Construct a Convent in India
Thursday, February 18, 2010

Project Code: 317-05-19

In the northeast mountains of the state of Mizoram, India, live the Mizo people. They are divided into numerous sub-tribes, each of which has its own language. Much of the region in which they live is almost completely undeveloped. In most rural areas there is no health care to speak of, virtually no educational system, and little in the way of proper roads, transport or communications. For many years, the region was entirely closed to foreigners and it was not until 1947 that the first Catholic missionaries came here. Even today there are still restrictions on access, and foreigners who wish to enter the region have to obtain a permit from the state authorities. There is widespread poverty, and most people strive to make ends meet with largely traditional farming methods. The slash-and-burn method of agriculture is still widely practiced, destroying nature and hence ultimately threatening the future of the people themselves.

The great majority of the Mizo today are Christians, though Catholics make up only a small minority. Nevertheless, the Catholic Sisters of the Order of Saint Charles Borromeo are working here with great commitment, serving the needs of the population. In Maubawk, a remote village of almost 8,000 in the middle of a dense bamboo forest, they have rented a small house. Here they not only live themselves but also run a small medical aid station where they treat the sick from the village itself and the surrounding villages. Infectious diseases are especially widespread in the area, and many people fall ill with malaria, cholera, typhus, hepatitis, and pneumonia, diseases that are frequently fatal.

Children are especially vulnerable. In the month of August alone, more than 200 infants and young children fell ill with bronchitis and pneumonia. Many of them were able to be healed, because they were treated in good time by the Sisters, but many others died an agonizing death because their parents lived in villages that were too far away, so that help arrived too late. The villages in the surrounding area are not only widely scattered but also sometimes almost impossible to reach. The rainy season lasts between six and eight months, and often during this season there are landslides, which cut off access routes completely.

The Sisters are concerned not only for the medical needs of the people but for all their physical and spiritual needs. They take all the pastoral responsibility on their shoulders and teach the people the Faith, and at the same time they also teach the fundamental, practical things of everyday life. They provide a basic education to the children and young people, teaching the Good News of the Gospel in just the same way as they provide practical development aid. They are also especially concerned to teach the young mothers how to keep their babies healthy, so that not so many small children will have to die.

The house where the Sisters live is far too small by now, since every day more and more patients come to them, as do other people seeking advice and help, and there is simply no space to accommodate them. Yet many have walked long miles to reach them. If only the Sisters had more space, then they could care much more effectively for their patients, and also provide better pastoral care. The small rooms they currently use are better than nothing, but in truth they are not suitable for the work the Sisters do. Thankfully, the number of Sisters is growing steadily and although every new Sister is urgently needed, there will soon be no space left to accommodate any new vocations.

Sister Rosaline, the superior, has turned to ACN for help to build a small convent. We have no intention of disappointing these wonderful Sisters, who are serving so faithfully in the midst of the bamboo jungle in Mizoram, and so we have therefore promised them $9,900 in aid. Will you also help these Sisters in India? We are sure they will gratefully remember you in their prayers.

Progress: 0% Raised: $ 0     Goal: $ 9900

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