Emergency aid for survivors of fire in Quezon City, Philippines

MSCs in the Philippines joined forces with the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and local volunteers to offer emergency relief aid to survivors of a fire that tore through the community of St Teresa of Calcutta in Quezon City on Tuesday, March 8^th.

The MSC Scholasticate Community visited the community of the St Teresa of Calcutta Chapel to help with relief aid, including food provision and the distribution of care packages, shortly after the fire took place on March 8^th. The St Teresa of Calcutta Chapel is just one of the chapels of the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Mission Station in the area, which is under the pastoral care and guidance of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

More than 80 families were left homeless following the blaze, where possessions, houses, and valuables were all lost to the flames. The MSC Scholasticate Community distributed care packages containing food and essentials, including pre-loved clothes and goods for families that had been left with nothing following the fire.

       

The MSC Scholasticate Community shared an update on the relief aid on their Facebook page, writing, “Gratitude is due to the OMI Theologate Community, SFIC Philippines, and some other individuals for sharing their resources in helping the affected community.”

“Together, we all make present the Heart of God on Earth,” they finished.

Please keep our Sacred Heart family in Quezon City in your prayers as they help survivors of the fire to find safety and security in the wake of this disaster.

Images via the MSC Scholasticate Community – Philippines on Facebook.
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Farm to table: Sustainable living in the Philippines at the MSC Centre for the Poor

Established in 2018, the MSC Centre for the Poor is located in the city of Butuan in the Philippines, and focuses on harnessing the gifts of the natural world to combat poverty, unemployment, and the exploitation of the ecosystem – work in which “everyone is called to be a partner in the contribution of healing our land”.

The Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart have a long-standing friendship with the community at the MSC Centre for the Poor, and community leader there, Fr Richie Gomez MSC, has recently been in touch with an update on the work going on in the centre, following their most recent “Be a Food Security Frontliner” campaign.

“An alternative lifestyle that is good for the well-being of all”

The goal of the community at the Centre is “to promote an alternative lifestyle that is good for the well-being of all”, with a co-operative running across the two MSC Centre for the Poor locations, one in Butuan City and one in Del Monte Agusan del Sur. Focusing on the development of a self-sufficient community, where those involved nurture the earth and reap the benefits in return, the current programme incorporates the following goals:

• The development of healthy soil and fresh organic produce, to contribute to a plentiful and nutritious diet for members of the co-operative.
• The development and use of safe, ecologically balanced technology to tie in with the concept of organic sustainable farming employed by the MSC Centre for the Poor.
• The development of a deeper consciousness of managing waste with the aim of a zero-water lifestyle in all kitchens across the co-operative.
• The development of income-generating projects and additional efforts to raise the quality of life of the rural poor.
• The continued raising of awareness of the necessity of caring for the environment in response to the ongoing climate emergency.

“From the tiniest seeds to a grown tree, from the fertilization of eggs to completely matured animals, from planting to nurturing, growing, and harvesting, all of these processes are realized because of tender love and care, whether by nature or by a responsible steward,” writes Fr Richie. “We have to stop abusing and poisoning the soil, water, air and our bodies, for us to allow the natural regeneration process of our environment.”

“Farm-to-table connections”

The MSC Centre for the Poor community are continuing work on the establishment of a fair-trade system based on an inclusive economy, whereby nobody will be left out through “farm to table connections” that bypass large commercial traders. Consumers are educated about the lives and work of the farmers that grow the produce they buy, and all of this produce is grown organically, without chemical interference.

“We have a sincere desire for change – not to make false promises but to be true to our conviction for total transformation from ‘ego-system’ to ‘eco-system’,” explains Fr Richie. “We value the collective efforts of our co-op members through the establishment of their own farms, and we bring them together at the Centre’s Trading Post Harvest Facility. Then, we become the green producers and bring our products to the green consumers.”

The MSC Centre for the Poor is conscious of upholding their responsibility to the consumer, noting that each member of the co-operative must “fulfil its obligation to produce and supply with the corresponding demands. Each member of the co-op is tasked to be part of the responsibility and must be prepared for the assigned crops or livestock productions.”

