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SURVIVE-MIVA

(Missionary Vehicle Association)

Registered Charity No. 268745

Over 35 years’ experience funding essential transport

in the developing world.

Vehicle Grants

2009

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THE YEAR 2009 AT A GLANCE

During 2009, a total of forty-eight different modes of transport were provided

thanks to donations received in the course of the year.

This total was comprised of the following mix:

~ 18 Ambulance/community health outreach vehicles ~ 26 motorbikes

~1 boat/outboard motor ~ 3 autorickshaws

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Distribution by country:

A total of 47 grants were made to Diocesan accounts overseas, for in-country

purchase of the above vehicles in a total of ten countries :

Health/outreach vehicles : 9 to India, 4 to Peru, 1 to Uganda, 1 to Nigeria, 1 to

Cameroon, 1 to Burundi, 1 to Malawi.

Motorbike/moped/scooter grants : 19 to India, 3 to Uganda, 2 to Ghana, 1 to

Brazil, 1 to Peru

Autorickshaws ; 3 to India

Boat/outboard motor : 1 – contact the office for details.

Total funds transferred amounted to some £324,200, 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.

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VEHICLES FUNDED DURING 2009

SM 3388 Honda XR motorbike for Immaculate Conception

Parish, Piauí, Diocese of Sao Raimundo Nonato, Brazil Located in the semi-arid region of north eastern Brazil, Immaculate Conception is a parish of small family plots of land, with most of the locals engaged in subsistence agriculture and the rearing of small farm animals. P.P. Fr Francisco Barroso says that because of prolonged periods of drought, many have given up the traditional lifestyle and moved to the major population centres, though 70% live with no access to electricity, have an irregular and poor quality water supply, and no medical assistance. In the Diocese as a whole, 180,000 people are spread over 40,000 square kilometres. A 250cc dirtbike at the disposal of the parish means that pastoral care, sick visits, and the administering of the Sacraments are all now more frequently celebrated, and Fr Barroso can plan his work with greater detail, given that his presence in the most isolated communities is assured.

(Grant: £3,875) SM 3389 Toyota Hilux for St Stephen the Protomartyr parish,

Yaurisque, Archdiocese of Cusco, Peru Nineteen Andean settlements make up the main parish of St Stephen, the first martyr of the Church, at altitudes ranging from 2,300 to 3,859 metres above sea level (7,545 – 12,660 feet). Almost all Fr Jeronimo Ttito’s parishioners are rural landworkers, as at such heights there is little infrastructure, and no industry. When roads are blocked or fall away, it is up to the local communities to try to arrange a way of rejoining their villages, which often involves those affected picking up a shovel and clearing their own way. A strong four-by-four means that Fr Ttito can reach parishioners to ensure that the presence of the Church is maintained in an area subject to the influence of foreign-based evangelical sects.

(Grant: £14,400)

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SM 3390 & 3391 Two Yamaha 100cc motorbikes for the catechists of St Thomas Church, Gwollu, Diocese of Wa, Upper West Region, Ghana

Wa Diocese consists of just twenty-three parishes, spread over 7,136 square miles. The youngest parish is St Thomas in Gwollu, opened in 2004 to serve the local Sissala people. They are small-scale farmers in the main, whose regular work, according to P.P. Fr Darius Tengan-Der, is limited to the rainy season, usually the months of May to October. “We live in a deprived area where there is a high rate of illiteracy, HIV/AIDS, polygamy and widow inheritance, and conflicts are common,” says Fr Darius. “In this part of the Diocese, 70% of people still adhere to their ancestral religion, whereas 18% are Muslim. The Catholic population is small and needs a frequent pastoral outreach programme which can be carried out effectively; this means a form of transport for our two volunteer catechists. Two small motorbikes would kick-start the parish plan.” There are a further twenty-four communities attached to the main parish, which itself cover 399 square miles of rough tracks.

(Grant: £4,750) SM 3392 Honda Activa motorbike for Jyothi Nivas parish, Edavalli, Diocese of Eluru, Andhra Pradesh, India Meaning ‘House’ or ‘abode’ of light, Jyothi Nivas parish was established in the year 2000, and is also known as Jubilee Parish. From there, Sr Ester Ambalem tells us that Eluru Diocese has 103 parishes in all, with approximately one quarter of a million Catholics, mainly low-caste agricultural labourers. “We have twelve villages, all interior, attached to this parish alone; currently with a Catholic population of just six thousand, but there are further nineteen thousand who need to be reached. People are eager to hear the Word of God, and everyday we try to make house calls to be with them.” As is so often the case for those in Sister Ester’s situation, access is usually only possible after nightfall, when parishioners return from the fields, by which time, there is no public transport to take her even part way to her destinations.

(Grant: £700)

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SM 3393 Honda XL motorbike for Kaabong Holy Cross Parish, Karamoja Region, Diocese of Kotido, Uganda The region of Karamoja extends over 27,900 square kilometers, or 10,770 square miles. The region is mostly a semi-arid plain with harsh climate and low annual rainfall. Politically, says Fr Peter Lorok, Assistant Priest of Holy Cross, “this area has been left behind and was never much affected by changes in Uganda since Independence in 1962. There has historically been much fighting in northern Uganda, and cattle rustling, in a nomadic population, has always added to the conflict. People experience hunger on a yearly basis because the harvest is never sufficient for their basic needs.” Fr Peter has a total of eighteen outstations in the parish, but only eleven are actively served, the others too far to reach on foot. “My aims,” he adds, “are to build up a local church which in time will be self-sufficient and self-propagating, which is why we need regular visits to reinforce the Faith and train local catechists to cater for the needs, both physical and spiritual, of all in the area the parish covers.”

