Healing the Nations

This week I was discharged from the hospital, after over a year of medical treatment (including follow-up appointments to check on my progress). I required the assistance of the National Health Service because, in January 2017, in a fall from a stage, I sustained a very nasty fracture and dislocation of my left wrist.

On the evening of the accident I was taken by car to A&E (Accident & Emergency) at a hospital only about 3 miles away. Once the dislocation had been sorted, and a plaster cast fitted, I later required an operation to fit a titanium plate. Then, in September 2017, I had a second operation to remove the plate as it was in danger of rupturing a tendon. During my recovery, which involved regular visits to a physiotherapy clinic, I have had time to ponder what my fate might have been if I had been living in an isolated location with no medical facility nearby, and no access to transport to take me to the nearest hospital or health centre.

In February 2017, a few weeks after my accident, SURVIVE-MIVA approved a transport grant for St. Joseph’s Health Centre, Agarakottalam, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, India, which is run by the Franciscan Sisters of St. Aloysius Gonzaga (FSAG). The Health Centre was accessible to those people living in 5 villages situated close to Agarakottalam, but the Sisters wanted a vehicle so that they could take their healing ministry to a further 12 remote villages.

Now, with the vehicle purchased and on the road, a team of one doctor, one nurse, and several Sisters and volunteers, provide regular health camps and awareness programmes to the people living in these remote villages. When necessary, the vehicle is also used to transfer patients to larger health facilities.

The Franciscan Sisters of St. Aloysius Gonzaga were extremely grateful for the grant and wrote to SURVIVE-MIVA expressing their deep gratitude. In return, I wish to thank the FSAG Sisters and all the dedicated healthcare professionals worldwide for the great work they are engaged in – the healing of the nations!

'And the power of the Lord was there so that He should heal' Luke 5:17

Theresa Codd
Assistant Director (Development)

Together We Can Do Great Things

On  4^th September 2016, there were great celebrations around the world as Blessed Teresa of Calcutta was canonised. As part of the celebrations, I am delighted to be able to share the story of St. Teresa of Calcutta’s connection with the Association. Incidentally, SURVIVE-MIVA’s Patron Saint is St. Thérèse of Lisieux and, when Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu (now St. Teresa of Calcutta) took her first vows as a religious, in 1929, she took the name Sr. Mary Teresa, apparently choosing Teresa because St. Thérèse of Lisieux was one of her favourite saints.

SURVIVE-MIVA’s archives hold correspondence between the then Mother Teresa and staff at SURVIVE-MIVA: a copy of St. Teresa of Calcutta’s signature is shown in the picture opposite. It was agreed that SURVIVE-MIVA would supply (thanks to the fundraising efforts of the Catholic Parish of Sawston, Cambridge) a nine-seater minibus for the work of the Missionaries of Charity in Cairo.

On the vehicle application form that was completed by the Sister Superior in Cairo, the work the Sisters were engaged in was described as follows:

‘Our main work is with the Dustbin Dwellers in Muqattam. The sisters go daily to this area where there are about 8,000 people living from collecting and selling the rubbish from the city. We teach the children hygiene, reading, writing and sewing. We have a weekly dispensary in a little room…When someone is very sick we take them to hospital. The sisters go to two other poor areas to give medicine to the poor.’

In the summer of 1982, when the vehicle was almost ready for transport to Cairo (in those days vehicles were sent by land and sea whereas nowadays, of course, we provide grants for in-country purchase), it so happened that Mother Teresa was visiting her sisters based in Seel Street, Liverpool quite close to the SURVIVE-MIVA office (then in the Liverpool University Chaplaincy Building, Mount Pleasant, Liverpool 3). Of course this presented a great photo opportunity and the press and scores of people turned up to catch a glimpse of Mother Teresa receiving the keys to the vehicle; she was, even then, acknowledged by many as a saintly woman.

Perhaps you were there when Mother Teresa visited Liverpool? Maybe you were a parishioner of Our of Lourdes Parish, Sawston and were involved in the fundraising?  If so, then please share your memories with us on Twitter (@SURVIVE_MIVA) or Facebook (@SurviveMIVA).

“I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot;
together we can do great things.”
St. Teresa of Calcutta.

Theresa Codd
Assistant Director (Development), SURVIVE-MIVA

Gifts of Time and Money

In the UK, the 1^st – 12^th June is designated ‘Volunteers’ Week’ (www.volunteersweek.org/- 12 days maybe seems like only a week when you are having fun volunteering!) and, like so many organisations, SURVIVE-MIVA could not function as effectively as it does without the support of volunteers. Thank you one and all!

The main volunteer role at SURVIVE-MIVA (although occasionally we have office volunteers doing administrative tasks) is that of ‘Speaker’. We have about 50 people (dotted across England, Wales and Scotland) in this role, which involves making appeals at Sunday Masses in Catholic Parishes. We know, from the feedback we receive, that our volunteers gain a lot of satisfaction and enjoyment from making appeals and visiting different parishes, but we also know that they put up with many inconveniences (including early starts on a Sunday morning!) as they inspire others to engage with our work and raise funds for the charity.

In 2015 there were around 250 parish appeals for SURVIVE-MIVA and our Speakers must, therefore, have addressed several thousand people in the year. As a result of their work many people: signed up to receive our twice-yearly magazine, Awareness; prayed for SURVIVE-MIVA’s work and that of our overseas’ beneficiaries; and made a donation to support the Association.  The income we received in 2015 from Parish appeals was just over £115,500, which is approximately 19% of total income for that year.

An additional source of income from parish appeals comes from the Gift Aid scheme. Our Speakers encourage any UK tax payers in the congregation to Gift Aid their donations and this really does make a difference to the Association’s income each year. During ‘Volunteers’ Week’ we submitted a Gift Aid claim to the Inland Revenue (amounting to over £18,000 for donations received over 6 months) and this  prompted me to look again at the draft version of SURVIVE-MIVA’s  Trustees’ Report & Accounts for 2015 (draft because it has yet to be approved by members and, hopefully, they will do this at SURVIVE-MIVA’s Annual General Meeting on 23^rd June) to remind myself of the Gift Aid income we will receive for donations made during 2015: the Gift Aid scheme yielded £40,531 for SURVIVE-MIVA in 2015, which is 7% of total income in 2015.

The total funds transferred overseas in 2015 amounted to some £286,731, which means that we could say that 40% of the vehicles funded by SURVIVE-MIVA in 2015 were paid for by appeals' income and 14% of the vehicles were paid for by Gift Aid income! 

You can learn more about:

a) being a SURVIVE-MIVA Speaker here: www.survive-miva.org/Involved.htm

b) Gift Aid here: www.survive-miva.org/downloads/DonationFormWeb2016.pdf

As 'Volunteers' Week' in the UK ended, 'Laudato Si Week' began (an international event running from 12 - 19 June 2016). 'Laudato Si Week' has been set up to mark the first anniversary of the release (on 18th June 2015) of Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si': On Care for our Common Home. In this encyclical the Pope calls on us to take action and, if you would like any ideas on how you can get involved, you can find out more at: www.catholicclimatemovement.global/act/.

One of the actions on the Catholic Climate Movement website is signing a petition to be sent to local, national and international leaders, calling on them to honour commitments made at the Climate Summit in Paris in December 2015 (representatives of the governments of more than 190 countries attended). The text of the petition is:

Climate change affects everyone, but especially the poor and most vulnerable people among us. Inspired by Pope Francis and the Laudato Si' encyclical, we call on you to drastically cut carbon emissions to keep the global temperature rise below the dangerous 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold, and to aid the world's poorest in coping with climate change impacts.

I’ve just signed the petition and invite you to do the same – surely a good use of our time?

Theresa Codd
Assistant Director (Development), SURVIVE-MIVA

Life in all its Fullness

I recently spent a weekend at Wistaston Hall, Crewe (www.orc-crewe.org/wistaston-hall/) at the Oblate Summer School.  The theme of the weekend was ‘Standing on their Shoulders’ and the sessions were led by Edwina Gateley, a fascinating woman who hails from Lancaster. Edwina founded the Volunteer Missionary Movement (VMM) and she now lives in the USA where she reaches out to women in drugs and prostitution – see her website: www.edwinagateley.com. Over the weekend Edwina shared stories of a number of extraordinary women, whose lives have made, and continue to make, a lasting impact on our world – environmentalists, martyrs, reformers, mystics and writers.