“As long as there are people who believe and trust in us and in regaining one’s relationship with the environment, this work will sustain.”

The community at the Centre for the Poor benefit greatly from a wonderful team of volunteers. “Volunteerism is one of our core values to meet our goals, as we believe that by helping others, we help ourselves.”

“As long as there are people who believe and trust in us and in regaining one’s relationship with the environment, this work will sustain,” continues Fr Richie. “We are an emerging social enterprise that allows individuals to create regenerative livelihoods that nourish the soul and take care of the planet.”

“The honing of the land to its full potential will create multiple revenue streams, while we will implement a model of an assets-based community. This is a closed-loop system that generates and replenishes the earth’s resources without creating waste and ecological harm.”

The MSC Centre for the Poor also operates a “Living Museum” of farmland in Del Monte Agusan del Sur. “Our farmland will be stewarded by the members of the co-op who are ready and willing to embark on a pathway of alternate living,” says Fr Richie. “The goal is to allow for choice around intentional community and to create the opportunity for lifelong learning for everyone.”

“Our priority is to meet the needs of each member and the land. We will create a full-featured settlement that allows all of the functions of everyday life. The community will provide a place to live, make things, enjoy leisure, and honour social connections. We will encourage individuals to find their own niche for self-expression, livelihood, and growth. Everyone will have the opportunity to co-create the change they seek.”

“A fertile community allows for the emergence of a new culture rooted in a deep connection to nature and the self, collective consciousness of ecology, and mutual respect between all living beings.”

“React, respond, and rescue”: The MSC Centre for the Poor responds to Typhoon Odette

Fr Richie Gomez MSC, community leader at the MSC Centre for the Poor, located in Butuan, updates us on the current situation in the Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Odette, which struck on December 16th, 2021. In a letter to Irish Provincial Superior Fr Carl Tranter MSC, Fr Richie writes of the deep gratitude of the Filipino MSC community for the support of our mission friends in the Irish Province. “I would like to thank you for your untiring support to the Philippine Province,” he writes. “We are your extended arms, feet, mind, and heart in reaching the poor, and now with our typhoon survivors.”

The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart – Social Initiative and Collaborative Action Project (MSC-SICAP) is a group of missionary volunteers “with a charismatic heart,” working as a dedicated disaster response and management team under the umbrella of the MSC Centre of the Poor and led by Fr Richie, the centre’s director.

In response to the devastating impact of Typhoon Odette, Fr Richie has gathered a group of community-based volunteers, including doctors, engineers, teachers, business people, artists, students, and many more. “When it made landfall, winds of up to 210 km per hour were uprooting coconut trees, ripping down electricity poles, and hurling slabs of corrugated tin and wood through the air,” reports the MSC-SICAP group. This group initiated an immediate active response to provide a basic relief kit of necessities including food, water, medicine, and hygiene products, to victims from both the mainland and islands of Surigao. “The group aims to amalgamate passionate and compassionate volunteers in the region, whose hearts are dedicated and committed in the service of humanitarian movements,” writes Fr Richie.

MSC Strategic Disaster Response Plan

The MSC-SICAP group, working with the MSC Centre for the Poor, have developed a strategic disaster response plan, detailing three recovery stages:

Stage 1: Bangon-Igsoon (In the immediate aftermath of the typhoon)

This stage has focused on answering the immediate and urgent needs of survivors, with the distribution of essentials such as food, water, medical aid, and clothes. All of these necessities have been issued directly to victims of the typhoon at designated distribution points, with a target reach of 10,000 households.

Stage 1 also includes the installation of water filtration stations in Siargao Island, which is currently suffering from a dangerous cholera outbreak. These water filtration stations cost 100,000 Philippine pesos, an equivalent of approximately €1,700.

Stage 2: Bahay-Buhay (Approximately one month after the typhoon)

Stage 2 involves helping to build simple houses for families who cannot afford to repair or rebuild homes that have been destroyed by the storm. The target goal is to build 500 houses, benefitting people from the communities of Siargao, Nonoc, Bayagnan, Dinagat, Loreto, and the Islands.