(Grant: £3,350)

SM 3394 Toyota Hilux for San Luis Parish, Huancapi, Diocese of

Ayacucho, Peruvian Andes Fr Edgar Villcas Ñahuinmallma, Parish Priest of San Luis, provides pastoral cover to more than one hundred isolated Andean communities spread over 872 square miles of rough and dangerous terrain, and the furthest reaches of his parish are between seven to eight hours walk from the parish church itself. His 29,000 parishioners live on less than one US dollar (in the region of 60 pence) a day. Fr Edgar says, “In 2009, we will celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the establishment of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction here. The Archdiocese has an Evangelisation plan to reflect this; and we are aiming to reach even the most out-of-the-way communities which for many years were isolated due to political unrest and terrorism. Last year we held 12 ‘missionary school’ events and with each meeting attracting between forty to fifty potential Catechists, our job as priests is to now guarantee their solid and integral formation. In areas like ours, we rely on them to keep the Faith alive here.’

(Grant: £15,700)

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SM 3395 Mahindra Bolero 4wd for Karuna Care and Support Centre, Madhavaram Village, Diocese of Eluru, A.P. India The Society of Sisters of the Holy Cross first began their mission in Andhra Pradesh in 1984, when the need for leprosy care was most urgent. Since then, it is the growth of HIV infection and the spread of AIDS which has become the ‘burning issue’, according to Sr Remigia Nayathodan, the Karuna (‘compassion’) Centre coordinator. “In 2006, we began a community-based HIV programme, and have a twenty-bed capacity here, though we also house fifty girl children between the ages of three and eighteen, all of whom are HIV+ due to a variety of reasons, mostly via mother-child transmission of the virus. Since 2006, a total of over six hundred patients have passed through the clinic, as our own survey indicates that between two to five percent of the population here is a carrier of the virus.” The Sisters, with their vehicle, can now tour the area to carry out home visits to those affected, and combine mobile clinics to the twenty villages in their area with street theatre for health and hygiene awareness campaigns, in a bid to reduce infection rates.

(Grant: £8,800)

SM 3396 Mahindra Bolero for Arul Sudar Centre, Vadakku, Diocese of Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India Sr Suganthi Anthonysamy is the convent Superior at Vadakku, and writes, “We began our work here in 1992. As members of the Congregation of Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco, our work is to educate the poor and marginalised, and we have adopted 23 villages in the area. We have night classes coaching young girls in order to raise their self-esteem, and have now begun a mobile dispensary service, with a full-time qualified nurse. Before the vehicle was obtained, Sister would take nearly two weeks to cover the 23 villages, which we can now visit in less than three full days; and people are waiting and expecting us because we can guarantee our arrival.”

(Grant: £9,450)

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SM 3397 Mahindra Bolero for Bethany Sanjivini Kendra, Christ the King Convent, Guledgudd, Diocese of Belgaum, Karnataka, India Commonly known as ‘Bethany Congregation’, the Sisters of the Little Flower of Bethany is an indigenous Congregation of women founded in Mangalore in 1921, whose charism is focused on work with the education of girls and the provision of medical care and treatment for the rural poor. Provincial Superior Sr Irene Crasta informs us, “There are twenty-five villages with a population of twenty-two thousand families in the catchment area, but these are far too many to cover on foot. We have already set up eighteen women’s small savings groups and can provide medical care to expectant mothers and the elderly, but with the help of a mobile clinic we can reach out to the remotest villages where there are no facilities available to the people.”

(Grant: £9,450) SM 3398 Hero Honda Motorbike for Infant Jesus Church, Bhuvanapalli, Diocese of Eluru. A.P. India Infant Jesus Parish was founded in 1993, and grew out of the already existing parish of Chebrole – the complete opposite of the situation here in the UK, where many parish priests serve more than one church. Fr Anthony Christuraj PP has 600 families under his pastoral care, spread out in 14 villages where Fr has set up ‘prayer huts’, as he calls them - shelters made from palm leaves. “Families are large,” he tells us, “and parents are rarely able to send their children to school; many help out either looking after their younger siblings, or have some form of work to be doing themselves anyway. It is extremely difficult for them to come to Mass at the parish church, as they live in the interior.” Fr Anthony has a team of ten catechists, and it is they who have responsibility to work in their own villages, but without regular contact, the scope of Father’s work is hampered. “Your timely help will help to bring many more people to God, and help us prepare those in catechumen villages (those still receiving instruction in the Faith) to be baptised.”

(Grant: £900)

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SM 3399 Honda CBZ motorbike for Our Lady of the Rosary Parish, Kamavarapukota, Diocese of Eluru, A.P. India Ordained in 2008, Fr Vijay Kadiyam is assistant priest at this parish, which has fifteen outstations to cover. PP Fr Melchior Raja says “I am 73 years old now, and not in a position to go to all the outstations; to reach some is physically impossible for me as there is no transport and the ground is so difficult.” Parish catechists visit some families for prayer and to take communion to the sick, but the interior (i.e. off the main road) villages rarely celebrate Mass due to lack of frequent access. “I want to bring the Good News of Christ to all because only through this we can bring positive change in the tribal communities,” adds Fr Vijay, “there are twelve thousand parishioners in all, but many more are yet to receive baptism.”

(Grant: £900) SM 3400 Mahindra Bolero for Auxilium Convent, Sirudar, Diocese of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India The Salesian Sisers of Don Bosco began their work in Madurai nine years ago, at the invitation of Archbishop Arockiasamy, and Auxilium Convent is located ten miles from the railway station, and nineteen miles form the airport. The surrounding area teems with slums, as Madurai, the second biggest city in Tamil Nadu, has over a million people in just twenty-two square kilometres, or eight and a half square miles. Sr Kulandai Therese inform us, “ Just within a ten kilometre radius of us there are fifty-six villages, and inhabitants have no streetlights, proper water, toilets or waste water system. The income they receive is not sufficient and so they borrow from money lenders, who charge more in interest than the capital amount received, and the poor become bonded labourers for life.” The Sisters run health camps and micro-credit schemes combined with evening classes in 39 villages, where they have established 49 women’s groups. With their vehicle, they aim to reach all villages in their catchment area.

(Grant: £9,450) SM 3401 Honda CBZ motorbike for Holy Saviour Parish,

Molgaturu, Diocese of Eluru, A.P. India A parish with four thousand Catholic families in nine villages, Holy Saviour’s is administered by Fr Yelamanchila Prasad, and has recently suffered from flooding, with many homes washed away or

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ruined, and loss of life is common. Fr tells us, “One who preaches the Good News should surely arrive on time, but this happens rarely. There are no buses after dark, when my parishioners return from labouring in the fields, but evangelisation cannot stop, as it is the work of God.” An enthusiastic Fr Prasad adds: “If we stop going to the faithful for one month, in another month they will be in other denomination churches, so constant attendance is a must.”

(Grant: £900) SM 3402 Hero Honda motorbike for St Mary’s Parish, Devanagaram, Diocese of Nellore, A.P. India Fr Thomas Pasala is the first Parish Priest in this newly-erected parish, more than 380 kilometres from the Diocesan offices, and at the forefront of the Church’s work in Nellore. The parish is in an area where the police regularly patrol in search of ‘Naxalites’, an indigenous armed Maoist group. Formed in the heady revolutionary days of 1967, they still sport red headbands, and take their name from the village of Naxalbari, located in West Bengal, and at the time the site of an armed uprising. Numbering anything from fifteen to twenty thousand members today, they have been described by the Indian security forces as “perhaps the most serious internal security threat we face.” They are said to ‘control’ a fifth of India’s forests, and operate in more than half the country’s States. Despite this, Fr Pasala is confident that with a means of keeping in regular touch with his fifteen outstations, he can make inroads.

(Grant: £900)

SM 3403 Suzuki TF 125 cc motorbike for Kasanga Parish, Bwera, Diocese of Kasese, Uganda Kasese Diocese, formerly part of Fort Portal Diocese, was erected in 1989, where approximately 200,000 people are Catholic, in a total population of just over half a million. Bordering Butembo Diocese in the Democratic Republic of Congo, it lies in the south-west of the country, along the equator. From Kasanga, PP Fr Patrick Bwambale tells us, “There are just seven parishes in the Diocese, and thirty-five priests in all. Kasanga is located in a hilly area, and to make home visits to the sick and elderly, a motorbike is needed because it could go where vehicles could not.” Fr Patrick’s request is in some ways unusual in that he did not approach us - like so many others - asking for a four-wheel-drive, when simple common sense tells us that one parish priest, not engaged in medical work and/or

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transporting a team of healthworkers, and with no funds for maintaining a 4wd, has not been at all realistic in his request. The most facile example are those who simply think of SURVIVE-MIVA as yet another funding agency whose only job, in our case, is to give away free cars…Some requests we receive are barely more than ‘Hello, I am (insert name) and I work in (insert place name). I need a pickup. Can I have one?’

(Grant: £3,200) SM 3404 Mahindra Champion autorickshaw for St Gonsalo Convent, Pargi, Archdiocese of Hyderabad, A.P. India

Over a hundred thousand people make up the Catholic population of Hyderabad and districts, spread over more than thirty thousand square kilometres and ninety-one parishes, with innumerable outstations/Mass centres attached. Pargi is a Dalit village, and from there Sr Huberta Mariayikulam writes: “Pargi parish has ten substations attached and no public transport is available to reach them; we have to get an infrequent bus so far and walk the rest of the way to the interior. Many times we are left with no way to return, and it is not safe after dark. Ours is an Indian-founded Congregation, and involves a lot of travelling. At the moment, many catechumenate villages are left unreached, and we cannot organise as many women’s groups as would be possible. We wish to fulfil our promise to preach the Good News to the poor and reach those to whom Christ is unknown.” Sr continues: “We try to cover the ten villages in our area, but during the day, the people are in the fields working, and we have great difficulty reaching the young and infirm who do not engage in informal labour at these times. On many occasions we begin a trip but have to turn back having wasted a day due to the lack of proper conveyance. We have also been left in the villages because of failure of buses to return or breakdowns. It is never certain on any day what we will be able to achieve, and the people know us and are keen for our presence. It is dispiriting for us and for them too.”

A grant of three thousand pounds has enabled the Sisters to acquire an autorickshaw, and since then, (March 2009) the much-missed element of being able to plan visits in advance has had immediate positive results. The Sisters can now make a real impact in the area and have begun a small savings scheme and micro-credit union with the women’s groups that would not have otherwise been practicable. Says Sr Huberta: “Your work of mercy will benefit the villagers through our constant visits. All of us join hands to thank you. We pray for the success of your apostolate.”

(Grant: £3,000)

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SM 3405 Hero Honda motorbike for St Michael’s Church, Vannampaty, Diocese of Dindigul, Tamil Nadu, India Fr Kannakoor Savariar, PP of St Michael’s, has seven villages with over two thousand Catholic families, women and children being the major portion of the population. “The growing drought here has worsened the conditions of the coolies [sic] (daily-paid labourers), and in a situation where poverty and unemployment play havoc, people’s primary concern is food rather than education. Migration to the city is one alternative, but this only leads to more danger and uncertainty, and children leaving to support their families is commonplace.” Fr Savariar would like to focus his work on youth animation in the villages, located in the foothills of the Western Ghats mountain range, and, as his Bishop, Rt Rev Anthony Pappusamy confirms: ‘if a conveyance facility is provided, there will be a great impact on evangelisation and growth of the parish.’

