is currently in Port Sudan. What state things will be in when he returns remains uncertain. What is certain is that the violence in Sudan has persisted far longer than even the most pessimistic estimations.

 

It was only last week when one of his students called into our office in the Catholic University of South Sudan, Rumbek. He was hoping to finish his degree in computers here, but the near totally absence of computers, coupled with prohibitively priced internet access, means that it was an impossibility. Still, he is happy to be home with his family safe and sound.

 

In the midst of the violence to the north, coupled with ongoing tensions in the Tigrayan region of Ethiopia, and following a terrible attack on a school in Uganda that even made the European news, it important to stop and be thankful of the peace that we currently enjoy here in South Sudan. Sure, we have our ups and downs. The University’s entire electricity supply, consisting of four old car batteries and a few solar panels, decided to give up the ghost, so there was a lot of running around to jury rig a solution. Still, in no time at all the printer was working again. No lights, but thankfully the lack of sunshine is rarely a problem here.

In the last few weeks we had loads to do, and the odd power cut aside, it was all good. We had a full week of teacher training for our Loreto Primary School teachers during a midterm break. It included class preparation and management, the history of the Sisters, and the nature of Catholic identity in school (run by myself). As you’d imagine the team of primary teachers are just the best. When you are singing the Gloria during the Mass they are the ones with their hands right up in the air. When you are dealing with over 1,300 boys and girls enthusiasm is a must!

Peace happens quietly. It’s violence that makes most of the noise or at least it does most of the time. The Senior 4 Students (the equivalent of our sixth year class) take part in an annual peace walk. This year we walked the 45km from Loreto to our neighbouring parish of Cueibet. We had an early start, beginning at the school grotto with some prayer and then we hit the road. The girls were delighted to get out and about in the community. The people in turn were happy to meet our students, especially when they found out what they were doing. Not so long ago such a trip would have been impossible, due to the proliferation of small arms, banditry on the roads, and widespread insecurity. That day we made plenty of noise, singing and laughing as we walked, and before you knew it we arrived in Cueibet in time for a simple Mass for peace in South Sudan and a warm welcome from the people of the parish.

 

 

Since I wrote last we had two people over from Ireland, Linda Cardiff and Brendan Smith, to work with our University students on computer coding. We have just purchased two laptops, doubling the number of computers on the campus. You’d be amazed how many student you can fit around one screen when you really need to! We also had two new arrivals to the Diocese. The sister congregation of the MSCs, the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, welcomed two new members from Indonesia to their Mapourdit community. One is a trained teacher and the other an excellent nurse. We wish them the very best. Finally, as it is the season for cultivation, our students and teachers were out this week planting trees and weeding their plots of groundnuts, the national staple. Taken individually these are all small things, inconsequential in the eyes of national media its pursuit of the dramatic and the immediate. For the people of Lakes State though, this is significant, as after a long time of insecurity things are slowly building and life is flourishing. Peace is certainly a fragile thing, as evidenced by the world around us, but it is something worth fighting for.

 

Nhialic ke yin (or God Bless)

 

Fr. Alan

 

 

PLEASE HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN

Read more from Fr Alan’s missionary journey in South Sudan: