SURVIVE-MIVA

(Missionary Vehicle Association)

Registered Charity No. 268745

39 years’ experience funding essential transport in the developing world.

Vehicle Grants

2013

THE YEAR 2013 AT A GLANCE ___________________________________________________________________________

During 2013, a total of three hundred and forty-four different modes of transport were

provided thanks to donations received in the course of the year.

This total was comprised of the following mix:

~ 13 Ambulance/community health outreach vehicles ~ 37 motorbikes

~ two boats with outboard motors ~ one scooter ~ one autorickshaw

~ 290 bicycles ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Distribution by country:

A total of 54 grants were made to Diocesan accounts overseas, for in-country purchase of the above vehicles in a total of twelve countries:

Health/outreach vehicles : 5 to India, 4 to Uganda, 1 to Zambia, 1 to Ghana, 1 to Burma, 1 to Cameroon,

Motorbike/scooter grants : 17 to India, 4 to Uganda, 8 to Tanzania, 4 to Sri Lanka, 2 to

Senegal, 1 to Zambia, 1 to Bangladesh, 1 to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Boats/outboard motors : 1 to the Colombian Amazon, one to Tanzania (Lake Victoria)

Autorickshaw : 1 to India

Bicycles: 143 to Uganda, 122 to Tanzania, 25 to Zambia.

Total funds transferred amounted to some £331,879, subject to exchange rate fluctuations and an average £21 bank charge per transfer. Audited figures are, of

course, published in our Trustees’ Annual Report, available on request.

Vehicles funded during 2013 SM 4156 Honda XL 125cc motorbike for Chato Parish, Diocese of Rulenge-Ngara,Tanzania

Rulenge-Ngara Diocese dates from as recently as 2008, and is a rural diocese in the north west of the country. Although it has a population of nearly three quarters of a million, the Diocese has just eighteen parishes. Each parish, however, has many outstations - small chapels or places of worship - and Fr Gratian Kipara has twenty-two of these he strives to visit regularly to tend to the spiritual needs of his 13,000 parishioners, all subsistence farmers and their families.

“These small Christian communities are scattered due to the geography of the area and a motorcycle enables me to begin a new life in my pastoral mission. The following prayer is said always when I say Mass at the outstations where I could not reach before having the motorcycle:

‘St Therese, Patroness of the Missions, we ask for your prayers and assistance for the work of SURVIVE-MIVA; may the transport provided by the Association enable, support, and widen the work of those providing healthcare and pastoral support in areas of great deprivation.

May the dedication and commitment of the Association’s beneficiaries and the generosity of its supporters bear witness to God’s love for the whole human race, so that God’s name will be glorified throughout the earth.

Amen.’ Grant : £4,000

SM 4157 Honda XL 125cc motorbike for St Charles Lwanga Parish, Mabira, Diocese of Kayanga, Tanzania Kayanga Diocese is an offshoot of Rulenge, formed in 2008 by Pope Benedict on March 6th of that year. It has just eleven parishes, with a Catholic population of some 260,000 spread over almost 8,000 square kilometres, and borders Uganda to the north, and Rwanda to the east. Fr Vitalis Bamuhiga, the beneficiary of this grant, describes himself as a ‘new’ priest, having been ordained in 2010, but as his name suggests, he is certainly full of life and enthusiasm: “I have twenty-six outstations, seven secondary schools, and thirty primary schools. I have to visit them all, and minister the different sacraments, visit the sick, teach the Faith in the schools, and all in a mountainous area with harsh roads and poor if any public transport.” Father adds: “I thank you for the grant and immensely for the initiatives you are doing to assist the infant diocese of Kayanga. Pass on our gratitude, please, to all who make SURVIVE-MIVA to be what it is.”

Grant: £4,000

SM 4158 Honda XL 125cc motorbike for St Stephen’s Parish, Mbalizi, Diocese of Mbeya, Tanzania Our next grant was allocated to the south west of Tanzania. Mbeya city, the regional Capital, is located some 850k (528 miles) from the national Capital, Dar-es-Salaam. From there, assistant PP Fr Emmanuel Mezza tells us: “Mbalizi is one of the 36 parishes in the Diocese, where 90% of the population are small-scale farmers. Infrastructure is pretty poor here, especially in the most rural areas where we have our outstations, based in the highlands where roads are slippy and often impassable in the rainy season. My spiritual apostolate is made difficult by this as I need to visit the outstations not only to say Mass, but to meet the youth and women’s groups, as well as individual Christian households in order to celebrate the Sacraments like Baptism, Holy Communion, the Sacrament for the sick. Socially, I visit HIV/AIDS cases, which are many, and advise the widows and orphaned. As a lawyer, I know that many are not familiar with their rights which have been provided by the Constitution, to which they are entitled. All these responsibilities can only be successfully met with the aid of some form of transport.”

Grant: £ 3,200

SM 4159 Honda XL 125cc motorbike for Our Lady of Fatima Parish, Munteme, Diocese of Hoima, Uganda Hoima is in central Uganda, in the west of the country some 20 miles from the banks of Lake Albert, which forms the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. At Fatima Parish, PP Fr Sylvester Birungi has seventy village chapels to cover, the furthest being some 56 miles away from the Church itself. “There are a lot of immigrants in thE area from neighbouring countries like the DRC and Rwanda, where there has been a lot of fighting, so many of them arrive as refugees with next to nothing. Lacking even basic needs, they need our pastoral help. With transport aid this can take place; it is sad to report that visiting and anointing of the sick cannot be effectively done, as our parish bicycle is not sufficient for long journeys over the hills, and some of the sick people have died unattended due to this problem.”

Grant: £3,800 SM 4160 Ford Ranger T6 Double cab 4x4 for Nkuruba Health Centre, Kabarole, Diocese of Fort Portal, Uganda Dating back to 1984, Nkuruba clinic, run by the Daughters of St Therese of the Child Jesus, was originally a local parish initiative, run by locals with the support of their Parish Priest. From having just two (borrowed) bicycles for their means of transport in the early days, thanks to your generosity the Centre can now count on the mobility provided in the form of a Ford Ranger – a double cabin four-by-four pickup able to get those who already have the much-needed skills out and about in the surrounding community.

A delighted Sr Mary Birungi, the nurse-in-charge at the Centre, tells us: “The vehicle is already serving its purpose of helping in transporting expectant mothers to the referral hospital, as well as being a vital component of the everyday task of supporting community health programmes, and transporting nurses and their equipment to isolated villages around the county. The impact this is having out there can be seen straightaway” Routine activities in and around Nkuruba include child immunisation programmes, for which sizeable numbers of vaccines are needed, but which have to be both kept at hand whilst being stored at a cool temperature. Whereas before this had always proved problematic, with a vehicle at their disposal, supplies of vaccines can be brought in by the health team efficiently, in a timely manner, and according to the need. All this is done in tandem with their village visits, which can also now be planned in advance and publicised among the different communities. In turn, this has greatly increased the impact of the Sisters’ efforts. “The safe transport of drugs from the supplier stores to our facility has helped us combat the killer diseases which are avoidable if treated,” says Sr Mary, “ and because we have time to work in the villages and reinforce our message, the community awareness of diseases which can be spread due to bad hygiene practice has become greater. Though some factors are outside our control, where we can change conditions which spread communicable diseases - by making people aware of the dangers - we can ensure that in many respects, health standards do improve.” The twenty-one thousand pound grant your donations made possible has provided not just the benefit of a vehicle, then, but also a less tangible (though equally practical) knock-on effect - a real boost to both the work and the morale of the Centre Staff.

Grant: £23,300

SM 4161 Piaggio autorickshaw for Mariamatha Convent, Mariagiri Shrine, Diocese of Nalgonda, Andhra Pradesh, India The Missionary Sisters of Mother Mary were founded in 2008, but have already made great strides in their pastoral work in the Diocese thanks to the support of their Founder, Bishop of the Diocese, the Rt Rev Govindu Joji. Writing from their most recently opened mission, Sr Jesy Vargheese, the current Mother General, describes their situation: “Though we are a young Congregation, the Faith has been present and growing here for over 100 years. The Catholics here are usually of the lowest castes, and suffer even now from the prevalence of poverty, ignorance, and the lack of any basic amenities or housing. Despite the claims of the government, the caste system is still very strong. People like barbers, carpenters, blacksmiths and fishermen are classified under ‘backward classes’, and they make up about 58% of the population. As ‘untouchables’, they live apart from the upper castes, far away from the established villages, and it is these people our work is designed to reach.”

The Mission includes small health centre, with three rooms and twenty beds, in which they care for the terminally ill; [“occasionally a few of the beds are used for outpatients”] and their request, made possible via a grant of £2,000, means that they can travel to some 24 outlying villages. There they have now begun regular mobile clinic services to treat common ailments in situ, and also carry cancer patients for chemotherapy and associated treatment to the larger city Hospital.

Grant £2,000

SM 4162 Honda Unicorn motorbike for Christ the King Parish, Nelakondapalli, Diocese of Khammam, A.P India This Diocese has sixty-four parishes with 648 outstations to be reached, and a total of seventy-five priests in all, who struggle to cater to the pastoral needs of 200,000 Catholics, almost exclusively lower (or euphemistically termed ‘scheduled’) castes. Nellakondapalli parish dates from 1970, and currently has eight substations, three catechumen (new to the Faith) villages, and some three thousand Mass-goers in all. Fr Prakash Runjula, PP of Christ the King, says: “Though the main parish is on the highway, there are no roads to six of the villages located in the interior. The people are cut off and economically poor and illiterate, and prone to diseases. The children will do the same low-caste jobs and are exploited, having to work to pay off the money-lenders.” With a motorbike, Father’s aims are to be consistent in his presence throughout the parish – “to reach all the different villages and spend more time with the people, listening to their problems.”

Grant : £1,000

SM 4163 Tata Xenon Double cab for St Raphael Clinic, Paya, Archdiocese of Tororo, Uganda Located at 1,800 metres (5,900 ft) above sea level (Ben Nevis 4,409 ft), Paya village is located in Mount Egon National Park, in an area of rough terrain, ridges, cliffs and bamboo forest, where, according to Sr-in-charge Sr Jane Kemuma of the Daughters of Mary, “landslides are common occurrences and what tracks there are are often blocked until people clear them by hand or with basic agricultural tools.” Sr Jane tells us that common ailments are similar to those which affect so many of the rural communities we do our best to support – “Our catchment area is isolated here in the Park, and people are deprived of common social services compared to other areas. Diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, malaria, and pneumonia are frequently encountered. We serve an immediate population of almost eight thousand, and have a capacity of fifteen beds. Our mobile clinic was started the year after we opened in 2006, limited to those areas within manageable walking distance.

A motor vehicle to facilitate this cause would facilitate health delivery to this underserved region. We aim to increase medical care to extended family members beyond our reach, and promote safe motherhood, prevent child illnesses through vaccinations we could bring in from the capital, and enable timely diagnoses and early treatment, which is vital for survival, especially in times of epidemic.”

Grant: £18,200

SM 4164 Locally made boat and outboard motor for the Claretian Ministry to the Indigenous, Caño Mochuelo, Colombia The Claretians, formally known as the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, were founded in Spain in 1849, and today their work continues in Colombia. Their Ministry to the Indigenous Peoples can involve travel along rivers for up to three days journey away from their base camp, having first walked through the jungle for up to nine hours. These communities, according to General Coordinator Father Hector Guzmán, are among the poorest in the country and are considered endangered; one community, the Tsiripu, having just 61 members. They have had little if any real contact with modern industrial society, and in consequence have little resistance to viruses and ailments such as the common cold, which can be lethal. For this reason, they live on reserved land, and relations with the different communities have only begun in the last seven years, after prolonged efforts by the Claretian Mission there. Fr Hector says:“ We have been respectful of their rights, customs, and forms of worship, but they suffer from encroachment on their traditional lands and the destruction of the ecosystem by outsiders. We maintain a presence alongside them and work on sustainable agricultural projects designed to increase food security, especially since their hunting grounds and food sources are steadily disappearing.”

Grant£8,000 SM 4165 Hero Honda CBZ motorbike for Christ the King Parish, Maripeda, Sevanagar, Diocese of Warangal, A.P. India An ‘ever-growing’ Diocese, according to PP of Christ the King Fr Shobhan Reddy, Warangal has 46 parishes, each with many outstations attached. Maripeda being the ‘base’ church, Fr Shobhan has ten other outstations to cover in the villages around. “Though the families are scattered, I believe that they will be brought together through the Word of God. They belong to the downtrodden sections of society and miss out on basic needs; their financial status is hand to mouth, and they must work daily for a daily wage. I can only meet them in late evenings or at night, and a motorbike is a real necessity to make this happen.”

Grant:£1,000

SM 4166 Honda Super Splendor for Laonu Parish, Kanubari, Diocese of Miao, Arunachal Pradesh, India Arunachal Pradesh translates as ‘land of mountains lit by the morning sun’, and as India’s most eastern state, can be found in the very north east of the country. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south, and shares international borders with Bhutan in the west, Burma in the east, and China in the north. Dating from as recently as 2005, Miao Diocese has 26 parishes and just 24 priests, with a Catholic population of 76,000. PP Fr Raja Ratnam writes: “This parish has twelve village substations, and as this is a mountainous area, three villages in particular are difficult to reach; Chopsa, Kamnu, and Hazi we visit on foot, walking between 2 to 3 hours – even a four-wheel-drive couldn’t get through the paths – a motorbike would be ideal.”

Grant:£800

SM 4167 Platina 125cc motorbike for St Gabriel Mbuga Parish, Mpwapwa, Diocese of Dodoma, Tanzania Dodoma Diocese can be found on the Central Plateau of Tanzania, and has 64 priests in 32 parishes covering over 15,950 square miles (Birmingham 224 parishes, 3,837 square miles) with a Catholic population of 400,000 souls. 140 miles from the Diocesan Headquarters, Fr Paul Nyange, PP of St Gabriel’s, ministers alone to his 35,000 parishioners spread over thirteen outstations. “My aims are to provide effective daily pastoral care in and around the parish itself, and to take sacramental and spiritual services of the sick, disabled, and needy at their homesteads as we visit them twice weekly. In addition, there are 98 active small Christian Communities, composed of ten to fifteen families throughout the 13 village outposts, which we must visit via pathways and narrow pedestrian ways not accessible for cars. We celebrate Baptisms, First Communions, and marriages when we are able. With the hope of regular worship together, we aspire to attain the goal of deep Faith and the maturity of the Christian faithful.”

Grant£2,000 SM 4168-4289 122 Bicycles for the Catechists of St Stanislaus Parish, Nyamuswa, Diocese of Bunda, Tanzania Established as recently as 2010, Bunda Diocese is located north of Lake Victoria and west of the Serengeti. It covers over five thousand square miles, is home to a population of more than a million, and, according to Fr Peter Zakayo, PP of Nyamuswa, a third of these are Catholics, whose pastoral needs are catered for in the fourteen parishes that make up the Diocese itself. Fr Peter requested a grant for a grand total of one hundred and twenty-two bicycles, which, when assembly and when delivery costs are included, cost roughly £78 each.

“Our primary objective is to mobilise our team of forty-six catechists and seventy-six children’s guides who are responsible for teaching the Faith in all twenty-three outstations we have in our parish, as well as the thirty-eight small Christian communities we support, and in addition to the fifty-two Primary schools and nine large Secondary schools where they work. Their job is one of exposure and familiarisation, aimed at those new to the Faith, and it is carried out against a background of growing adherence to other sects that have sprung up since the Parish was formed in 2002.” An entirely rural area, incomes are low and most depend on the subsistence cultivation of sorghum (a cereal crop) and different types of beans, although this can often be affected by seasonal drought. There is a high incidence of HIV amongst the population, leading to an increase in the number of orphans and households headed by children. “Your support has greatly assisted the work of Evangelisation here,” Fr Peter writes; “we all wish you God’s many blessings for the good work you do for the wellbeing of His children.”

Grant:£9,600

(£78 each, incl.delivery and assembly) SM 4290 Honda Shine Motorbike for Good Shepherd Parish, Hatisara, Diocese of Bongaigaon, Assam, India This grant, and that made for St Francis parish (immediately below) were coordinated via the Bishop’s Office, given the remote interior location of each priest and the consequent difficulties in communicating with the outside world. The Rt Rev Thomas Pulloppillil, the Diocesan Bishop since its erection in the year 2000, initially wrote in on behalf of Frs Lines Chacko and Benjamin Jojo, PPs of Hatisara and Baharit (below) respectively: “Cordial greetings from Asssam! We are immensely grateful to SURVIVE-MIVA for all your support in the pastoral activities in our Diocese over the years. Our work of evangelisation is going on with great fervour and vitality. There are 63,000 Catholics in 29 churches – each with more than 40 susbstations- as the Faith is comparatively new here. Back in 2000, we only had 14 parishes, for example, and Hatisara and Baharit are two of the newest.” Fr Chacko says: “The literacy rate among my parishioners is very poor, and people are small scale hand-to-mouth farmers. Because they do not have sufficient land to cultivate, they go to the forest to collect firewood to meet their daily food requirement cost.” From Fr Benjamin: “We are in constant contact with frequent visits thanks to the motorbike, meeting new communities and families. We need to establish good friendships with them to share our Faith, and take great care of them to form them properly, and so Baptisms and First Holy Communions preparation are never rushed, but thorough and this takes time and regular catechesis to build up the strength of our presence amongst them.”

Grant: £750

SM 4291 Honda Shine Motorbike for St Francis of Assisi Parish, Baharihat, Diocese of Bongaigaon, Assam, India (See above)

Grant: £750 SM 4292 Hero Honda Splendour for Govindapally Parish, Diocese of Berhampur, Odisha State, India Founded 30 years ago, Govindapally Parish counts as one of the oldest in the Diocese – itself founded in 1974 and thus as ‘old’ as SURVIVE-MIVA! Fr Debananda Nayak PP lives 435 kilometres (270 miles) from the Diocesan offices, but his work is concentrated more on his parishioners, who live in 15 villages in a 42 kilometre (26 mile – the marathon distance) radius of the main church. “Every Sunday after the celebration in the centre I go out to different villages to organise pastoral activities and discuss social and community welfare issues with the people. In order to concentrate on faith formation we have to travel very often to these places and it consumes a lot of time on foot; because of this I am not able to render my pastoral services on due time. My aim with transport would be to extend care to forty-five Catholic and non-Catholic villages where we currently only have irregular interventions”

Grant:£700 SM 4293 Pulsar 200cc motorbike for St Francis Parish, Venkatagiri, Diocese of Nellore, Andhhra Pradesh, India “Our Diocese covers nearly 12 thousand square miles,” Fr Kishor Bandi writes, “with a population of three and a half million, often at the mercy of cyclones and floods. 80% live in rural areas on daily manual wages and are Dalits (sometimes called ‘’untouchables’) and Venkatagiri is one of the 70 mission parishes here.” Fr Kishor goes on to tell us of his specific work and needs: “As the Christian Communities increased around us, the Bishop thought it necessary to make this a parish in its own right, with seven outstations and three Catechumen (undergoing instruction) villages. A beautiful church in the name of Christ the Light has been built recently for the spiritual needs of the main community, and many Catholics from the outstations come in for Mass. Though Sunday Homilies are given in the centre, I go regularly to instruct the people for worthy reception of the Sacraments, as well as administering anointing of the sick, Viaticum, and in cases of death, burial services in the respective places. Out of the seven substations, three of them have fairly good access for a lot of the year, and four others just have dusty or muddy tracks, with no bus service. I am not able to render services there, and to be more prompt and effective in these remote missions, a motorcycle would be of great help to me.”

Grant: £1,000

SM 4294 Toyota Hilux for the Sisters of St Therese of the Child Jesus Health Centre, Cité de Palmier, Archdiocese of Douala, South West Region, Cameroon The Archdiocese of Douala can be found in the Littoral Province of Cameroon, which serves as the country’s economic capital, and is built on the estuary of the river Wouri, where it flows into the Atlantic. Like any big city, it has its contrasts: “In Douala,” writes Sr Clarisse Remjika, of the Sisters of the Child Jesus of Buea and Development Officer for the Order, “you find all classes of people, from the very rich to the very poor, and Cité de Palmier, [‘Palm City’] falls into the latter category. St Therese Health Centre is situated on the very outskirts of the city, with earth roads full of potholes which become impossible in the rainy season, which in turn discourages the sick from making their way to us through the mud, not knowing if they are even going to arrive. The Centre itself has eleven nurses, three of whom are midwives, and one anaesthetic nurse. There are two doctors for the maximum bed capacity of eighty. We see 1500 patients a month on average, fifty a day, every day, and we have about 20 births a month, though this fluctuates a great deal. We try to cover the other shanty towns, 8 and 17 miles away, but we are hampered in terms of transport. We aim to cover these regularly as there is no other health facility near which is affordable. We also wish to increase awareness of the HIV virus, begin immunisation for the under-fives, bring in stocks of basic medicines currently unavailable, and reduce and eventually stop infant and maternal mortality.”

Grant: £28,600

SM 4295/6/7/8 Four motorbikes for the Diocese of Mannar, to be based at Madhu,Chilamathunai, Nanattan, and Pesalai Parishes, Northern Province, Sri Lanka A block grant made in response to a request received in April 2013 From the Bishop of Mannar, and in fact the first grants we have made here, given the civil war between the Government and the Tamil ‘Tiger’ separatists, which ended in the government/army massacres and indiscriminate bombing of civilians in 2009. Says the Mannar Bishop Rayappu Joseph, “Our Diocese grew out of the Diocese of Jaffna in 1981, and has a [Catholic] population of 90,000 in 39 parishes ministered to by 79 priests. They are heavily engaged in community building through the process of Basic Ecclesial Communities (BEC) of a minimum of 15 families each, and we currently have over 1,200 of them.” He continues : “On the negative side, we are emerging from 30 years of civil war which destroyed over 280,000 precious human lives, 15,000 of which were from our Diocese. The war destroyed churches, schools, convents and people’s houses.

It has left us with chaotic, ruined infrastructure and extensive loss of livelihoods. We have entire communities consisting of thousands of single-headed households, destitute elderly and a host of parentless children with deep psychological trauma at the loss of their loved ones.” Bishop Joseph goes on to describe the needs of four parishes in particular: “Madhu, Chilamathunai, Nanattan, and Pesalai Parishes are all deep in the interior among derelict villages in jungle terrain with narrow unattended roads and footpaths as the only access to the area, and Frs Ssoosaipillia, Rayanayagam, Calistus and Leon are handicapped without transport. Living in this post war situation, despite the tribulations and the inadequacy of resources, our hard-pressed priests continue with their mission to celebrate the Holy Eucharist, make family visits, heal the traumatised, help out with small income-generating projects, get involved with education and relief services to our people in the most rugged and inaccessible places. Hence we request your support for these four most affected parishes.”

Grant: £6,400 £1,600 each)

SM 4299 Toyota Hilux for Kunlung Parish, Diocese of Lashio, Burma Burma is another land slowly emerging for the horrors of the past decades. The following is from our magazine ‘Awareness’ written in late 2012:

“The country that dared not speak its name... For as long as I have been associated with SURVIVE-MIVA (some fifteen years now), and indeed from long before I became Director, our Association - in common with other much larger Catholic agencies - has had links with, and given support to the country that until recently ‘dared not speak its name’. Neither in this magazine, nor anywhere else in our (freely available) files, nowhere in our Trustees Annual Reports, nor in our yearly vehicle update booklets, has even the most passing reference to our dealings there ever been made public.

That country is Burma.

Readers of our vehicle booklet may in the past have wondered why, when for each and every grant we make I write a profile similar to the ones you read here, the phrase ‘for details of this grant, please contact the office’ occasionally crops up. The answer is down to ‘health and safety’ - though not in the sense we use the expression here in the UK. As it is a country closed to the outside world since the early 1960s and run by a military junta, under which dissent is met with violence, we were not able to include any grants made in Burma in these pages. As an autarky, like North Korea, no outside contact was permitted, and those who went against the regime risked ‘disappearance’ or imprisonment. This was something of a dilemma for us, as we pride ourselves on being held accountable for each penny you donate and we spend, and so the figures would not tally if the existence of these grants were denied.

On the other hand, the harsh reality is still that we can go into absolutely no real detail without compromising the safety of others far away; beyond any sanctuary or refuge we can offer them. The conclusion I reached long ago was (in principle) to be prepared to discuss these grants, but only with good reason, and then only face to face with whoever was asking whatever query had been raised - on the condition that I could see there was no risk to either our or our beneficiaries’ confidentiality. The Charity Commission has always accepted this, and has consistently supported our stance. Recent changes among the military regime in Burma, however, and the relaxation of certain restrictions allowing foreign travel for Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the country’s democracy movement, for example, have meant that at long last - although we are careful not to be too specific - we can finally, publicly, recognise the fact that your donations have quietly but effectively been supporting the Church and its work there over many years. Until today, it has never been possible for us to acknowledge this except on an individual, one-to-one basis, as outlined above. Not only that, but we were blessed at our Annual General Meeting, held since the last issue went to print, to have with us Sister Catherine as a guest Speaker, who has great personal knowledge and experience of the Church’s semi-clandestine work in Burma, and it is thanks to her that on the centre pages of this issue, you can, at last, read more about the work of those you help, either through general funds or via private donations. Names and places have been generalised or changed for obvious reasons, though

we, and those we cannot name, continue to be grateful for your support.” Since out magazine was published, our involvement with Burma has continued via this grant. Bishop Philip Za Hawng contacted us with this request in the summer of 2013: “Kunlung parish is 85 miles away from the Diocesan offices, in a mountainous area along the Burma-China border, and is populated by different tribes who try to earn a living growing rice, beans, maize and sugar cane, tilling the stony ground with its poor soil. A few rich Chinese business people have their rubber plantations along the Salween river, and many of our people work there as daily-paid labourers, combining this with work on the mountain slopes. In all places, transport is necessary for team pastoral work, bringing sick people to the clinic, and for moving construction materials.” Fr Stephen Sai Pyi, along with four Sisters and one catechist are serving at the parish centre in Kunlung, and between them they operate a pre-school nursery and a small dispensary, and carry out pastoral visits to the surrounding villages in an American CJ Jeep, the origin and owner of which is unknown [Burma has been a closed society- see above], but it is believed to date from the Second World War, and is highly unsafe.”

Grant: £15,100

SM4300 – 4325 Honda CTX200cc motorbike, and 25 bicycles for the Parish of St Margaret, Kasaba, Diocese of Mansa, Zambia St Margaret’s is located in the very north east of the country, some 560 miles from Lusaka, the capital, on the southern shores of Lake Tanganyika. Fr Kennedy Kashinga is Parish Priest and has 42 outstations to cover, including 17 that can only be reached by boat. He is aided by 9 catechists and 16 carers who form part of the home-based care programme run by the five Sisters of Mercy who are also based at Kasaba. “Kasaba is a good example of a typical Zambian rural setting,” says Fr Kennedy, “people live in small villages which are managed by headsmen who are in turn answerable to the chief, and each catechist runs a section which is made up of six or so of these villages. They run the meetings of the small Christian Communities and prepare people for receiving Communion and Baptism where and when appropriate. The incidence of HIV is also high in our area, and the carers work in collaboration with the local hospital health workers to visit those who are HIV positive and give them their medication as specified by the doctors.”

Grant: £5,600 (motorbike - £3,260, bicycles £2,340, or £93 each - includes transport to Parish and assembly costs)

SM 4326 Toyota Hilux for the Mother Angela Community, Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Assisi, Chililabombwe, Diocese of Ndola, Copperbelt Province, Zambia Ndola Diocese is in the north east of the country, and borders The Democratic Republic of Congo. Says Sr Superior Josephine Mulenga, “Because of the political instability in the DRC, many refugees, street children and the homeless come to our town, and this adds to our work. We deal with the problems of prostitution, child trafficking, widows, single mothers, teenage pregnancy, non-school-going children, and the many cases of HIV. We are only ten miles from the border, and currently we look after more than 400 widows from the fighting, and we feed more than 300 children who are chronically malnourished when they reach us. We aim to take integrated health outreach work to the outlying communities, and a vehicle which would enable us to do this would fulfil the role of emergency ambulance as well as to transport the produce from our small scale farm work into the market.”

Grant:£27,900

SM 4327 Mahindra Bolero for The Daughters of the Cross of Liege Health programme, Dolda Mission, Diocese of Khunti, Jharkhand, Orissa State, India Jharkhand State borders West Bengal in the north east of the country, and Dolda is a small village in a remote district where the Sisters of the Daughters of the Cross have established a rural Dispensary which has been serving the local community since 2011. Sr Carmela Lugun, based in Dolda, tells us of their work and needs: “Two years ago we were invited by the Bishop to work in this difficult and challenging part of the State; the land here is alienated from the other main lands by the natural boundaries of forests and hills and valleys. This means that our mission is in its infancy, but progress is slow but sure. The locals are tribals, considered ‘primitive’, and literacy among the community is just 5%. Among the health problems they face is the prevalence of malaria; every day we see new cases, and if not treated at the first symptoms, it quickly affects the brain and many lose their lives. In times of emergency, sick people are brought to us on makeshift stretchers or bicycles, and some die on the journey. There is no primary Health Centre except the one run by us.” The Sisters’ request for a vehicle comes as a result of what they know is an avoidable set of circumstances, the result of ignorance in its true, neutral sense of simply ‘not knowing’. “The children suffer from malnutrition and scabies. The families have yet to learn the need for and importance of the concept ‘prevention is better than cure’. They still do not understand the relation between hygiene and health. We feel an acute need to reach out to them and bring awareness. We plan to make frequent visits and hold health education camps as well as treatment sessions in more than the current 15 villages within present reach. It takes half a day to reach a village by bicycle, the only available means of transport we have.”

Grant:£8,000

SM 4328 Yamaha AG200cc motorbike for St Hermes Parish, Diocese of Lisala, Equator Province, Democratic Republic of Congo Fr Lievin Engbanda, PP of St Hermes, writing in March of 2013, says that his Diocese has 27 parishes in all, with three quarters of a million Catholics tended to by just 80 priests. Lisala is in the equatorial jungle in the north of the country, on the banks of the River Congo itself.

“Most of the small Christian communities that make up the parish can only be reached by track or by the much smaller rivers that flow into the Congo. The majority of them only receive scant pastoral attention given the difficulties involved in reaching them, and this is a source of much anxiety for me as their pastor. This is an area where all sorts of sects can flourish if the Church is not present with regularity, and in turn when our presence is infrequent, people question our commitment to them, and this is another worry.”

Grant: £4,700

SM 4329 Yamaha DT 125cc motorbike for Immaculate Conception Parish, Diocese of Soroti, Uganda Soroti is a medium sized town with a population of some 60,000, located in the east of the country. Immaculate Conception Parish is the main centre for the 30 substations within the parish boundaries, ministered to by Fr Deogratius Oryangatum, newly ordained in April 2013. He is fully engaged in his pastoral duties, visiting the sick, anointing them in their homes and taking Viaticum to the housebound, as well as celebrating Baptisms and hearing confessions in the villages around the town. He says: “The Diocese has just 29 parishes but a total population, including the villages, of well over a million Catholics, which means each priest is responsible for more than 22,000 souls. We have undergone many challenges in the recent past. There was fighting between government troops and the LRA (‘Lord’s Resistance Army’) who came down from the north to try and take control of the airstrip here, and many villagers came to the town in search of safety, especially at night. There has also been flooding and many lost their crops on their small plots, and experienced hunger as they depended on this for food. Others have been displaced from their homes, and there is tension between the Karimojong and their neighbours the Iteso over land and cattle rustling. All this has resulted in a considerable number losing their lives, leaving many widows and orphans, and we still have many villagers too frightened and traumatised to return to their ancestral homes.”

Grant: £3,600

SM 4330 Yamaha DT 125cc motorbike for St Patrick’s Parish, Madera, also Diocese of Soroti, Uganda A brother Priest of Fr Deogratius, Fr Simon Elweu of St Patrick’s has very similar challenges to overcome. He has 54 substations in the parish, and says “Without an effective means of transport, pastoral work such as the promotion of the National Campaign against Domestic Violence, as recommended by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, and the sensitising of the youth here become almost impossible save for the nearby places. The roads are in a very poor state, exacerbated by the seasonal rain, public transport is very patchy, undependable and expensive, and the Faithful have such a low standard of living we cannot expect them to finance this initiative via the Parish Pastoral Office.”

Grant: £3,800

SM 4331 Toyota Hilux double cab for St Jude Mabona Health Centre, Mabona, Archdiocese of Mbarara, Uganda “The only Catholic Health Centre for miles around,” is how Sr Mary Nyakato describes St Jude Mabona, run by her Order, the Missionary Sisters of Mary Mother of the Church. Established in 2007, St Jude’s is 120 miles from the nearest main road that will then (eventually) reach the nearest hospital – the equivalent of a trip from Glasgow to Fort William, say, or from London to Bristol. Understandably, transport is a life-saver. Writing in August of 2013, after the 4x4 had been acquired, Sr Mary told us of the immediate impact it had had: “We can proudly confirm to you that we are grateful for your heartfelt generosity and that your contribution has made our previous difficulties ‘history’ and we are already motoring around. Last Thursday we were able to collect medical supplies from the store, and on Friday at the health centre we found a pregnant mother who was in pain and failing to deliver from a transverse presentation, so we rushed her to the referral hospital where she was able to deliver successfully. Her life and that of the baby were saved, praise God.” Previous difficulties included having to go about what outreach work they could manage on foot or by bicycle. Only eight villages out of the seventeen could be reached that way, “but we failed to deliver our best due to tiredness and also our equipments and supplies were not at the adequate temperature, rendering our services very limited.” The team now monitors each village at least twice a month for epidemics and outbreaks of diseases in a dependable way. They can transport syringes and vaccines safely, and at the correct temperature. Other work involves the organisation of a vaccine programme for all under-fives, nutritional and paediatric care, along with pre and post-natal clinics. “ We can also get word to those we call ‘mobilisers’, who go on foot before us to give advance warning of our visits, which we can now guarantee will take place on a timely and dependable schedule.”

Grant: £24,600

SM 4332 Hero Honda motorbike for Budajharia Parish, Kanika, Diocese of Rourkela, Odisha State, India Erected in 1979, surrounded by hills and encircled by rivers, Rourkela is located the north west of Odisha/Orissa, itself in the north of the Continent, with a coastline on the Bay of Bengal. The Diocese has eighty-four priests based in 41 Parishes, with a total of 367 mission substations in all. There are an estimated quarter of a million Catholics, 97% of whom are ‘tribals’ or ‘low’ caste. Fr Sirnus Kujur of Budajharia tells us of the improvements in the conditions of these ‘untouchables’ the Church has struggled to bring about:

“Economically and socially they are considered ‘backward’ here, however, the presence of missionaries allied with their hard work has shown a remarkable transformation. People who embraced Christianity have overcome sometimes harmful superstitious beliefs and damaging practices. Their literacy rate has increased, with all the benefits of self-improvement that brings. In addition, they are less likely to be taken advantage of, and their health and hygiene have improved.” “I need transport help to reach out to the people easily [Father has five substations to cover] and to have a good rapport with parishioners. Since most have moved here from other States, they are like scattered sheep - some 2,000 of them in all. My aim is to say Mass regularly for them all, in each village, and to go from house to house to meet them, bless their dwellings and their families, and teach them the Word of the Lord.”

Grant: 700

SM 4333 Yamaha AG200cc motorbike for Magereza Sub-Parish, Ipuli, Archdiocese of Tabora, Tanzania The ‘White Fathers’ as they were then known due to the colour of their habits, now known as the SMA (Missionaries of Africa) Fathers, founded this mid-western Diocese after their arrival in 1878, though it is now managed by indigenous Diocesan priests. It has 22 Parishes in all, run by 58 priests covering a Catholic population of a quarter of a million, spread over almost 30,000 square miles (Glasgow & Liverpool 449 square miles each [including I.O.M.], Westminster 1,400). PP Fr Alex Nduwayo says: “We are the largest of the 23 national regions, whose people live from small scale agriculture and some tobacco farming. This sub-Parish at Magereza has itself got fourteen Small Christian Communities served by myself and two lay Catechists, and each year we have between 40 to 60 adult Baptisms and 90 to 100 infant Baptisms, along with 200 to 260 First Holy Communions and some 280 Confirmations. Of the fourteen remote outstations, we can only reach ten of them once or maybe twice a year, and so a motorbike is a necessity to be able to continue our pastoral work in them too.”

Grant £4,000

SM 4334 Yamaha FZ-S motorbike for All Saints Church, Chillakallu, Diocese of Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India

PP Fr Katam Vijay writes:

“Chillakallu is one of the rural Parishes of the diocese of Vijayawada, located about 75KM from the diocese Head-quarters. Chillakallu was erected into a parish in 1985. The parish grew up and the catholic communities of the parish have considerably increased. Currently the parish of Chillakallu has about 3,450 catholic population spread in 13 outstations. The villages are very remote and many of the villages do not have proper transport facilities. Some villages do not have proper roads. Particularly in the rainy season, it is such a Herculean task to reach these villages.

There are 30 villages within the boundaries of the parish, but we have Catholic communities only in 13 villages. The total population of the area is 476,000 but the number of Catholics is just 3,450 only. That means about 2% of the total population. It indicates that the Gospel message has not reached the vast majority of the people of the area. Hence there is a great need and urgency to proclaim the message of Christ to these people. The people of the area are not developed socially. The background people are in the clutches of poverty and are behind socially and economically. The social conditions are identified on the basis of caste system and the working power and skills and techniques are very much lacking in the poor sections. The main occupation in the area is agriculture. Most of the people are agricultural labourers. The social disparities are still a big problem of the unity and integrity and equal status and responsibilities among the people. The living conditions and facilities are very much lacking in the poorer sections.

On the parish level, we have drawn out a plan to announce the Good News of the Lord to all the people, especially the non-Christians of this area, starting with the year of Faith. We have made a team of 13 people for this purpose. This team consists of 2 women, 7 lay catechists, 4 nuns and the Parish Priest.

Our people in general are religious and they like to listen to religious preaching. They are fond of religious discourses, singing and praying together. Therefore as an experimental programme, we conducted Gospel meetings in all substations for 3 days each. During these days, there was preaching of the Word of God, singing and prayers for the sick. The response is overwhelming and very encouraging. In each village about 600 people attended these Gospel meetings.

Having heard about these Gospel meetings, people from other parishes are asking us to conduct such meetings in their villages. People like to hear the Word of God and are generally disposed to Christ.

This gives us a great opportunity, so we intend to conduct Gospel meetings of 3 to 4 days duration in each of the remaining villages. This will give the people of the area an opportunity to know Christ and his message of love and peace, which is so essential for society.

In order to conduct such Gospel meetings, where about a thousand people are expected to attend, we are in need of a good transport. The main difficulty is that I am without a proper conveyance to carry out my pastoral ministry. To go to the sub-stations for administering the sacraments, instruction and other religious activities is difficult without any proper convenience. Some of the outstations are about 15 kms away from the main centre.

People are available for religious activities only after 9 pm., because they go for their livelihood during the day. Most of the people depend only on daily wage. On the previous occasions we hired the sound system for the meetings. But the cost is too high for us to afford it again. Each we have to pay Rs. 5,000.00 [£49]. We do not have the means meet such expenses.”

Grant: £1,000 SM 4335 Honda XL 125cc motorbike for Our Lady of the Assumption Parish, Mabira, Kyenjojo, Diocese of Fort Portal, Uganda From Mabira, we received this request from PP Fr John Paul Murangi in April of 2013: “Mabira Catholic Parish is located in Kyenjonjo District, Fort_Portal Diocese. It is quite big with total number of (46) outstations with in 10 Sub-Parishes. There are around 50,000 thousand Catholics, 7200 Protestants, 1,500 Muslims, and 45,000 that belong to other religions. We are only two priests in the Parish, I the parish priest and the curate. Pastorally, there is a lot of work for a priest to be done in the Parish, in the out stations, schools and health centres, all this can be affected provided there is a means of transport, but our parish lacks a means of transport at the moment and this has hindered us to reach the people easily. The Parish apostolate includes the following.

i) Celebration of Holy Mass in outstations and schools at least once a month.

ii) Administering the sacrament of Baptism and Reconciliation. iii) Preparing and instructing candidates for Baptism, First Holy

Communion and Confirmation. iv) Giving counseling services in healthy centers. v) Guiding both teachers and students in moral issues and the entire

Religious Education in Schools. vi) Visiting the sick and the elderly in homes.

Our Parish was severely affected by HIV/AIDS epidemic due to the insurgency of the ADF rebels where many people lost their lives during the war, that led people into camps and hence the outbreak of diseases - HIV being the most spread.