(Grant: £800) SM 3406 Mahindra Bolero for St John’s Hospital, Thandeswara, Diocese of Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India

Founded in 1953, St John’s is situated in the district of Cuddalore, a town who's recent past has been overshadowed by the consequences of its industrial development. As in many other towns in Tamil Nadu such as Kodaikanal, Mettur or Karaikal in Pondicherry, development in Cuddalore has taken a heavy toll among local communities who have struggled to be able to defend themselves. Reports of the illegal dumping of toxic waste abound,

although very little progress has been made through judicial channels. Sr Elizabeth Rani, of the Sisters of St Anne, writes: ‘This place is low-lying and prone to flooding annually during the rainy season. On December 26th 2004, Thandeswara, along with another twenty-five villages in the immediate surrounding area were devastated by the tsunami. There has been much rebuilding since we lost our store and what equipment we had, and we can now accommodate 15 beds each for women and men.” The Sisters’ aim is to make health visits and set up mobile camps, especially for expectant mums, in the affected villages. “Villagers cannot make trips to the hospital on their own, due to financial restraints and the lack of public transport to interior places,” says Sr Rani (‘Queen’ in Hindi) “a vehicle is a must for this sort of service, without which all our efforts so far may end in vain.” (Grant: £11,150)

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SM 3407 Honda Glamour motorbike for Sacred Heart Parish, Chinthakani, Diocese of Khammam, A.P. India A rural parish made up of fourteen villages, from where Fr Gunda Amruthaiah tells us, “Slowly we are trying to make known to them the Word of God, but by intensifying our efforts we can bring many more Christian families and non-Catholic families to fulfil the command of Jesus and make disciples, and bring Good News to the poor. There is much social injustice around us, and illiteracy makes the people vulnerable to exploitation by the landlords. There is a great need to reach out to the villagers and have direct personal contact with them, but my presence is restricted because I have to walk.”

(Grant: £800) SM 3408 Honda Unicorn motorbike for Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Shetty Palem, Diocese of Nalgonda, A.P. India Fr Joji Reddy Boyapati has eight substations attached to Our Lady of Lourdes main church, and another three catechumen villages with 120 families to take pastoral care to. “They are illiterate, simple, but amazingly their faith is very strong,” Fr Joji informs us; “they always expect the priest in their presence to fulfil their spiritual needs and duties. To some villages there is one bus service a day, but to others there is no service at all, especially in the rainy season as the bus can’t pass.” Fr Joji also meets with local leaders and government officials, and has formed farmers’ groups and organises youth meetings as often as is possible. “My parishioners are low-caste ‘Erukalas’, living in a corner of the village called a colony, and are denied even a dignified name in society, and public facilities such as water, schools and healthcare.”

(Grant: £900) SM 3409 Mahindra Bolero Ambulance for Jeevan Jyothi Sadan,

Lalithpur, Diocese of Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India Founded in 1969 in Kerala, the Congregation of the Servants of the Poor, or ‘Dinasevanasabha’ Sisters, have been based in Lalithpur since 2007, where they have set up Jeevan Jyothi Sadan – a Dispensary which serves the surrounding seventy-eight villages. “This is a drought-stricken area,” says Sr Treesamma Aresseril, “and people struggle to make a living off the land. They cannot afford

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medicinal costs, and moreover there is no hospital in this area. They would sooner end their life than get treatment in advanced hospitals, and leave their families to starve due to the debt incurred.” With child labour and early/child marriages common, and water-borne diseases and malnutrition both frequent and at high levels, the Sisters have much to do in their planned medical camps.

(Grant: £9,400) SM 3410 Honda CBZ motorbike for Our Lady of Fatima Parish,

Rallakuntla, Diocese of Eluru, A.P. India “The Diocese consists of people who are illiterate, downtrodden, and oppressed. They are considered very low by the upper caste people, and live on daily wages as seasonal workers.” Fr Kalyan Kumar, Parish Priest of Rallakuntla parish, describes a set of circumstances with which we are all too familiar at SURVIVE-MIVA. “They are free only in the late evenings,” he continues, “ and to reach their interior villages at those times is really difficult for the priest because of the lack of public transport.” Fr Kalyan has nine substations to cover, the nearest just short of ten miles away over rough tracks. He has managed to visit the five nearest with some regularity, but more often than not, fails to reach the other four.

(Grant: £900)

SM 3411 Hero Honda motorbike for Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, Edara, Agiripalli, Diocese of Vijayawada, A.P. India Originally a small chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Edara village, the site was declared a parish in its own right in 1999. P.P. Fr Antony Padinjare has five outstations attached where “people depend mainly on rice and cotton cultivation.” Fr Antony says: “We have five village substations attached to Edara, and the nearest is fifteen kilometres (approx. 10 miles) away. Our aim is to celebrate Mass at least once a week at each, and make house calls to the sick. Priests here also look after the village schools during the day, and so parish transport would increase the ease, efficiency, and frequency of pastoral care to the families here.”

(Grant: £700) SM 3412 Honda CGL 200cc motorbike for Biikira Parish,

Mbuya, Kyotera, Diocese of Masaka, Uganda

Masaka lies 128 kilometres (80 miles) to the southwest of Kampala, on the highway to Mbarara, very close to the equator, and west of

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Lake Victoria. It was Uganda's second biggest town for a long time, though today this status has changed as Jinja, (known as the source of the Nile) has overtaken it. The city was largely destroyed in the Uganda-Tanzania War of 1979, and then again in the 1985-1986 civil war that removed the then Prime Minister Milton Obote from power for the second (and last) time. It is an area populated largely by smallholders who survive from subsistence farming. From there, Fr Patrick Mukhwana tells us: “We are located 20 kms from the main parish of Biikira, and the main aim of erecting Mbuya was because so many people simply couldn’t reach the parish itself. Even so, many Christians travel another 20kms to reach us from deep in the bush.” Fr Patrick continues: “Many ask for our services, but have died before we can reach them on foot.” Since a grant of £2,400 put a 200cc dirtbike into service at Mbuya, Fr Patrick has told us of the progress made: “Attending sick calls and taking Holy Communion out to even the furthest reaches of the parish is now possible; we simply could not do this before you helped us. It is a pleasure to report that there has been an increase of 450 people who now receive Communion regularly – our pastoral work is meeting its objectives.” In common with all who benefit from your support, Fr Patrick has asked us to pass on his thanks, or as he himself puts it, writing in July of 2009, “May God continue blessing you more ardently.” (Grant: £2,400)