Stage 3: Heal-Surigao (Taking time to heal the island)

During Stage 3, MSCs around the islands will pray with local communities for cleansing and renewal of the land. This stage will also incorporate the arts as a vehicle for healing children and the wider community, through music, dance, storytelling, and more. Through the creative process, it is hoped that children and their families will be able to better process the impact of the typhoon and look with renewed hope towards the future.

“Faith based, love driven.”

The motto for the response plan is “Faith based, love driven”, as MSCs throughout affected areas work together with local communities to rebuild a ravaged land. The MSC-SICAP group are working to “react, respond, and rescue” the victims of natural disasters such as Typhoon Odette, providing fundamental needs, from the physical to the spiritual, and bringing the light of hope into the hearts of survivors.

As they continue in the implementation of their response plan, the MSC-SICAP group write of the impact of Typhoon Odette, and the power of faith and unity in the hope of renewal:

“‘Expect the unexpected’ – a classic line that could somehow happen to anybody at any moment in any place, just like the typhoon, Odette, that wrecked Surigao. It was once a haven of nature’s bounty, with exciting hullabaloo coming from different nationalities. Now, nothing but silence! December 16^th 2021 was an unforgettable traumatic moment for every Surigaonon and tourists in the area, along with other areas where the typhoon made landfall. It was a nightmare…

Strong winds of 165 km/h near the centre, with gusts of up to 205 km/h and central pressure of 950 hPa, swept away houses, buildings, trees, and street posts, leaving the entire place destroyed. The roaring storm sounded horrid, bouncing back into each corner, frightening the children, the elders, and the weak, a miserable experience of anxiety and fear. The unthinkable orchestration of chaos, fear, hunger, and hopelessness has savaged and saddened our Surigaonon brethren.

Emotionally, the circumstances have been intensified because it was near Christmas season when the typhoon hit – supposedly a season of merry making and thanksgiving, to celebrate the most awaited Simbang Gabi, but this year, it turned out differently. Many have suffered and been broken, dreams have been shattered, smiles have been torn, and hearts have been wounded. That echoing feeling of devastation resonates in the whole island of Mindanao and to the heart of the world.

They need our HELP! They need our PRAYERS! They need US!

We, the Missionary of the Sacred Heart- Social Initiative and Collaborative Action Project (MSC-SICAP) volunteers, have initiated a massive calamity response from the very start, beginning with providing basic needs to over 5,000 families in several parts of Surigao. The operation runs under our own strategic organising and management system to accelerate the distribution of relief goods with the help of our partners. Hundreds of volunteers convene 24/7 at the district house of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Butuan City, and together we are working hand-in-hand to address the urgent necessities continuously.

Fr Richie Gomez is the captain of the project and keeps our vessel afloat amidst exhaustion and sleepless nights, for the sake of the wailing sacred land of Surigao that seeks our comfort. We will stand right beside them until they will rise back.

For us, this is an awakening journey and a profound reminder of what our hearts are made of – compassion and kindness. Together, we will rebuild the hopes and dreams of our fellow Surigaonons’ brothers and sisters, and with the provisions of God’s divine grace we shall rejoice back the victory of our loving and united place, Caraga.”

MSC relief outreach continues in the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Odette

As relief efforts continue in the Philippines following the devastating impact of Typhoon Odette in December 2021, MSC Mission response programmes are ongoing.

On January 11^th, the MSC Mission Office in the Philippines reported that relief outreach to date has been far-reaching, with 3,791 relief packs, 575 sacks of rice, and 730 gallons of water distributed since the typhoon hit in mid-December, killing over 400 and rendering hundreds of thousands of people homeless.

The Facebook page for the MSC Mission Office in the Philippines shared a collection of photographs of the relief distribution programme based in Guilutongan Island, Cordova, which is one of the most affected communities in Cebu. These images give just some indication of the sheer scale of the damage done by Typhoon Odette as it tore through the country, leaving close to 600,000 people without homes.