There are still many patients carrying this deadly disease while others suffer from Malaria, diabetes, high blood pressure and Ulcers. The economic situation is still appalling in Mabira Catholic Parish, poverty is rampant, and many households have more than 10 members. Some men drink excessively and many have neglected their families leaving the women to cater for the needs of their children single-handedly yet their incomes are so limited. Some families are headed by orphans, hence the term “Child Headed Households” (CHHs). Many of our Christians suffer from psychological stress. Given the big number of the Parish, the number of schools and outstations of which some are far from Parish Headquarters , it takes a priest 2-3 hours of walk before you reach the out stations; this is brought about by lack of transport means at the Parish. Yet the great demand of pastoral services needed from the Priest by the Parish community, indeed a convenient means of transport is needed in discharging his Pastoral duties. Lack of a transport means has been highlighted as a major hindrance to this cause. There is need, therefore, to raise funds for means of transport to facilitate the Apostolate in the entire Parish. The Apostolate at Mabira Catholic parish requires a motorcycle because it is more reliable than a motorcar, given to nature of our roads and our financial situation. Many of our outstations, schools, Hospitals and Health Centres are located far deep in the villages where a motorcar can’t reach, so a motorcycle can help to execute the work better.”

Grant: £2950

SM 4336 Honda CBZ motorbike for Rajupalem Mission, Diocese of Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India The Indian Provinces of the Missionaries of St Francis de Sales, who run Rajupalem Mission, number six in all, and the oldest and largest of them is that of Visakhapatnam, which consists of the whole of ‘the rice bowl of India’, - Andhra Pradesh. Situated on the country's south eastern coast, it is India's fourth-largest state by area and fifth-largest by population. Fr Patchala Hrudayaraj is one of the 160 Salesian priests in the Province, and he informs us: “There are nine substations here, all interior and up to 35 kilometres away from Rajupalem. There is no public transport system to some of them, as often hiring autorickshaws depends on if the driver wishes to risk a visit. are no autorickshaws available.

The 400 families can go weeks without Mass or sick visits and burials. I do my level best, but the main hurdle I face is the lack of conveyance, which rules out so much of the work I need to do.” There is no such possibility of celebrating the Sacraments in the rainy season, as there

Grant: £850

SM 4337 Hero Honda motorbike for Dokapeth Parish, Diocese of Gumla, Jharkhand, India Jharkhand State (‘land of forests’) is also in north eastern India, directly north of Orissa, and accounts for 40% of the mineral resources of the country. The discovery of mineral wealth has led to Jharkhand becoming one of the leading industrialized regions of India. On the one hand, the mines, railways and roads have gone ahead rapidly, educational and technical institutions have multiplied, and the principal towns have become more cosmopolitan; whilst on the other, the indigenous ‘low’ caste people of the region have been deprived of their land and a process of indiscriminate exploitation has set in, creating racial, nutritional, cultural and socio-economic problems. Dokapath is one of the 37 parishes and several hundred outstations in Gumla catered to by 115 priests in all. PP Fr Walter Kujur explains his work, and what conditions are like at Dokapath: “We were declared a parish in our own right in 1994, and there are seventeen villages in all within our boundary, spread over 90 square kilometres. Dokapath is a plateau, with an ordinary mud path and there is no means of transportation or bus service in the whole of the region. During the rainy season we remain totally isolated and people travel on foot. There is neither electricity nor phone facilities. Thus we are cut off from the rest of the world. In terms of spiritual care, it is my duty to say Mass in the village chapels regularly and make sick calls whenever I am asked. I also have to look after the men’s and women’s associations, which have sub-branches in the villages. I cannot make a success of my work in meeting with them and the village leaders without a means of getting there.”

Grant: £700

SM 4338 – 4382 Forty-five bicycles for the catechists of Our Lady of Fatima Parish, Kasana, Diocese of Kasana- Luweeru, Uganda Fr Joseph Kakooza wrote in his initial request to us: “Our Lady’s is one of the parishes of Kasana – Luweero Diocese, to be found in Luweero District in the central part of Uganda, East Africa. It is situated at the Diocesan head quarters, located along the Kampala – Gulu Highway about 65 Kms from Kampala, the Capital City of Uganda. The Parish is found in the well known Luweero Triangle Region which suffered a great deal during the 1986 Guerilla war in Uganda and therefore the majority of the community members in this area are still underdeveloped in many aspects; with education being among the least developed aspects.

The Diocese has got 16 parishes with some parishes in remote areas as far as 94 km from the diocesan Head quarters. The diocese is situated in a rural setting where poverty, witchcraft, illiteracy poor leadership and HIV/AIDS are some of the major impediments to effective evangelization. In Uganda, 38% of the population live in absolute poverty with children constituting 62% of the poor. The number of children who live below the poverty line is likely to rise due to the high fertility rate, HIV/AIDS, other preventable diseases and insecurity. Other causes of poverty include limited access and control of productive assets especially by women, large families, alcoholism, domestic violence, inadequate opportunities for education, and lack of information. This parish has a total of 30 catechists and 15 chairpersons for the laity from the 15 sub-parishes that make up Our Lady’s Parish. These catechists serve as pastoral ministers in their respective parishes where they carry out evangelical and pastoral worker under the leadership of the parish priest. On top of their pastoral ministry, they are responsible for mobilizing, supervising and coordinating our people in several socio-economic development programmes like self-help projects, home visits, guidance and counseling, youth & women empowerment programmes, health programmes like immunization and HIV/AIDS. This work involves traveling long distances across their respective sub-parishes plus linking up with the parish headquarters. Given the economic situation in the country, the majority of the catechists cannot afford to have a bicycle. The management of the bicycles will be by the elected leadership at the Sub-parish level who, from their treasury will also do the servicing, repair and maintenance and submit reports on the same to the parish office.”

Grant: £3,500 (£77 each) SM 4383 Scooty motorscooter for the Franciscan Sisters of St Thomas, Guziliamparai, Diocese of Dindigul, Tamil Nadu, India Dindigul, in southern central India has a population of over two million; roughly the same in size as that of the entirety of Namibia, or the US State of New Mexico. The four Sisters who are based in Guziliamparai are engaged in pastoral support in the fifteen surrounding villages which have some 1,500 Catholic families, averaging eight members each. Says Sr Mariammal FST: “Women and children constitute the major portion of the population, and are largely Dalit. Only 4% have a small piece of land for cultivation and most work as coolies or daily labourers, migrating to the big cities and towns in search of menial jobs during the dry season. There is a mini health centre set up by the Sisters, though the remote villages are deprived of its services without transport. We do our best to visit the sick and distribute medicines, and promote community health and hygiene education with street theatre and common dining on special occasions like feast days. We want to improve their spiritual lives too, and widen our base of small Christian Communities through perseverance and regular contact, and a small motorbike will help us to do this.”

Grant: £750

SM 4384 Hero Honda motorbike for Holy Rosary Parish, Dhaka, Archdiocese of Dhaka, Bangladesh Father’s request, as received, and on the basis of which he was sent an application form which was assessed and approved by the Allocations Committee on June 27th 2013 is reproduced here: Holy Rosary Church Tejgaon, Dhaka-1215 Tel. 8742093 Date..11/04/2013.......... TO

THE DIRECTOR SIMON PATRICK FORAN, SURVIVE MIVA 5 PARK VALE ROAD LIVERPOOL, L92DG LONDON SUB : PRAYER FOR A MOTORCYCLE.

Dear sir,

Greetings from Bangladesh. I am Fr. Ranjit Cyprian Gomes a catholic priest working in a City Parish. The Parish name is Holy Rosary Church, Tejgoan, Dhaka. This Parish is so large. There are almost 25,000 faithful in this parish. It is surrounded by so many hospitals, schools, college, hostels, health centre, sub-centers and other service organizations. the area of this Parish is almost 20 km. Here I am working as a assistance Parish Priest. I am ordained just 3 years passed.

In this Parish I have to do taking care of the hospitals, sick in houses, offering

Mass in the sub-centers, taking care of the hostels boys and girls, doing progam with the Children and the youth in different places. All of this is leading and guided by the parish.

So for these kind of Pastoral care I need a Motorcycle. Because I need to go

anytime anywhere for sick call and other ministries. So if I have a Motorcycle then I can give better service to the people and showing the God’s love to the peoples.

Therefore, I wants your kind and helping co-operation and attention to these matter and I would be very much grateful to you. Thanks for your nice co-operation.

Sincerely yours In Christ

Fr. Ranjit Cyprin Gomes

Grant: £1,200

SM 4385 – 4432 Forty-eight bicycles for the Catechists of Sacred Heart Parish, Madi-Opei, Kitgum, Archdiocese of Gulu, Uganda Fr John Mark Oryem is Parish Priest of Sacred Heart, and tells us what the situation of his parish and circumstances of his ministry are like: “We are one of the oldest parishes in the Archdiocese, about one hundred miles away from Gulu, and were founded by the Italian Comboni Missionaries in the early 1970s. We have 25 functioning outstations monitored by three zonal centres, from which our Catechists make their rounds. For over 20 years now we have experienced severe insurgency problems from the LRA [see SM 4329 above] which has traumatised and impoverished our people. The Catholic Church has been trying its best to preach the Good News of hope that was lost, and make it meaningful to their future lives. Our Catechists normally move on foot. They instruct the Catechumen, those to be Confirmed or married, they visit the sick, go to the dispensary and clinic, and say the Rosary in the small Christian Communities. They are keeping the Faith alive here. We can afford the assembly costs only, but a bicycle for each one would show appreciation for what they do, and be a real boost not just to their work but to their morale.”

Grant : £3000 (£63 each)

SM 4433/34 Two KTM motorbikes for Tambacounda Mission, Society of Jesus West Africa Province, Senegal

Et maintenant, pour les francophones d’entre vous: “ Chère Madame, cher Monsieur, Ce message est un résumé de la demande que nous voulons vous adresser pour une demande d'aide. Dans le cadre de nos activités pastorales, nous venons solliciter auprès de votre organisme une aide en matériel roulant. Nous sommes une paroisse, la Paroisse Saint Pierre Claver, dans le Diocèse de Tambacounda au Sénégal. Une région économiquement pauvre. Les activités qui motivent notre demande sont les suivantes:

• Nous rendons régulièrement visite aux personnes âgées vivant seules

• Notre équipe pastorale apporte régulièrement la Communion aux paroissiens malades ou qui ne peuvent plus se déplacer

• Nous faisons un suivi des activités socio-pastorales que nous organisons au profit des personnes vulnérables

• Les voies d’accès vers ces personnes sont difficilement praticables en toute saison et sont accidentées

• Les distances à parcourir sont pénibles à pied: la température normale se situe entre 30 et 42°C. Nous sommes dans une zone semi-désertique.

• Les motos de déplacement les plus pratiques dans ces zones et pour mener à bien ces activités sont des motos.