SM 3413 Honda Splendour motorbike for St Joseph’s Parish, Saidapuram, Kadiri,Diocese of Kurnool, A.P. India Kadiri is located in a ‘mixed’ area of India, from where PP Fr Gundampalle Showrireddy tells us: “Unlike in other parts of the country, in this Diocese there is no oppressive situation with regard to Christian Communities. The area is thickly populated with Muslims and Hindus, and ‘tribals’ (low caste people), with comparatively few Catholics, scattered in different villages, eight of which come under this parish jurisdiction.” Fr goes on to describe the local public transport: “State-run services are inadequate, and private autos are beyond control. A four-seater auto will have fifteen people in it, and a jeep with a capacity of nine will have thirty travellers in it, and there are no evening services.”

(Grant: £750)

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SM 3414 Hero Honda CBZ motorbike for Blessed Mother Theresa Parish, Chandrapur, Diocese of Berhampur,

Orissa State, India One of the biggest parishes in the Diocese of Berhampur, Blessed Mother Theresa parish has eighty-two villages attached, and a Catholic population of some eight thousand. Fr Vincent Manoj Nayak is Assistant Parish Priest there, having been ordained in 2004. He writes: “These villages are in the jungle where there are very few communications facilities, and some can only be reached by motorbike or on foot. With more than half of the people living below the poverty line, and literacy at barely 30% –especially among the Dalits – the main thrust of the Diocese has always been in faith formation, and I would like to play my full part in this.”

(Grant: £900) SM 3415 Toyota Ambulance for Nkhamenya Community Hospital, Central Diocese of Mzuzu, Central Region, Malawi A rural hospital located about two hundred kilometres north of the national capital, Lilongwe, Nkhamenya serves a catchment population of some 45,000 people, mainly subsistence farmers and their families. “Most patients use oxcarts and bicycles to reach us, but this is especially difficult in the rainy season,” says Sr Margaret Nyirenda, nurse in charge. “We have a ninety-bed facility here, offering preventive and rehabilitative services, but lack an outreach vehicle.” Sr Nyirenda’s request was in some ways typical of the situation in her area. We deal with beneficiaries who are already on the ground, and, most importantly, have the skills they need to do their jobs, but lack a means of access to their target population. A mobile clinic, in their hands, would mean that even the furthest villages 39 kilometres/25 miles away would gain coverage. Services offered (once mobile) include HIV testing and counselling, a supplementary feeding programme for malnourished infants, ante and post natal services, and the provision of insecticide-treated mosquito nets.

(Grant: £36,500)

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SM 3416 Yamaha XTZ 250cc motorbike for San Jeronimo Parish, Andahuaylas, Diocese of Abancay, Peru Fr Marcilla Patiño PP has sixty-four villages within his parish boundaries, all of which are scattered up and down the valley, where the majority language is Quechua - essentially a spoken rather than written language family – though it is the language of evangelisation for the Catholic Church in Quechua-speaking areas, where many local customs are incorporated into the liturgy, and great importance is placed by Church authorities on ‘inculturation’. This is the practice of ensuring that the Gospel takes root in local values, discovering and using their richness, thereby enriching both itself and the local culture. Given the difficulty of the terrain, even making five ‘sorties’ a week on foot from ‘base camp’, Fr Marcilla could only reach each community once every three months - often only arriving in time to say Mass at midnight. Thanks to an Association grant of £3,850, the parish can now count on a trail motorbike so that more frequent access to the Sacraments and pastoral care can be put in place. Says Fr Marcilla, writing in August of 2009, “One imminent danger here is the proliferation of foreign evangelical sects, who make all sorts of promises to the people, who, in their vulnerable circumstances (i.e. the absence of any national institutions other than the Church) are at risk of exploitation. As a Quechua speaker myself, I need to do all I can to prevent this and spread the Way, the Truth, and the Life of Our Lord Jesus to these, my own brothers and sisters.”

(Grant: £3,850) SM 3417 Honda Karizma motorbike for Sagaratha Velankani

Matha Parish, Samalavidi, Diocese of Eluru, A.P India Samalavidi can be found on the shores of the Bay of Bengal, and according to Assistant Parish Priest Fr Sudhakar Goday, is described as “a calm and serene area, where one could think to locate an ashram (place of retreat or quiet), where people could congregate and pray together – the Bishop has already dedicated a small shrine here to Our Lady Star of the Sea.” Sagaratha parish itself has eight outstations attached, ranging from five to thirty kilometres distant, though the area is criss-crossed with canals, and the tracks leading to them are often flooded. Fr Sudhakar, however, has other worries: “If we stop going to the faithful for a month, there will be

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other denominations present. Regular contact is the only way to make ministry more profound and therefore fruitful.” (Grant: £900) SM 3418 TVS Scooter for Satya Seva Sisters, Sakinaveedu parish, Diocese of Khammam, A.P. India A parish of 12 ‘Catholic’ villages, with many others nearby, where, “slowly, we are trying to make known to the people the Word of God”, as Sr Clare, who is based there, informs us. The Satya Seva (Service of Truth) Sisters were originally founded in Karnataka, and came to Khammam in 2008, at the invitation of the Bishop, the Rt Rev Maipan Paul, who fully endorsed their request to the Association. The Sisters are engaged in a mix of pastoral and health work, and place much focus on literacy work with women. “Some mothers send their children to school, but they are few, and only know how to write their signatures. The literacy rate among adolescent girls is also very low, as they work in the fields of the Landlords.” (Grant: £650) SM 3419