Writing from an evacuation centre on Christmas Eve, community leader Fr Richie Gomez MSC told Irish Provincial Superior Fr Carl Tranter MSC how grateful he was for the “overwhelming support” that our Filipino MSC brothers have received from the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. We ask that your continue to keep our MSC brothers and the people of the Philippines in your prayers as they continue to navigate this landscape of loss and destruction.

Images via the MSC Mission Office Philippines, Inc. Facebook page.
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Christmas in an evacuation centre: MSCs providing typhoon relief aid in the Philippines

MSCs in the Philippines have been working throughout the Christmas season to bring emergency aid to survivors of Typhoon Odette, which hit the country with devastating consequences on December 16^th, 2021.

Super Typhoon Rai, known locally as Odette, was the largest storm of 2021, with 6.2 million people affected in ten regions across the country. 580,000 people were displaced by the storm, and the death toll, as of December 30^th, was at 397, with many more injuries. Over 712,000 homes have been badly damaged or destroyed by the storm, while an estimated 80,000 hectares of crops and agricultural land have been ravaged by powerful winds and torrential rain.

Our MSC Centre for the Poor, located in Butuan, has been carrying out relief efforts over the Christmas period. Headed by community leader Fr Richie Gomez MSC, the volunteer team have been working to bring vital emergency aid to families and communities in the south of the country.

As of December 30^th, it was reported that some 580,000 people had been displaced by the storm, with 356,000 people dependent on the services of evacuation centres, while a further 227,000 were staying with family or friends. Writing from an evacuation centre on Christmas Eve, where he and a group of volunteers were handing out meals to the indigenous Badjao community, who had been “washed out” of their homes on the shoreline, Fr Richie told Irish Provincial Superior Fr Carl Tranter MSC how grateful he was for the “overwhelming support” that our Filipino MSC brothers have received from the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

“It is quite emotional, on my part, celebrating Christmas Eve in evacuation centres, when Jesus became the bread of life, the Emmanuel, for all of us,” wrote Fr Richie.

“I thank God for this great privilege… He has used me on a Christmas Eve to feed hundreds of evacuees with mushroom burgers made by our scholars at the Centre for the Poor.”

“Thank you for your overwhelming support!”

Our MSC brothers and Sacred Heart sisters are working tirelessly to provide essential support to the survivors of the typhoon as clean-up operations continue. We ask that you please keep our Sacred Heart family, and the communities they serve, in your prayers at this time of great need.

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“Share a Christmas Basket” in the Philippines

On December 22^nd, the MSC Missions Office in the Philippines hosted a day of community sharing and togetherness, with the Share a Christmas Basket Project in Sta. Quiteria and St Francis of Asissi Parish Church.

On December 20^th, local volunteers worked together to pack hundreds of baskets of food and Christmas provisions in preparation for the programme, which benefitted a total of 1,000 families who received care packages on the day.

The MSC Mission Office Philippines, Inc. posted their gratitude on their Facebook page:

“On behalf of the beneficiaries, we would like to thank all the donors, the SFSQ Parish who helped us facilitate and organize this activity and to all volunteers who helped us, in one way or another, made this activity possible. To all of you, MARAMING SALAMAT PO!”

MSCs in the Philippines are currently running several emergency response programmes, following the terrible damage caused by Super Typhoon Odette on December 16^th. We at the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart continue to offer our prayers and our support, and with the spirit of Christmas in our hearts, we send every blessing to our MSC brothers in the Philippines and the communities they serve there.

Click here to watch a video of the Share a Christmas Basket Project preparations.

Images via the MSC Mission Office Philippines, Inc. Facebook page.
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Typhoon Odette hits the Philippines

Super Typhoon Rai, known locally as Odette, hit the Philippines on December 16^th, and has proved to be the largest storm of the year to date. Over 300,000 people were evacuated from their homes in anticipation of the typhoon, with 10,000 villages predicated to lie in its path.