Nous menons ces activités depuis plusieurs années et nous voulons les intensifier parce que les résultants sont encourageant et la population en tire de grands profits.

Notre Équipe est composée de 2 prêtres et de trois religieuses.

Nous vous remercions d'avance pour tout apport qui pourrait nous aider dans notre ministère et nous tenons à votre disposition pour toute information complémentaires.

Fraternellement dans le Seigneur.

Père François d'Assise ALLEGBE, jésuite Curé de la Paroisse Saint Pierre Claver Supérieur des Jésuites du Sénégal ”

Subvention/Grant: £1,700

SM 4435 Bajaj 125cc motorbike for St Lourdes Church, Vembarpatty, Diocese of Dindigul, India Fr Richard Babu Mon, Parish Priest at Vembarpatty, gives us further information about Dindigul: “This Diocese was separated and created by His Holiness John Paul II in November of 2003, having previously been part of Trichirappalli, and we now have a Catholic population of 175,000, in a current total of 46 parishes with 67 Diocesan priests and 280 religious Sisters [see SM 4383] who work at various institutes within the Diocese to realise the Kingdom of God in our midst. Vamabarpatty is a new mission parish 35 kilometres from the town itself, with 4,000 parishioners living in six different substations. They are Dalits, and earn a living from whitewashing others’ properties, and very few of their children, despite government encouragement, go to school. I would like to focus attention on them and all in the remote substations, and to form and support small Christian Communities in each one.

The roads are rocky and muddy, and I am only able to visit each village once in three months due to lack of transport. I can be called any time of day or night to make sick calls. Because people come back from work only about 6 or 7 p.m., I cannot say Mass or start prayers until late when it is already dark. I am in dire need of a two-wheeler to be more instrumental in the hands of the Almighty to spread the Word of God.”

Grant: £800

SM 4436 Yamaha 60hp engine and locally-built boat for Nakamwa Parish, Nansio-Ukerewe, Diocese of Bunda, Tanzania A very recently created Diocese, originally part of that of Musoma, Bunda was consecrated in November of 2010 by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. It has just 14 parishes and 21 priests, Fr Constantine Bigambo, ordained in 2012, being one of them. “After my Ordination, the Bishop appointed me as Parish Priest of Nakamwa, located on Ukerewe Island, the largest island in Lake Victoria and the largest inland island in Africa, with an area of approximately 530 km². I cover altogether sixteen outstations, four of which are separate small islands, and I face two challenges. Firstly, none of the outstations has a permanent place of worship, and secondly, I have no means of transport to reach them. The people around me here are very interdependent and they help each other when help is needed. They know that in their precarious economic and labour situation, they must share what they have and rely on each other. They are mainly subsistence cassava and sweet potato farmers who fish where and when they can. With this background, we have drawn up a parish plan and enclose a pro-forma invoice for the timber and nails, and a small outboard motor. We will build a parish boat ourselves with your help, and will take on the responsibility of care and repairs. It will be the parish community transport, and all will benefit together, so it will be safe and long-lasting, and made from local replaceable resources.”

Grant : £6,000

SM 4437 Toyota Hilux double cab for St Yakobo Buuzabalyawo Ggoli Health Centre, Mpigi, Diocese of Kampala, Uganda This grant came as our response to a request received in May of 2013, and is reproduced here ‘verbatim’: “St. Yakobo Buzaabalyawo was started in 1985 as a community health care project by Rev. Fr. Joseph Lubega with the help of Christians of Ggoli Parish when fulfilling the set of prerequisites; it was officially incorporated into the district health centre III. It is owned by the Registered trustees of Kampala Archdiocese and being run by the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Reparatrix Ggogonya under the umbrella of Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau (UCMB).

The Health centre is now an individual part of Mpigi District health services under Mawokota North health Sub-district. We participate fully in the District and National Health Service programs in line with the teaching of the Catholic Church. The Unit has been entrusted with the following that fall within the fore mentioned; Luwala, Kyanja, Kibanga, Kammengo, Butoolo, Kanyike, Muyira and Musa Parishes covering a total population of 30,608. However, the Unit has helped 41,317 over the past financial years where others are from the neighborhood Sub-counties. As time went on the parish together with the community participation contributed funds for the establishment of structures.

Some of the reasons for putting up structures were as follows: -

� To bring medical services nearer to the people who used to walk long distance

in search of treatment.

� To reduce infant mortality rate in the area.

� To come to the rescue of patients who do not have the money to pay for

medical bills.

� To offer antenatal delivery services to mothers of child bearing age.

� Organize health education talks to the schools around.

� To immunize children under five years.

� To respond to the challenges of HIV/AIDS pandemic through blood tests and

counseling services.

The clinic is staffed all year around with the following (Cadres): - Officer Qty Major Responsibilities

A Registered Nurse 1 In-charge Clinical officer 1 General ward rounds and medical

treatments for all patients and assistant In-charge.

Register Midwife 1 Carries out Antenatal clinics and deliveries.

Enrolled Nurses 2 Manages Stores, Immunizations, data entry and monthly reports.

Lab assistant 1 Examinations for all specimen

B Support staff Qty Major Responsibility Cashier/Accountant 1 Finances Cleaners 2 Cleaning wards and the health unit at

large. Night watchman 1 Security Cook 1 Prepares meals at the Unit

Ggoli Health Centre provides preventive and curative Health services both at the centre and in five outreaches. On average each outreach is within 39Km distance and all visited twice respectively every month. o During each visit, children, pregnant mothers and women of child bearing age

are all immunized. o The Unit operates in pursuit of the good of the individual person of the sick

and the common good of the people. Its services are committed to holistic approach in healing by treating and preventing diseases, and promoting health.

o In the provision of its services the Unit does not discriminate on the ground of religion or political affiliation.

o It intends to bring the health care services nearer to the people especially the poor. It is in the midst of a rural area where there is no reliable health care centre at all.

St. Yakobo Buzaabalyawo Ggoli health centre located in a rural area 45Km from Kampala along Kampala Masaka Road and 1Km off the highway and a catchment area covering eight parishes with a total of 30,608 people is hindered that; - In order to transport health workers to distant outreach stations, transporting

drugs from Kampala and transporting referred patients to the hospital Nkozi and national referral hospitals, the unit uses the very unreliable public transport which is expensive and inefficient.

- A vehicle of our own would go a long way in offsetting the financial and logical inconveniences currently experiencing and thus carry health care in our Sub-district to a higher level.

If granted a chance upon approving our Proposal, we would like to have a four wheel drive vehicle for the case of the rural roads especially in the wet seasons where it’s too slippery and muddy.

Our budget and proforma invoices are waiting upon your reply.

We shall be very grateful upon considering our humble request, may God bless the work of your hands. Yours sincerely, SR. THEOPISTA NAKALEMBE (In-charge St. Yakobo Buza’abalyawo Ggoli Health Centre III)”

Grant :£20,300

SM 4438 Honda Hero motorbike for Bethany Convent, Payangadi, Diocese of Kannur, Kerala, India Sr Sophie Maria, of the Sister of the Little Flower of Bethany, tells us of her work in and around Panyangadi: “There are 228 Christian households and 13 Basic Christian Communities under this parish, and socio-pastoral activities are the main concern of the Sisters here. We have formed the Dalit people into self-help groups, eleven are for women, five for men and seven are for the children. They are spread over nine villages and two substations where there are small chapels, otherwise we meet in people’s houses. At present we have no transport and walk long distances to the interior villages, but three of the four Sisters could ride a motorbike.”

Grant: £750

SM 4439 Bajaj 125cc motorbike for Udayagiri Mission, Diocese of Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, S. India Udayagiri is one of the six mission (ie. newly founded) parishes in Nellore Diocese, and PP Fr Damian Lawrence wrote in to the office in April of 2013 with his request: “We are located in the extreme north of the Diocese, and therefore isolated and forgotten by the government authorities, who do very little for the Scheduled Castes here. We have 400 Catholic families, 57 Catechumen [new to the Faith] families receiving instruction, and about 300 non-Catholic families. Of the six outstations we have in the parish, four are in the midst of hills and forested areas, with no transport available, but there more many more I have never visited, and the parish has 45 villages to cover in all. My hope is that with a parish motorbike, I can do justice to the parish, its people, and to my own ministry to those who have yet to hear the Good News.”

Grant: £800

SM 4440 Honda XL 125cc motorbike for Kibakwe Parish, Diocese of Dodoma, Tanzania Also contacting us in April was Fr Justin Fentu, PP of Kibakwe. He told us: “I am Father Justin Fentu a priest working in the Dodoma Catholic Diocese of Central Tanzania. I was ordained to the holy orders on June 18th, 1993, and am working as a pastor within the Diocese. It is extremely difficult to be effective in my pastoral activities especially in attending Sunday services, going to outstations and for sick calls, the routes which cover up to 40 kilometres. I have 26 outstations, half of which are at 2,200 meters above sea level, making them the highest peaks in Dodoma [Ben Nevis 1.344].In addition, the problem is that the parishioners lack income generating activities therefore the church cannot be easily sustained. I really need a reliable means of transport that can be useful in both dry and rainy seasons and also fit the rough roads in our area. My objectives would be:

o “To preside over Sunday masses at various outstations.

o Attend sick calls at any time even in rough surface roads.

o To conduct pastoral seminars and retreats by moving from the main stations

to outstations, which are very far from the parish centre.

o Visiting Small Christian Communities within the parish.

o To counsel married Christian and divorced couples, the youth, women and

children.

o Religious institutions to pupils and students found in schools within the

parish.

Grant: £2,000 SM 4441 Mahindra Scorpion 4x4 for Infant Jesus Dispensary, Manali New Town, Chennai (formerly Madras), Archdiocese of Madras-Mylapore We received this request, once more reproduced here verbatim, from the Seva (Servant) Sisters, in the summer: “Seva Rural Development Society (SRDS) evolved as missionary and voluntary social service organization in Tamil Nadu, India in 1974.The social development mission was officially established February2007 under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act 1975. The society is run by Seva Missionary Sisters of Mary, Chennai, working mainly for the socio-economic and community health development of women and children of remote villages in North Chennai. The Mission of the SMSM is the eradication of illiteracy, poverty and to promote women and children with improved health care facilities.The sisters of SMSM cover more than 35 villages in the north Chennai as well as villages in Kancheepuram district through their socio economic and health programs. Infant Jesus Dispensary at Manali serves hundreds of rural and poor people who seek medical care and support. The dispensary was one of the oldest ones in the area serving the people both at hospital care and medical camps in remote villages. Every month the two doctors, three nurses along with our staffs and coordinators organize free medical camps for women, children and senior citizens in the villages. Though there are difficulties in reaching our target villages due to lack of transports, broken roads, the sisters have to hire unreliable vehicles to reach these villages.