Contact the office for details of this grant. SM 3420 Toyota Hiace for the St Francois d’ Assise Anti-malaria Centre, Kamenge, Archdiocese of Bujumbura, Burundi One of the poorest countries in Africa, with a Catholic population of over 60%, Burundi has suffered conflict and unrest throughout its history, which has scarcely abated since it gained independence from Belgium in 1959. The Archdiocese of the capital city has twenty-eight parishes in total, and, as Ambassador Albert Mbonerane tells us: “Kamenge is one of the twelve parishes in Bujumbura itself, having the anti-malaria Centre attached.” Ambassador Mbonerane, who first contacted us via Mons Paul Gallagher, Papal Nuncio to Burundi (whose predecessor in the post was murdered in 2003) acted as our contact in this landlocked country. “The Papal Foundation constructed the buildings in 2004, and we have treated 80,000 patients since then,” Albert continues, “but we have no transport for outreach clinics. Malaria increases healthcare costs and further aggravates the country’s poverty, and remains the predominant cause of mortality and morbidity in Burundi. This disease has the most devastating effect on the under-fives, expectant mothers, and those who are HIV+. Malaria rages in

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Burundi at an endemic level.” With transport equipped with a PA system – loudspeakers mounted on the roof - not only can the Centre team reach out to the surrounding areas, but also mount campaigns to publicise malaria prevention, and, as it is a water-borne disease, to promote better, safer methods of local hygiene and the eradication of stagnant water pools and other places mosquitoes and parasites breed.

(Grant: £28,000) SM 3421 Toyota Hilux for San Juan Bautista Parish, Carapo, Archdiocese of Ayacucho, Peru Located high in the Andes, this parish was without any priest for more than thirty years, as internal strife and terrorism made targets of many who stood up for human dignity. In spite of this, with the current situation less dangerous, Fr Percy Guillen is anxious to reach all nine previously abandoned communities to include them in a reconciliation process they have called ‘Coming Home’, designed to help people come to terms with the violence they have witnessed and suffered for so long. This would necessitate a four-wheel-drive costing some £14,500, but even so, says Fr Guillen, it would still take him eight hours to travel the 155 miles that separate him from his most distant parishioners. (From‘Awareness’ 47) (Grant: £14,556) SM 3422 Mahindra Bolero for Auxilium Centre, Diocese of Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India Run by the Salesian Sisters of John Bosco, Auxilium Centre is the base for Sr Maria Nirmala Lazar, who with her team covers ten villages, bringing awareness programmes to the marginalized young women and children of the area. “There are all kinds of challenges facing us,” Sister informs us; “there is much exploitation, oppression of women, female infanticide, and dowry deaths.” Dowry deaths are the deaths of young women who are murdered or driven to suicide by continuous harassment and torture by husbands and in-laws in an effort to extort an increased dowry. Dowry deaths are reported in various South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Dowry death is considered one of the many categories of violence against women in South Asia. Most dowry deaths occur when the young woman, unable to bear the harassment and torture, commits suicide. Most of these suicides are by hanging, poisoning or by fire. Sometimes the woman is killed by

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setting her on fire; this is known as "bride burning", and sometimes disguised as suicide or accident. According to Indian police, every year it receives over 2,500 reports of bride-burning. The Sisters also have a literacy programme for children, teaching them to read and write in evening classes.

(Grant: £8,300) SM 3423 Autorickshaw for the Nirmala Sisters, Allapalli, Diocese of Khammam, Andhra Pradesh, India

Part of a Congregation known as the Missionary Sisters of Mary Immaculate, Sr Rose Attapuram and two other Nirmala (meaning ‘clean’ or ‘virtuous’) Sisters have been walking up to thirty kilometres a day to reach the dozen villages round Allapalli. Sr Rose says: “We have been here for six years now, at the invitation of Bishop Maipan. The aim of our very presence is to offer a glimpse of human light into their [local women’s] lives; therefore we live in a small hut thickly forested area. We conduct training for local women in health and hygiene, literacy, and saving programmess. Girl children are considered a family burden due to dowry. From the age of eight they are employed as bonded labourers or childcare takers. Boys are sent to the rich men’s houses to graze the cattle, as this is one of the means of family income. Most of the women get married at age eleven or twelve and become pregnant at an early age, which is often fatal. We have been struggling for years, but would be able to do much more services to our people if we are provided with an autorickshaw.”

(Grant : £2,250)

SM 3424 Honda CBZ motorbike for Nazareth Rehabilitation Centre for leprosy patients, Rapur, Diocese of Nellore, A.P.India Begun in 1970, Nazareth Centre is one of three in the Diocese to cater for a need that is still very much present today. At the time, the patients were shunned not simply because they were untouchable in the caste sense, but untouchable because it was thought leprosy was contagious – it isn’t if treated - and can be cured in a matter of 6-12 months via a combination of medicines used to kill the bacteria which causes it. For many years, research into leprosy was hampered by the fact that animals are immune, and so medical experimentation (whether a good or bad thing) was not possible. Sr Shantha Mary, of the Franciscan Sisters of Aloysius Gonzaga, who run the Centre, tells us: “At present, we have seventy-five patients here, but there are many who migrate from

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interior villages to the towns to beg at bus stations, railway stations and temples and churches. They sleep on the pavements and under bridges.” The Sisters’ aims are firstly “to establish their dignity among the healthy, and bring awareness among them that these are not contagious. We need to provide a space where patients too can stop devaluing themselves by begging,”

(Grant: £700)

SM 3425 Mahindra Bolero for Amala Anjani Centre, Yellagiri, Diocese of Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India

Amala Anjali (‘Bird of Divinity’) centre is run by the Salesian Sisters of John Bosco, and caters for Dalit women, girls, and young children. Sr Maria Theresa Anthonyraj, the Sister Superior, writes: “We have fourteen interior villages in our area, where we face problems like foeticide, infanticide (of girl children) and gender discrimination. Locals are all tribals, and if they don’t get work for a day, then they don’t have food. The men are often addicted to liquor and waste whatever little money they earn on it, which then causes violence at home. As the parents are uneducated, so too their children, and they see little point in sending them to school.” The Sisters run evening classes in literacy and small income generating projects with women’s groups, though “it is very difficult and challenging to work with them. Their very illiteracy means that they are ignorant of their rights.”