One of the women whose story Edwina shared was Brenda Myers-Powell.  Brenda suffered sexual abuse in her childhood and went on to become a prostitute for 25 years until, one day, seriously injured after being thrown out of a car and dragged along the ground, she asked God to help her - she ended up in a ‘safe house’ run by Edwina. Brenda experienced compassion and healing and, in 2008, this strong woman together with another, Stephanie Daniels-Wilson, founded the Dreamcatcher Foundation (http://thedreamcatcherfoundation.org/), which fights to end human trafficking in Chicago. Brenda’s moving account of her life can be read here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-33113238.

Women's Crisis Drop-in Centre with the
SURVIVE-MIVA funded van outside.

Hearing and reading about Brenda’s life and Edwina’s role in it brought to mind the work of the Good Shepherd Sisters in Cagayan de Oro, the Philippines (featured in issue 57 of SURVIVE-MIVA’s magazine, Awareness: http://www.survive-miva.org/downloads/Awareness57.pdf). The Sisters run a Women’s Crisis Centre, which provides shelter for women and children at risk from human-trafficking gangs. I reproduce here, once again, the words of Sr. Leah Ann Espina, Director of the Centre: “Being the most industrial city in the region, the urban sprawl and poverty is enormous, and the lack of available jobs means that combined with limited education, many young women and children are forced into prostitution and begging, becoming victims of illegal ‘recruiters’ who promise a better future for them. In reality, they end up trafficked to other parts of the country or even to neighbouring countries on falsified documents, and our interviews with them reveal that ninety percent of them have been abused in some form in their home villages and family environments before they came to the big city – they mistakenly see it as a form of escape.”

A SURVIVE-MIVA grant of £10,800 enabled the Sisters to purchase a van to tour the slum areas i

The Sisters with the SURVIVE-MIVA funded van
on the day of its delivery.

n order 

to educate women on their dignity, rights and responsibilities, and also to take the women & children staying at the Women’s Crisis Centre for medical check-ups, court hearings, activities outside the Centre and for home visitations.

The Good Shepherd Sisters face many difficulties (even death threats from organised criminals) but they are determined to support the women and children who are in danger. As Sr. Leah Ann told SURVIVE-MIVA, the Women’s Crisis Centre is there to:

‘Seek ways and means for girls and women to be liberated from all forms of exploitation, abuse and discrimination and to take opportunities to enjoy
 fullness of life.’

As Brenda Myers-Powell affirms:-

"So I am here to tell you - there is life after so much damage, there is life after so much trauma. There is life after people have told you that you are nothing, that you are worthless and that you will never amount to anything. There is life - and I'm not just talking about a little bit of life. There is a lot of life."

As Jesus promises (John 10: 10-11):-

'The thief comes only to steal and destroy.
I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.'

Volunteer Women Advocates pose with the new van from SURVIVE-MIVA
after a monthly meeting at the Drop-in Centre.

Theresa Codd
Assistant Director (Development), SURVIVE-MIVA

Roving Saints and Sisters

On 15^th October 2014, the Church began a year long celebration to mark the 5^th centenary of the birth of St. Teresa of Avila (28^th March 1515). St. Teresa was a woman of wisdom, a mystic and contemplative who taught others how to pray (she said “prayer is an act of love, words are not needed”) - prayer was at the heart of her life. However, St. Teresa was also an active woman, a tireless traveller (she has been named ‘the roving nun’) who founded many convents and then regularly visited them.

St. Teresa travelled around Spain & Portugal in a curtained “carriage” (an unsprung cart) drawn by mules. The roads, such as they were, would have been rough, stony and often steep and she had to negotiate mountains, arid plateaus and rivers. She and her companions were once nearly drowned when they were being ferried across a river in a boat. The boat they were in (with their “carriages”) had no oars and it broke loose from the ferry-rope and drifted down stream. "We began to pray and the boatmen to shout" wrote St. Teresa about the event. They were saved when the boat got stuck on a sand-bank.

