Maryknoll Sisters

It  has been almost ten months since I moved to the southern zone of Cochabamba. In these few months it is amazing to see how the population is growing.  The Quechua and Aymara people coming from the rural and most very cold areas looking and hoping for a better climate and life.

The education system in Bolivia is different from other countries. During the winter season there, the kids have a vacation of two to three weeks, and this will be from June 24 (the coldest day of the year). This is the month the farmers start to clean their farms and get ready for planting in the summer, which is in the middle of September or when the rain comes.

With most of the kids I work with, either one or both parents are out the country looking for jobs and hoping for a better life for the family when they one day get united again. This is hard for the families here since, while they’re away, it is hard for the grandparents or the mother to take care of these little ones.

So these kids use most of their time playing on the street, with so many temptations of getting in trouble like drugs or being abused. A little example I can mention: two children who are in the before- and after-school program used to be locked in a room for the mornings since  their mother has to do her selling at the market at 5am. During noon time, the mother will come back home and get the kids out and off to the La Salette Parish soup kitchen for their meal, and then to school. Then the mother will go back to her little business.

Now since we started our program, the same mother gets the kids ready in the morning before she goes out, and the kids come to the center from 9am to 12pm and then get their meal and off to school, for which the mother is very grateful. The program has 25 boys and girls for the morning and 18 for the afternoon.

The other thing to mention is that all public schools in Bolivia (where most of the kids from poor families go to school) have their classes from 8am to 12pm and then go home, so the same buildings can be used with other students for the afternoon classes, which run from 1pm to 5pm. Other students attend the evening school from 6pm to 10pm. So it is like three different schools using the same buildings. This is because they do not have enough buildings, and the kids are so many from the area.

So the reality is the kids have four to five hours for classes. The school program at the La Salette Parish helps children catch up with their studies. With the help of Maryknoll volunteers, a Franciscan lay missionary, and a volunteer from Argentina who came through the parish, and myself, the kids get help with their studies and also attention to other needs.

 – Sister Magreth Mkenda, MM

I am happy to report that I am now the coordinator of the first Myanmar Catholic HIV-AIDS Network (MCHAN) and that we are having unusual good success in being able to share and offer workshops about HIV/AIDS in many dioceses – where there is appalling lack of information, high stigma and discrimination and very limited care and support for the people living with HIV/AIDS.

We have been gifted with funding from Catholic Relief Services to continue our program for three more years, and I am now in the process of trying to prepare our Myanmar staff to continue the work.

Last year we were able to go to five dioceses and are beginning to include gender issues and basic information about human sexuality in our workshop module. This is so much needed here – and so welcomed! It is gratifying to be able to share the past 35 years of Philippine experiences in the field of community-based health programs with the people here.

Recently we have been part of an interfaith effort at work in Myanmar to prepare the people to work with understanding and compassion for the people infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS – a big unacknowledged reality here!

Would you believe that in some places here, people who die of AIDS are still denied burial in a Christian cemetery and some priests are afraid to visit them to offer spiritual assistance for fear of contracting the virus?

With the help of Sister Eileen Brady, a Maryknoll Sister from East Timor, our staff was trained in basic “Capacitor” methods for wellness and self-healing – which were translated and shared with the six local groups who received the special training.

Now we have the endorsement of the Catholic Bishops Conference of our work. We are producing and translating into Burmese guidebooks for dioceses and parishes to work with the issues of HIV/AIDS. Recently we have been able to include gender issues and human sexuality (unspoken issues here) in the materials we are using and duplicating. Of course, I’m very happy about that.

This August we will be able to employ one more full-time Burmese-speaking staff to join the two other Myanmar staff who are working with me. (My position is a contribution of the Maryknoll Sisters to the efforts, meaning the coordinator’s role at present is unpaid.) By next year we will have funding for a Myanmar coordinator – in preparation for the future.

For those of you who have been contributing to my support I would like to give an update of how your donations are being used. You have supported the education of seven teachers, five of whom have just graduated from their two years preparation and who will now give two years of supervised teaching to students in very poor hostels.

Most of these are young students from the Chin Hill tribe area who will, after their supervised teaching, go back to their own very needy area. They have learned to value themselves, to communicate, to teach – and to believe in a better future for their people. It is truly heartwarming to see the growth in these students who came to Yangon from their remote mountain-jungle areas. One of graduates is Lucia.

When Lucia came to Yangon to study, she couldn’t speak or write three straight words of English, had never seen a grocery or department store, was terrified of an escalator. When spoken to, she hung her head in embarrassment because she felt inadequate, unlovely, and limped because of having polio when she was a baby (her grandfather carried her for seven years while working to exercise her leg until she could walk).

Her English still needs some help, but she holds her head high, her eyes are bright and she is sharing and continuing to learn. And she is truly beautiful! So thanks to each of you.

In addition, you are sponsoring three other students in teacher training, 18 (including two Muslim students) for intermediate education, three for post-high school, and one for advanced computer studies. There are requests to sponsor two for nursing (college-level) and another is already enrolled as an auxiliary midwife. Without your help, their families could never manage to pay for their education.

Occasional assistance has been given for medical emergencies and for people trying to survive after discovering they are HIV-positive.

Of course, increasing numbers of people are fleeing their villages to seek life in the city – but no employment and terrible living conditions for them here. Migration to other countries for safety and employment is increasing. Economic globalization has increased the poverty of the people here.

With much gratitude, prayer and peace amidst struggles – and continuing hope.

— Sister Mary Grenough, MM

Sister Mary Clare Henry recently arrived at Maryknoll, NY, from the Philippines. One of her students who has been living in New York for about the past twenty years soon phoned her saying some of her former students of the Class of 1968 at Lucena wanted to visit.

For years, Sister Mary Clare called Lucena “home.” During the Memorial Day weekend, 15 members of this class visited. It was a class reunion here at Maryknoll. Some of the group are visiting the United States from the Philippines while others now live here.

When they arrived, all time and place faded away as these former classmates sang their school song to greet their teachers, Sister Anne William (Mary Clare) and Sister Robert Anne (Gloria). (A number of years ago most of the Sisters returned to their Baptismal names. An effort had previously been made to have a different name for each Sister. That is why men’s names had been used for many years.)

These Sisters, having taught in Lucena for many years, with many other Maryknoll Sisters, knew each of these students very well. Sister Ramona Oppenheim and Sister Elizabeth Salmon were also present to help welcome these students. Although the three of us had not taught in Lucena, we had visited many times. St. James Academy (where I taught), Maryknoll College and Lipa were other schools in the Luzon area where we served.

Even though only two Sisters present actually taught the Class of ’68, we were all greeted as if we were their teachers. They thanked us for their education that has made such a difference in their lives. We know the truth of what they said and are also grateful to have had the opportunity to have helped so many youth. Their education has had far reaching effects on their lives. They spoke of how they are now reaching out to others,”…. like we were taught to do by the Maryknoll Sisters in Lucena.”

Two days later, I also received a nice surprise. Three former students from Maryknoll High School in Lupon, Davao Oriental (Mindanao), visited. Two now live in the United States and one was invited here, from the Philippines, as a speaker.

Our students have gone far. Weekends like this inspire a deep reflection about how “all things really do work together unto good.” We Maryknoll Sisters try to make God’s love visible throughout the world. Our benefactors pray for this work and make financial sacrifices to send us out to serve throughout the world.

In turn, those served reach out to others and continue to “…make God’s love visible.” Gratitude fills my heart.

— Sister Virgeen Healey, MM