(Grant: £7,800) SM 3426 Hero Honda motorbike for Holy Family Parish, Parvathipuram, Diocese of Srikakulam, A.P. India A parish of some 750 square kilometres (290 square miles), where Fr Jojappa Chinnabathini minsters to eight hundred and thirty Catholic families spread over twenty-three villages. “On foot I can only manage to reach the villages once a month, as they are up to seven kilometres apart. The locals, though a minority because they are Catholic and considered socially and economically backward, are strong in their Faith, but much more can be done with the means to reach them more often. With a two-wheeler, I could cover each village twice in each month, and also try to bring others to know Jesus Christ.”

(Grant: £700)

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SM 3427 Toyota Hilux double cab for Bubangizi Health Centre, Archdiocese of Mbarara, Uganda A rural Health Centre to be found in the hilly area of south western Uganda. From there, Sr-in-charge Sr Daphroza Tusiime, a Daughter of Our Lady of Fatima, describes the situation: “We are deep in a rural area, and 87 kms (54miles) from Archdiocesan headquarters, which is where we get our medicines and equipment from. We are a centre, not a hospital, so if urgent cases need to be transferred, it involves another 25kilometre journey. Roads have been opened up to five villages, but there is no public transport to enable staff to reach numerous people who are in great need of public health services.” Sr Daphroza continues: “The people are poor, with very little income, and believe in traditional taboos. We immunise about 2,700 children a year, but there are an estimated 3,500 children. In the last two years, 430 babies were born at the centre, but with a population of 17,500, we should have, on average, approximately 850 deliveries, so nearly half occur without help or attendance from us.” Sr Daphroza’s situation is one which, with the vital element of essential transport in place, can change immediately. The Sisters can attain goals they already have planned, and will set up and train a network of village health committees to provide a measure of cover to all. “The health staff are very willing to serve the mission of Bubangizi Health Centre, which states: ‘In faithfulness to the mission of Christ, we provide professional sustainable health services to enable the population to live their life to the fullest.’ We need a vehicle to succeed.”

(Grant: £26,265) SM 3428 Toyota Hilux for New Life Centre for People living with AIDS, Nchia, Diocese of Port Harcourt, Nigeria Sr Marie Therese Okon belongs to the Nigerian Province of the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul, and first contacted us in April of 2009. Port Harcourt is the capital of Rivers State, which is the second largest economy in Nigeria after Lagos State, and has two major refineries, two major airports, and various industrial estates spread across the State, particularly in the State capital. It is an oil-rich area, and is home to the Ogoni people, who have been involved in protests against the oil companies for years. Sr Okon writes: “In Nchia, the people are mostly farmers working in subsistence agriculture; some work as labourers in the surrounding oil companies, while others engage in pipeline vandalisation, [to obtain fuel for cooking, or to sell on] which is very common, and leads to

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enormous land pollution. The rates of HIV infection are very high, and having carried out a localised survey, we realise that even in our schools the rates of infection are increasing.” The Sisters run a voluntary testing and counselling progamme, as well as the awareness work they carry out to ensure more people have accurate information as to how the virus is transmitted, and to encourage more to come forward and receive medication at an early stage of their infection. A vehicle would enable them to reach more people and widen the number of those able to access their prevention of mother-to child transmission programme.

(Grant: £20,866)

SM 3429 TVS Apache motorbike for Immaculate Conception Parish, Kukatpally, Archdiocese of Hyderabad, A.P. India

Archbishop Marampudi Joji describes Kukatpally parish as “one of the biggest in the Archdiocese, made up mainly of migrants who came looking for work and ended up as daily labourers and domestic servants. It is a vast area of slums where people do not have even a little roof of their own, though they are more fervent in their faith than the well-off, and the priests are always kept busy attending to their spiritual needs.” He describes Assistant PP Fr Ignatius Madanu Shekar, ordained in 2008, as: “a committed man with lots of zeal and enthusiasm, who carries out many pastoral and socio-economic activities.” Fr Ignatius has seventeen shanties within the parish boundary, and tells us: “Hyderabad is called ‘Hi-Tech city’, and is a place for business transactions, but we notice immediately that on the other side, where we live, there is poverty. The provision of a two-wheeler would enable me to reach many more people than I am reaching right now.”

(Grant:£970) SM 3430 Hero Honda motorbike for St Joseph’s Parish, Tissa, Diocese of Miao, Arunachal Pradesh, India The Diocese of Miao, in north-eastern India, is bounded by Bhutan, Tibet, China and Burma. Arunachal Pradesh (‘land of the rising sun’) is a mountainous area, and many of the population, mostly hill farmers, are of Mongolian ancestry. As one of the newest dioceses in India (erected in 2005), this is only the second grant we have made there. Home to 26 major tribes, it has a Catholic population of almost half a million people but just 29 parishes, according to the first ever Parish Priest of St Joseph’s, Fr Sebastian

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Veluthedathukattil. He says: “We have nine villages attached to the parish, each with a lay Catechist. They are between eight to fifteen kilometres [roughly five to ten miles] from the man church, but the land has many ups and downs, and I find it difficult to reach them – we have almost 2,000 people on the catechumenate programme, but it takes between three to five hours walking for me to get there, and the catechists, though few have had formal education, play such an important role in our evangelisation efforts. It is our earnest desire that the work of evangelisation may gain momentum as we provide the on-going formation of the Faithful. ”

