Hands that console and give hope amidst Covid-19 Pandemic

 

The FMA of Myanmar, give shelter to help families in difficulty due to Covid-19.

 

Hlaing Thar Yar (Myanmar). The Daughters of Mary Help of Christians of St. John Bosco Community of Hlaing Thar Yar, in Myanmar, of Mary Our Help (CMY) Province, had taken the risk to stretch out their hands in order to show closeness, solidarity and love to the most suffering ones, by taking an initiative to give shelter to help some poor families by building small, but safe and secure huts in one of the slum area called, Padan which is close to the community of the sisters.

 

During this Covid-19 Pandemic, the words of Pope Francis “Use what God has given you and look at the poor. Look: there are so many of them; even in our cities, in the center of our city, there are many. Do good!” challenged the FMA who live in the heart of Hlaing Thar Yar slum area, to go out and seek much more poor ones in the area where they are serving. As the sisters started to provide food items to the poor families in August and till now, they found out more and more poor families who are living in the waters damp and their huts are full of holes, some are already collapsing and full of trash around. During the raining season, they don’t even have the place to sleep and to cook due to heavy rain that comes into their huts from the roof which is full of holes.

 

When the Sisters saw this, they feel the strong call of the Lord in their hearts to give safe shelters to them. With the help of generous donors, the Sisters have the chance to be a voice of the poor. The Sisters pay visit to them, talk to them and try to know their conditions and ask their consent to repair their houses. With the help of some fathers of our Don Bosco Kindergarten children we were able to realize the dream to give shelter to them. The small huts (8ft x 14ft) are built with bamboo, zinc sheet roof and the floor is with ply wood.  All the families are very grateful to the donors and to God for the safe shelter for their small children.

 

When each hut is finished, the sisters go to meet with the family and gifted a Bible to each family wishing them that God, with His love and peace, will be present in their new house, in their family and in their hearts. They joyfully and with reverence, accept the Bible as a presence of God in their home. They promise that they will value it and some also ask our permission to read it though they are all Buddhists.

 

The Sisters also feel great joy because of the positive response of the families. Many families exclaimed with joyful thanks saying “now we, with our children, can sleep peacefully even if the strong rain will come because of the shelter that is being provided to us by you dear sisters. We are very grateful to your God who sent you to us. Your God is so good and we feel it through your goodness, concern, kindness and love for us and for our children.” With the generosity of the benefactors and the Sisters well able to support around fourteen families for safe shelters.