There is also a story (possibly apocryphal, but it expresses St. Teresa’s intimate relationship with God) that St. Teresa’s carriage was once overturned and she was thrown out onto a muddy road causing her to protest “Lord, if this is how you treat your friends, no wonder you don’t have many!”

As the supporters of SURVIVE-MIVA are only too aware, there are many parts of the world today where people have to negotiate terrain equally as demanding as St. Teresa traversed. The following information received in July 2013 from Sr. Binu Jose, a member of the Sisters of the Cross of Chavanod, illustrates this very well. Sr. Binu is based at Pushpanjali Mission Centre, Maharashtra State, India where the Sisters run health and social development activities with people in the area who are poor and marginalised. The people the Sisters support live in remote villages with the nearest primary Health Centre being 8-30 km away. Anyone needing the services of the Health Centre has to travel on foot or in bullock carts because there are no other transport facilities. In  Sr. Binu’s own words: ‘most of the poor are living in the remote areas … Due to famine and other related factors, there are many malnutrition deaths … almost all live in one-room hutments [sic] made of mud, sticks and leaves. …Unavailability of proper transportation & communication facilities add to their segregation, many of the interior and forest regions have only stony & rough pathways. Educationally, about 60% of the population is illiterate, which makes them suffer the various forms of oppression and injustices in a silent manner, because of poverty children have to work to support their families. Health & medical facilities are poor in these interior villages. Rarely does one see doctors & nurses attending to the patients. There are also HIV/AIDS patients in most of our target villages.’

The Sisters of the Cross have a small dispensary to cater for the health needs of people living in villages in a radius of 30km and, when they approached SURVIVE-MIVA for a transport grant, they had just 3 motorcycles available to carry out their work. The Sisters requested a grant to enable them to purchase a van to use as a mobile clinic, as they aimed to visit 24 villages fortnightly to provide medical care and health education and set-up self-help groups.  Sr. Binu stated that the van they had chosen ‘is suitable for our rough roads …gives the average of 25km per one litre of diesel. Its maintenance cost is minimal too. …the back door can be opened upwards & can give shade & protection in emergency situations’.

A grant of £6,500 enabled the Sisters to buy the van (pictured) and about a month after their purchase Sr. Binu wrote to us again with an update: ‘We are really very grateful to you and happy that there is so much difference in our work from the time the van has entered our Centre. We are able to save a lot of time and we are able to do the work much faster. It is a blessing for us and the people we serve. Already we were able to save 2 lives (mother and child) at the time of pregnancy, since the van was helpful to reach the nearest hospital, which was not possible earlier. Going to these interior villages late at night was only a dream for us, till the van came, but now we can be at the service of the people day and night. It is a real blessing that we received from God, through you and your team. Just yesterday we held a medical camp in one of the interior villages, since we could take the doctors with our van, very many of them benefitted from this small act of ours … Once again wishing you and your team God’s abundant graces and blessings always and every day.’

‘The feeling remains that God is on the journey too’ St. Teresa of Avila.

The Flying Priest, St Christopher and Other Traveller’s Tales

At the end of July I attended an international MIVA meeting in Stadl Paura, Austria hosted by MIVA Austria. Attending the meeting, besides myself, were representatives from all the European MIVAs: Netherlands, Switzerland, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia and Croatia.

It was a German Priest, Fr. Paul Schulte O.M.I. (Oblates of Mary Immaculate) who founded ‘Missionalium Vehiculorum Associatio’ in 1927 following the death of his childhood friend, Father Otto Fuhrmann, in Africa. Fr. Fuhrmann had pneumonia, complicated by malaria, and it had taken him five days to reach a hospital, where he died. Fr. Schulte was known as the ‘Flying Priest’ because he was a pilot who brought medical aid and supplies to remote Oblate missions, particularly north of the Arctic Circle.