Homes, businesses, farms, and livelihoods have been torn to shreds by powerful rain, and winds reaching up to 260 kph/160 mph, with gusts of up to 300 kph/185 mph. While millions have been affected, the full extent of the damage caused by Typhoon Odette is not yet known, as many lines of communication are still down and the immediate focus is on rescuing and caring for those in urgent need. As of Monday, December 20^th, the national police service announced that at least 375 people had been killed, with 500 more injured and 56 missing. Trees and buildings have fallen, many areas are badly flooded, roofs have been ripped from houses, and survivors are in urgent need of food and clean drinking water.

“Please keep the MSC, FDNSC (Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart), MSC Sisters, and all of the people of the Philippines in your prayers,” wrote Fr Carl Tranter MSC, Irish Provincial Superior.

“The central and southern parts of the country have been badly hit by the very powerful typhoon Odette, which has caused massive destruction.

We are aware of significant damage across our parishes and the schools/clinics of our sisters on Mactan island and Cebu in the central Philippines, and in Surigao and Agusan in the south.

We stand in solidarity with our Chevalier family in the Philippines and with all the Filipino people.”

As opportunities for communication are minimal in the wake of the storm, we have yet to understand the full impact of the typhoon on our extended Sacred Heart family in the Philippines. The Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart have sent emergency funds to assist in the immediate aftermath of the storm, as MSC and FDNSC communities undertake the initial clean-up and search and rescue operations. We will continue to provide help as it is needed in the new year, and we ask that you please remember our Sacred Heart family in the Philippines in your prayers in the coming weeks, as they pick up the pieces of lives and livelihoods that have been demolished by this mighty force of nature.

A new water system for the people of Tulang Diot in the Philippines

We are delighted to be able to share these wonderful images from Tulang Diot in the Philippines, where the country’s MSC Mission Office, in conjunction with the MSC Mission Office Australia, facilitated the installation of new water tanks for the collection and storage of rainwater.

Tulang Diot is located in San Francisco, Camotes, where many local families struggle with poverty and hardship. The people of the region are hugely dependent on rainwater, with 90% of the area’s water source coming from the rain. 185 families in Tulang Diot will now be able to benefit from the installation of the water system, which will allow for easier access to safe, clean water for everyday use. With the coronavirus pandemic showing no signs of abating in the immediate future, the availability of clean, safe water and access to the best hygiene practices possible is truly vital, particularly in regions where local communities have very little.

The Facebook page for the MSC Missions Office in the Philippines posted pictures of the new water system, along with a message of gratitude. “We thank the MSC Mission Office and all the donors who have been so kind and generous to our mission to help the underprivileged communities in the country,” they wrote.

We echo their gratitude in our shared mission; please keep our MSC brothers and the communities they serve in the Philippines, and around the world, in your prayers.

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MSC MINISTRY IN THE PHILIPPINES

Images via the Facebook page for the MSC Mission Office Philippines, Inc.
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Food Security Frontliners: MSC COVID Response in the Philippines

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

The MSC Message: Winter 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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OLSH Sisters ministering through COVID-19 in the Philippines

Sr Ruth S. Yburan FDNSC, Regional Leader of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in the Philippines, writes from Manila in gratitude for funding provided by the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart to our OLSH Sisters in the Philippines, in support of their ongoing COVID-19 relief ministry. In regions where many families had already been living a hand-to-mouth existence, the pandemic has made simple survival a priority, and OLSH Sisters in the Philippines are working to provide even the most basic necessities to as many vulnerable communities as possible.

Some of the ways in which the OLSH Sisters have helped local communities thus far include:

• Running a community pantry in Surigao, where families are encouraged to take only what they need. In this way, more families can have access to the food they need and the OLSH Sisters can help as many people as possible.

• The distribution of rice to construction workers in Manila, where lockdowns have meant work has been stopped, and so has pay.

• A livelihood programme for families in Lapu Lapu. This programme caters especially to women whose husbands lost their jobs because of lockdowns, teaching them practical skills they need to earn money to contribute to their family living expenses.

• The provision of care packages to trisikad (Philippine pedicab) drivers in Cordova, who would have earned approximately 150 – 300 Philippine pesos (the equivalent of €2 – €5) per day prior to the pandemic.