People do expect the sisters on the date to check their health and avail treatments, and so it is vital be have a reliable conveyance. More than 2,500 people benefit from a health camp organised in two or three neighbouring villages. Therefore, a vehicle is an urgent need for the sisters to take the doctors, medicines and nurses for effective and efficient in organizing community health camps and other developmental programs in rural villages. We seek your support and guidance to our request. Thanking you Sincerely, Sr. Agnes SMSM Director of SRDS

Grant: £7,200

SM 4442 Tata Venture van for Pushpanjali Mission Centre, Sanjay Nagar, Dharangaon, Diocese of Nashik, Mharashtra State, India This highly detailed and yet concise request was received in May, and is reproduced here in full: “Pushpanjali Mission Centre was established in the year 1995, to respond to the needs of the poor people around here. After a brief survey and studying the situation we planned to set up a small Dispensary in order to cater to the health needs of the people and now it is known as Pushpanjali Mission Centre. All these years till date it gave healing response to the people and very many are benefiting out of this small act of ours. Our Centre is situated in the heart of Dharangaon town. It is a Social Centre run by the Sisters of the Cross of Pune Province. It is situated 35 kms away from Jalgaon town. We are working in the villages of Dharangaon taluka in a radius of 62 kms, for the health, social and economical development of the people. Now we selected 20 villages for our mobile clinic. More than a decade since our organization has been an effective agent, in promoting awareness, and rural and Tribal women empowerment program and other developmental needs of the poor and rural people of Dharangaon taluka. Our institution is actively involved with Rural Community economical and Health Promotion and feeling the need to start Mobile Clinic program for the interior village people. In fact we have already started our mobile clinic with the support of two wheeler, but through this we are finding it difficult to manage. We also launched out in to education of poor children, who are week in studies and those who are not able to go for tuition classes, we started remedial classes for them. More than 100 children in batches come to our Centre every day and another 300 children are given education in their own villages.

At present we work for the development of the community through various ministries like Balwadi [nursery or pre-school], remedial classes for the school going children and drop outs, vocational training in cutting and stitching for young women and girls and employment schemes like goat rearing, poultry keeping …etc for the most needy women and specially widows. Seeing the miserable condition of their houses we were impelled to reach out in service to them. A dream was realized when we built a few houses for the most needy and deserving ones through the generosity of some donors. The programme aim:- The Project aims at providing the basic support service for the Health and Economical Development related activities of our Institution in the area of effective transportation facilities. This will help our Health and Social Team working in this rural area to offer qualitative services to the poor and disadvantaged people of our area and in effectively coordinating the various Health and Social Developmental activities in the area. Situation of the people of the Area:- Being poor and marginalized, the poor people of the region remain unaware of their rights and are deprived of their basic human dignity. Since most of the poor are living in the remote areas they lack opportunities for employment and jobs in the Government Offices. Unavailability of proper transportation and communication facilities add to their segregation. Many of the interior and forest region have only stony and rough pathways. Health and medical facilities are poor in these interior villages. Rarely does one see doctors and nurses attending to the patients. Poverty and ill-health weigh heavily upon the people especially the women and children. Weak and malnourished children are seen in many houses. The children who do not have proper clothing and hygiene are exposed to the extreme climate prevailing in the area. Unhygienic surroundings, lack of proper sanitation and toilet facilities, utter ignorance of health care and health values, inaccessibility to hospitals and primary health centers etc, contribute to the health hazards of the target population. The sicknesses, which are found commonly in all our target villages, are: malaria, tuberculosis, diarrhea, viral fever, anaemia, bronchitis, typhoid, and malnourishment. There are also HIV/AIDS patients in most of our target villages. Present activities of the applying organization:

In the fast changing health and social scenario of our country, the Pushpanjali Mission Centre at Dharangaon continues its efforts to make quality health and social empowerment a reality in the remote rural and tribal villages on the out-skirts of Dharangaon. With this goal in mind, currently our institution implements the following programs:

• Providing curative and preventive medical care to the urban slum dwellers and low income groups of Dharangaon township

• Creating health care consciousness in the rural villages through community health trainings.

• Empowerment of rural women through the formation of their Self Help and saving groups.

• Linking the women groups with the available Government schemes meant for the rural and tribal communities.

• Balwadi for the low income group of urban population consist of 60 kids every year.

• Supplementary classes for the poor and weak students from Government running school and also attending to the need of the English language as it is the need of the hour.

Future dreams of the applying organization:

• Provide curative and preventive out-reach medical care programs to the rural and tribal communities of 20 villages every week or fortnight on rotation through mobile clinic service.

• Formation of small farmers club in order to initiate farm bunding, nala bunding and stone bunding [terraced irrigation] in at least in 5 villages.

• Planting horticultural (fruit trees) plant to invite rain as well as to increase their income.

• Formation of both men and women SHG’s (Self Help Groups) at least 20 groups in 10 different villages.

• Enabling the farmers to take up farming by introducing high yielding crops through distribution of good quality seeds.

• Supply of goats, buffaloes to the tribal SHG women to increase their income through the additional livelihood programmes.

• To support the education and nutritive programmes for the tribal, rural, slum dwelling children and to introduce computer literacy to these under privileged children.

• Training on rain water harvesting, goat rearing, Panchayth Raj, leadership, legal aid, horticulture, vermin culture, SHG formation, book keeping…….etc.

• Awareness of tree plantation and not to cut tree to save the ecology and to sustain natural environment.

Our urgent need: (1 jeep/Mini van for mobile clinic and social activities) Now in order to take up some more villages and to do developmental work we count on your generous help through the needed equipment like vehicle. To give our service to the people who are in need specially when they are sick, if we have a 4 wheeler we will be able to go for mobile clinic and will be able to save many more lives of the people. We have 2 trained nurse with us, who is at the service of the people.

The Project proper and its justification: The Pushpanjali Mission Centre at Dharangaon is actively involved in the integrated development of the poorest of the poor people of our area. It coordinates a number of programs and activities for the social, medical and economic development of the weaker sections of our society especially the most marginalized sections of the society. With our different involvement through the different programs, we ensure that all our activities have a bearing of people-orientedness and people’s participation at various levels. Such an approach demands our frequent visits and interactions with all our village target area where the means of transportations is rare. Thus, in order to effectively coordinate the different developmental activities of the social centre, it is necessary that we the Missionaries working in this rural mission undertake extensive travels/tours in connection with the various ongoing programs especially the mobile clinic program. The frequent visits to the target areas of our operation are also necessary for the effective monitoring and timely and qualitative evaluation of our various programs. Hence, to operate effectively in these areas we left with the only option of depending on private transportation facilities such as an own vehicle. As the people of the villages are available only in early morning hour or in the late evenings hours for various village programs, community or group meetings and animation programs, as most of our target communities spend the day hours in their farming activities. Hence, we are unable to get public buses or vehicles as per the time. Financially, we are not in a position to depend on hired private vehicles, as it would mean spending of a lot of money, the sources for which we do not have. Thus, having an own vehicle for the travel needs our staff for our medical and social and other important activities will help immensely in managing our time, energy and resources effectively in order to produce much fruits from all our apostolic activities and endeavors in the best way possible. Our Institution is actively involved with many key areas of development of our different village folks which are predominantly the tribal, dalits and other backward and marginalized sections of the society. Hence, our continued support and guidance are necessary for giving a positive direction to the lives of our people whom we serve, keeping in mind their holistic development, be it social, economic, medical or educational. Goals and objectives of the project: Long Term Goal: To offer quality service to the poor people of the backward and distant tribal and other rural villages where we have our various on-going Health and Social development activities and programs.

Short Term Goal:

To restore human dignity of the oppressed and the marginalized through a process of village development and women empowerment and thus build a healthy society.

Our aim:-

To make the transportation facilities available for our staff working in Mission area of Dharangaon for effectively coordinating the various Health and Social developmental activities that are connected with our Social work Ministries.

Objectives:

• To listen attentively and to understand the cry of the oppressed, the exploited and the marginalized, of those who are poor economically, socially, intellectually or physically and respond concretely to build a human communities.

• Contacting the target groups, building them up through group dynamic or other means to affirm human right and dignity.

• To empower the poor by giving awareness education through formal and non-formal education.

• Building up people’s organizations at the grass-root level, formation of SHGs (Self Help Groups) and identifying and training leaders from the target groups for promoting human development, education, community health and environmental protection.

• To collaborate, net work and liaison with government and non-government organizations towards achieving the goals of the organization.

• Building up a people’s movement.

Conclusion:-

We who work hard in the Missions can make our activities more effective and result-oriented if we are able to get external support from generous people like you who can support us and share your resources with us. Hence I request you for your kind consideration. We request you to kindly consider our need favorably at your earliest convenience. I have full hope that with your financial assistance, we will be able to utilize our energy, time and commitment for the holistic development of the poor and marginalized communities of our backward area. Hoping to receive a favorable reply from you and assuring you of our Prayers and Good Wishes, Yours devotedly in Christ Jesus, Sr.Binu Jose, In-Charge of Social Work, Pushpanjali Mission Centre Maharashtra State, INDIA.

Grant: £6,500

SM 4443 Toyota Hilux for St Luke’s Health Centre, Seniagya, Diocese of Konongo-Mampong, Ashanti Region, Ghana Whereas Mampong is the second city (after Kumasi) of the Ashanti Region, Konongo is the site of the oldest church in the Diocese, “and it seems that for this reason Rome named it Konongo-Mampong when Pope John Paul II created it in 1995,” states Sr Miriam Mbionwu, a Nigerian nursing Sister and Administrator at the Centre. “The indigenous people of Seniagya came up with the idea, and built the structure of the Centre, gifting it to the then Diocese of Kumasi, from where Kanongo-Mampong emerged, and my Order, the Daughters of Mother Mary of Mercy were then invited to take over its running.” The Centre sees between 180 to 220 out-patients daily, depending on the season, which influences the type and frequency of common diseases the Centre Staff treat - there are fourteen nurses and two mid-wives in all – and common ailments include measles, anaemia, upper respiratory tract infections and TB, diarrhoea and worm infestation due to lack of access to clean water, and malaria and HIV+cases. “There is an urgent need for a 4x4 vehicle to get our nurses out and about into the villages to relieve the constant burden on the Centre - and to treat those who cannot reach us - as part of a coordinated District Health Programme. Especially during the rainy season, roads to the surrounding communities are impassable without a strong vehicle, and people are denied care, with some, often pregnant mothers and new-borns, suffering fatalities.”