The various branches of MIVA were spawned from Fr. Schulte’s initiative, except, that is, SURVIVE-MIVA. We were founded quite independently, possibly with our founders being unaware that any other organisations linked to the Church were funding transport. Our original name was ‘SURVIVE International Mobile Medical Aid’ and it was not until 1980, when we were invited to join MIVA, that we became known as SURVIVE-MIVA.

MIVA Austria has one main fundraiser each year, on the Sunday nearest to St. Christopher’s (the Patron Saint of travellers) Feast Day, 25^th July. We celebrated ‘Christophorus Sunday’ at MIVA Austria whilst I was there (Sunday 27^th July) and children brought their bicycles and other modes of transport to be blessed (see photograph opposite). SURVIVE-MIVA differs from the other MIVAs in that our Patron Saint is not St. Christopher but St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, who is Patron of the Missions.

Of course each MIVA has grown and developed in different ways depending on factors such as national culture, local church structure, historical links with countries overseas etc. It was interesting to compare and contrast, discuss and reflect on our ways of working.  Some MIVAs supply means of communication (radio masts, internet connections, computers) as well as a means of transport but we all have the same mission – to improve the lives of vulnerable people living in remote communities by giving them ACCESS to healthcare and other forms of support.

Theresa Codd

Each Part Does Its Work

Last weekend one of our relatively new volunteer speakers, Joan, was making an appeal for SURVIVE-MIVA in my own Parish. I couldn’t do the appeal myself because I had other commitments for one of the two Sunday Masses, and anyway, the parishioners have heard me speak before, and many knew me as a child and, as the saying goes, ‘familiarity breeds contempt’! So, I decided it would be better not to attend the second Sunday Mass that I was free for but go to one of the neighbouring parishes. Checking the Mass times in the Diocesan Directory I was reminded of how blessed I was with the choice of Mass times as there were several churches that were in very easy travelling distance for me (a car owner!).

I thought again of places I had visited where people are not so fortunate. I remember some years ago, before I worked for SURVIVE-MIVA, I stayed in a village in a mountainous area of the Philippines where the priest was able to visit only once a year. On his annual stop-over he would celebrate Mass, baptise all the babies born in the past year, marry engaged couples etc.

Also, when I lived in Zimbabwe, working as a science teacher in a rural school, I would walk about 4 miles once a month on a Saturday to attend Mass in an outstation (a small hut) – often to find that the priest did not turn up! No doubt the contact person at the outstation had been informed that the monthly Mass was not possible that weekend but I wasn’t in the ‘communication loop’ so would make the journey blissfully unaware.

Recently a report was received at SURVIVE-MIVA from Fr. David Okullu, with accompanying photographs, highlighting the improvements in pastoral care that have been achieved in Palabek Parish, Archdiocese of Gulu, Uganda thanks to the availability of suitable transport - a motorcycle funded by SURVIVE-MIVA (for £3,750). Before the motorcycle was purchased the priests travelled around the Parish on bicycles, which, was extremely tiring and not very time-efficient.

The two priests based in Palabek Parish, Fr. David and Fr. Joseph, are responsible for the pastoral care of people living in 30 villages/outstations. Many of the people in the area are deeply traumatised following the 22 year war in northern Uganda between government forces and the Lord’s Resistance Army. The priests therefore offer the people counselling and spiritual direction, as well as administering the Sacraments. On top of this, Fr. David acts as Chaplain to the youth in the Parish (including pupils in 5 schools) and to staff at a Health Centre. In recent times there has also been an influx of refugees from South Sudan due to the conflict there, so the mobility the motorcycle has provided is also enabling the priests to reach out to these suffering people.

With the motorcycle in action Fr. David reported that the frequency of pastoral visits to the people, including the youth groups, has increased and ‘we can now see and feel our parish is alive through the various pastoral activities with the easy coordination of the programs.’ 

It is uplifting here in the SURVIVE-MIVA office to see the generosity of our volunteers and supporters (such as Joan, our volunteer speaker, and the parishioners in my own parish) transformed into a means of transport for parishes such as Palabek Parish.

‘From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.’  Ephesians 4:16

Theresa

Assistant Director (Development), SURVIVE-MIVA