• A six-day training course took place at the end of July for an indigenous Filipino group called the Badjao. Their training was free of charge, while MSC donations paid for their meals, which needed to be provided as they can no longer go fishing (which is also their main source of income). The skills taught included measuring, cutting, and machine work/sewing, providing those in attendance with useful practical skills that may bring in a much-needed wage. Those on the training course are leaders of their respective tribes, and were very grateful for the opportunity.

“This pandemic has opened the minds and hearts of our people to work together as a community and help each other in whatever way we can.”

Dear Fr Michael and our generous donors,

In many different parts of our world and especially here in the Philippines, people are just in need of basic necessities as the end of this pandemic is nowhere near in sight. A lot of families we minister to have suffered much as their loved ones got so sick and even died.

Nevertheless, this pandemic has also opened the minds and hearts of our people to work together as a community and help each other in whatever way we can. Last April, May and even up to this time, community pantries are mushrooming and made a huge difference in the lives of our people suffering from COVID-19.

Your generous donation of €5,000 through Sr Jenny Christie and our sisters at the generalate, made a big impact in the lives of our poor people whose lives are becoming even more helpless with on-going lockdowns brought about by the detection of new COVID variants. Thank you very much, dear Fr Michael, and the generous donors who enabled you to help us reach out to those most in need. You are helping us reach more people whose daily lives can be made a bit easier with your generosity.

On behalf of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart here in the Philippines, I would like to thank you for enabling us to distribute assistance to more or less 150 families from Visayas and Mindanao, and here in Manila, who came alternately due to COVID restrictions. Your donations also helped our indigenous people with their meals during a six-day skills training offered by the non-government organizations.

Rest assured of our prayers that God will continue to bless you and protect you from all harm so that you can continue to help others in need.

Much gratitude,
Sr Ruth FDNSC

 

“Thank you for allowing us to continue helping those who suffer”: A letter from our OLSH Sisters in the Philippines

At the beginning of 2021, our mission friends and benefactors blessed us with wonderful support for our 2021 MSC World Projects Appeal, which featured global outreach projects run by our Sacred Heart Sisters of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.

These projects included support for the victims of Typhoon Vamco (locally known as Typhoon Ulysses) in the Philippines. The most powerful typhoon to hit the country in seven years, it caused untold damage and left in its wake loss of life, severe flooding and damage amounting to millions of euro. A community of 25 OLSH Sisters have been ministering to badly affected families in two very poor areas of Manila, and Sr Ruth S. Yburan FDNSC, Regional Leader of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in the Philippines, writes to thank our mission friends in the Irish Province for their compassion and support.

“Even prior to the typhoon, the people here had very difficult lives.”

“You cannot imagine my joy, relief, and excitement when I was informed that €21,000 had been donated towards assisting the victims of Typhoon Ulysses,” writes Sr Ruth. “Last year, we received €10,000 from the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, and we used it for the most needed things: at that time, food, clean water, and the basics of life. At the same time, we were able to meet each family and learn their situation and their needs.”

“COVID has interrupted our mission to the people, but we are in a position now to re-start this privileged work. The very generous donation, which we appreciate very much, arrived at the perfect time. Sr Leda and I visit San Mateo and Montalban ones or two days per week. On each trip, Sr Leda and I go to visit a family and see the state of their house. Even prior to the typhoon, the people here had very difficult lives, and many lived in homes made of timber, corrugated iron, strong cardboard, plastic, newspaper. There is no running water at all.”

“Upon meeting the family and speaking with them, we work out together what they need to re-establish themselves. This could be lumber, nails, iron, etc. We go with the family to the local hardware stand, where we like to do our business to support the owner in his little trade store. Once the necessary materials are located and the price paid, with the generosity of MSC Mission Office, Cork, the family takes home the needed materials and can work on their ‘new’ house.”

“Both we, the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in the Philippines, and the people of San Mateo and Montalban express our deep gratitude for the hope you give us. We remember you daily in prayer. Thank you for allowing us to continue helping those who suffer.”