Grant: £22,000 SM 4444 Yamaha AG200 motorbike for Nyarongo Parish, Kibondo, Diocese of Kigoma, Tanzania The Diocese of Kigoma has a Catholic population of almost half a million, with 47 priests ministering to just 22 parishes. Nyarongo, at a distance of 360 kilometres or 223 miles from the Diocesan offices, is the remotest of them all. From there, Fr John Dabari tells us: “The people here have little contact with the outside world, and are small scale subsistence farmers. I am alone her in the parish except for the few Catechists I have trained, and we struggle to take the Faith to the six outstations that we are responsible for. I have no means of transport and often fail to reach the Christian Communities who are keen to meet me regularly in their village houses. I also make what sick calls I can in nearby places, but there are many calls my presence, including teaching religion in the primary and secondary school. It is my great hope that with the provision of a motorbike, Sunday services and other pastoral activities will be improved.”

Grant: £3,800

SM 4445-4494 50 bicycles for the Catechists of St Pancras Parish, Toroma, Diocese of Soroti, Uganda For details of Soroti Diocese, see SM4329 (above) – and for the background to this request, we have this from PP Fr Paul Ebwolu: “I have served the people of Toroma as Parish Priest since June 2011 and I have met many challenges here. One of the glaring ones was a decline in the faith, and in order to revive the Faith, I found it necessary to relocate the catechists from their outstations to new ones. While doing that I also created a challenge for them because it became clear that many lacked bicycles and the few who had bicycles, the bicycles were in very poor mechanical condition hence the need being expressed here. The re-locations because of the security situation have helped the faith pick up again. A little background information about St. Pancras Parish Toroma. It covers the sub-counties of Kapujan, Toroma, Omodoi and part of Katakwi. It borders Karamoja sub-region and therefore it is an area that is just starting to settle from cattle rustling. Currently the outstations are 25 (three just opened this year), and each outstation has 2 catechists. We opted to have 2 catechists per outstation considering the distances they have to travel every week, but also because we are training the younger ones to take over from the new outstations being created. Our main objective is the proper care of our parishioners in the outstations. Toroma is a large parish and without catechists on the ground, then it would be difficult to meet all the needs of our parishioners.

1. We have 15 primary schools in different locations and sub-counties that the

catechists help us with. Every Wednesday, they have to conduct service for

the pupils.

2. They have also to carry out catechesis every weekend.

3. They have to conduct Sunday services.

4. They have to instruct different categories of Christians in preparation for

the reception of different sacraments.

5. They have to conduct Christian burials.

6. They have to coordinate with the priests and accompany us for anointing of

the sick.

Your intervention will ease their movements and help us in building up the human persons of Toroma.”

Grant: £3,700 (£74 each, includes transport and assembly)

SM 4495 Tempo Trax Gama 4x4 for St Anne’s Health Centre Sholavandrum, Archdiocese of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, S, India Originally founded in 1857, The Sisters of St Anne of Bangalore are an indigenous Indian Congregation of some 650 Sisters working in nineteen dioceses in India. They run St Anne’s, and have a catchment area that covers twenty villages. Sr Rosali is the administrator and tells us: “The people are illiterate and uneducated, and the women are not given much importance in society. Our proposal for a vehicle would help us reach more places than currently on foot, and in time to save some lives. There is a population of around 70,000 in the villages, daily wage earners or famers who end up in debt to moneylenders when the monsoon fails and their crops are lost. Our aims are: - To provide treatment to all the people at a nominal cost or none - To launch a programme for all pregnant mothers and children under the age of five to give them regular health checks - To strengthen in them their Catholic Faith - To ensure that for now on, the focus is primarily preventive not curative. With the introduction of mobile health clinics, at last 150 people a day will receive treatment that do get at present, as we cannot walk to them with our equipment. I am confident that you will come forward to help us reach the unreached, the poor and the needy.”

Grant: £8,600 SM 4496 Honda CB100 motorbike for St Ignatius Catholic Mission, Wardhannapet, Diocese of Warangal, Andhra Pradesh, S. India “I would like to tell you a few details of myself as a priest. I am Fr.G.Rayappa Reddy, a diocesan priest working in the mission parish of Wardhannapet of Warangal diocese. I was ordained as diocesan priest on April 4th 1995. Immediately I was asked to go to Khammam diocese as a missionary. I worked there for three years. At present I am the parish priest of Wardhannapet. This parish was erected on April 30th, 2010 and I was appointed as its first parish priest, in charge also of six sub-stations.

Now it has still five mission stations and two Catechumen villages ready for evangelizing. The Sisters of the parish and myself are trying our level best to increase the faith in this mission area. Currently there are 350 catholic families in this parish, all landless labourers earning from hand to mouth. They are socially, economically, educationally and culturally disadvantaged and referred to as ‘backward classes’. All these people are belonging to Scheduled castes and tribes suppressed and oppressed classes of society. Each substation is about 10 to 35 kms away from the main station of Wardhannapet and some are so interior that they have no proper transportation facilities. It is my duty to take care of the faithful and meet their pastoral and spiritual needs. Sometimes I go by bicycle, hired vehicle and walk to these villages to fulfil the spiritual needs of the people. Due to these travelling inconveniences I return to the parish house late at night. As most of our people are illiterate and do not know much about Christ, they are very much in need of regular instructions to deepen and strengthen their faith. Hence I am trying my best and putting all my efforts to reach them as regular as possible. But the main hurdle I face in dispensing my duties regularly and meeting their spiritual needs is fatigue. Hence to solve this problem, a two wheeler motor bike will be of great help to my mission work. Here, we are praying for you, all the benefactors and well wishers in our daily prayers.”

Grant:£800 SM 4497 Tempo Trax Gama 4x4 for St Anne’s Health Centre, Ilayangudi, Diocese of Sivagangai, Tamil Nadu, S. India An off-shoot of the Archdiocese of Madurai, Sivavangai can be found 28 miles to the east, in the southeast corner of the Bay of Bengal. Founded in 1987, the Diocese has 62 parish centers, 734 mission stations some 107 diocesan clergy, 19 priests form non-diocesan Orders, and over 350 religious, men and women, serving at various religious and educational institutions, St Anne’s being one of them. Says Sr Thereseline Karuka, Superior at the Centre, “There are between 60 to 75 thousand Catholics here, scattered over eighteen villages, and our mission is to visit all the houses in the substations, as there are no proper health services or hospital and the old and children are the ones who suffer most. The roads and paths to them are forested, and beyond reach by walking, There is no electric here, and after dark it is black, so our team of three to four Sisters need an alternative to take basic health care and hygiene awareness to all of them regularly.”

Grant:£ 8,600

SM 4498 Honda XL 125cc motorbike for Holy Family Parish, Sumbawanga, Tanzania “I am Fr. Charles Kasuku a catholic priest from Kaengesa Parish belonging and working at the Holy Family parish in Sumbawanga Diocese in Tanzania as an assistant priest. I was ordained a priest on 19th July, 2007. Sumbawanga Diocese is located in the Southern Western Tanzania along Lake Tanganyika and to the East it is bordered by Lake Rukwa. To the south it is bordered by Zambia and north it is bordered by the new Region of Katavi. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AND JUSTIFICATION

1. Type of a vehicle

I am applying to your organisation for financial support to buy a motorcycle to help me in my pastoral activities in the Holy Family Parish. I need such a type of a vehicle because of the nature of the environment which our Parish faces. We have very poor roads to meet the outstations especially during the rainy season. I really need a reliable means of transport that can be useful in both dry and rainy seasons and which is also fit for our rough roads in our area. A Honda XL 125 is ideal to the type of roads we have.

2. Difficulties We are facing

Our Parish has 17 (seventeen) outstations and 117 (one hundred and seventeen) Small Christian Communities. The lack of transport hinders us to serve our people well.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The Motorcycle will help me to fulfil my responsibilities in the parish. Those responsibilities include;

i. Presiding over holy masses in the parish and in the outstations,

ii. Attending sick calls

iii. Bringing Holly Communion to the elderly to their homes,

iv. Teaching catechesis in primary and secondary schools,

v. Conducting pastoral seminars and retreats to the youth and

vi. Visiting Small Christian Communities.

BENEFICIARIES

All the people of God in need of pastoral services throughout the Holy Family parish.

CONCLUSION

I will send my application attached with my Bishop’s recommendation letter. I also promise to follow all the directives and guidelines which you will give me. With my personal enthusiasm, there is every sign that the availability of the motorcycle will increase the quality of my pastoral activities. Thanking you in advance, I remain,

Yours in Christ Fr. Charles Kasuku”

Grant: £3,000

SM 4499 Hero Honda motorcycle for St Andrew’s Parish, Bharathnagar, Siddipet, Archdiocese of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, S.India Siddipet is a small town, and St Andrew’s parish has nine mission substations attached to it, with no public transport facilities to reach them as what roads there are are unable to cope with buses or lorries, just bullock carts. “It takes me ten to fifteen days to make my parish visits,” says Fr Arogyam Mettu, who has been working in rural parishes for twenty years, “and I am sad to say that there are many circumstances where the sick people died before receiving the last Sacrament because I am unable to reach them on time.” There are signs of progress, however: “The literacy rate among our youngsters is 64%, and parents do make an effort to educate their children. The Social Service Society of the Archdiocese gives priority to Catholic children and also some financial assistance to poor families to meet part of the expense. The women have organised small savings groups and are educating people of the dangers of moneylenders and debt.” Fr aims to celebrate Mass at least once a week in all the village substations once he becomes independent of walking and/or hitching occasional lifts on passing bullock carts, and with a guaranteed regular presence, he can implement the Archdiocesan plan to form small Christian Communities and “proclaim the Good News like the first Christian communities, reconciling people with God and their neighbours as narrated in the Acts of the Apostles, and thus usher in the kingdom of love, faith, justice, and sharing.”

Grant: £950

SURVIVE-MIVA

5 Park Vale Road

Aintree

Liverpool

L9 2DG

Tel: 0151 523 3878 Fax: 0151 523 3841

E-mail: info@survive-miva.org

www.survive-miva.org

Registered Charity No. 268745