(Grant: £750) SM 3431 Mahindra Bolero 4x4 for St Charles Health Centre, Hnahthial, Diocese of Aizawl, Mizoram State, India Puzzlingly (but correctly!) spelt Hnahthial is a census town in Lunglei district of Mizoram, with a population of 7,000. Hnahthial has an average literacy rate of 80% - higher than the national average of 59.5%, and the second highest in India. From there, Sr Philip Aleyamma, Sister Superior of the Sisters of St Charles Borromeo, and a trained nurse, writes: “We have the most variegated hilly terrain in Eastern India, [‘Mizoram’ could be translated as ‘people of the hills’] and though most of the population here are Christians, they belong to 82 different denominations, with Catholics being a minority, as the Church was only allowed to enter the region in 1947. We now have fifteen parishes in Mizoram State.” Describing the area the Health Centre covers, (it is the only one) Sr says: “Landslides are common here in the rainy season, [March to September] and it can take between a week to a fortnight to clear the only road we have; it is high and cold here, and combined with the damp, we have many, many cases of infant and adult bronchitis, typhoid, pneumonia, viral fever and jaundice. Due to lack of medical care many of the children die needlessly in faraway villages. In the month of August alone there were 136 babies under three years with pneumonia. They were all treated successfully, because they could make it to the Centre, but we could do so much more with a vehicle so that we could reach them.” The Sisters are trained and highly experienced, have a limited immunisation programme they wish to expand, and are ready to begin a malaria eradication campaign.

(Grant : £8,000)

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SM 3432 Autorickshaw for St Mary’s Health Centre, Rebbavaram, Diocese of Khammam, A.P. India The Catechist Sisters of St Ann is a Congregation founded in India in 1914 by the PIME (Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions), specifically to cater for the “pastoral, catechetical , medical, educational and social needs of ‘scheduled’ [i.e.‘low’] caste communities in the remote areas of the State and outside,” according to Sr Ignatius Edara, Sister Superior at Rebbavaram. She says of the work being done at St Mary’s: “The caste system is rampant here and there is much injustice. We have been here since 1970 providing primary healthcare in a very remote place. We treat locals when and where we can, but a major restraint for us is transport to the interior villages. We have to walk six to twelve miles to reach the target communities. There are six of us here, three at the health centre and three engaged in educational and hygiene awareness work, as there are no sanitation facilities, and preventable diseases are commonplace. A vehicle suitable for our village roads would be a three-wheeler; and this type of vehicle has the advantage that it does not need wide roads that we do not have, and gives more mileage with less maintenance. Spare parts are easily available and are less expensive. We do not have a transport committee in our diocese, but this model has been recommended by many here. If we are provided with one, we would reach the remote villages and extend our healthcare and catechetical missionary work to the most downtrodden and vulnerable.”

(Grant:£2,150) SM 3433 Apache 160cc motorbike for Immaculate Conception Parish, Dammapet, Diocese of Khammam, A.P. India The ‘Heralds of Good News’ is a Pontifical Missionary Society of Apostolic Life, founded in Eluru in 1984, and now has nearly three hundred and fifty priests working in different dioceses in India and overseas, with some seven thousand seminarians studying at various levels of formation. Fr Katru Ramesh was entrusted with Dammapet Parish by Bishop Paul Maipan in 2005. He writes: “The parish has ten substations, and is considered large, with 2,000 Catholics, but there is also much enthusiasm for the Faith, and we have lots of activities and groups; a Legion of Mary and an altar servers’ group, along with a women’s small savings group. Proudly I can say that the villages have made tremendous progress, and I am interested in extending to the more interior places, but it would be impossible without a two-wheeler.”

(Grant: £870)

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SM 3434 Toyota Hilux for St John of God Health Centre, Diocese of Mamfe, South West Province, Cameroon Eleven-year-old Mamfe Diocese can be located in the Anglophone (southwest) part of the country, with a population of 271,000, with Catholics numbering approximately 42,000, spread over some ten and a half thousand square kilometres, Mamfe town itself home to 50,000. It is an area of deep tropical rainforest, and local roads are almost exclusively sandy earth, virtually impossible to use in the rainy season, and means that goods are up to three times more expensive than in less isolated and larger towns. Sr Felicitas Lukong, Matron at St John’s and a Sister of St Therese of the Child Jesus, tells us more: “The health centre was founded in 1987 as a small health post, but now has been recognised by the Ministry of Public Health. We are the only health institution belonging to the Diocese. We provide services round the clock, seven days a week here, and our out-patient department sees up to sixty people a day, and admits up to ten of these according to their ailment. Drugs are available at a price; indeed almost every drug can be bought over the counter, but from drugstores run by non-professionals. This means we see many unnecessary complications. Drugs are of very questionable quality, and there is often no active ingredient inside. They are given at the wrong doses, for the wrong duration, and this leads to the fast development of resistance against antimicrobial and anti malarial drugs.” Sister continues: “Our number one target, if we were to have a vehicle, would be to bring in reputable medicines from Yaounde, [the second city] which we can only do once a year at the moment. Then, we would be able to begin our planned outreach programme to the three villages that we have further into the bush, accessible only by earth track. We could even carry our microscope to perform simple microscopic examinations to determine the nature of infections more accurately. We look forward to a tomorrow when we can have less regrets at people dying in our centre because we cannot take them to a hospital or because we are unable to supply the right medicines.”

(Grant :£26,772) SM 3435 Toyota Hilux for San Juan Bautista Parish, Coya, Archdiocese of Cusco, Peruvian Andes Coya is a district located high in the Andes, from where Fr David Góngora Melo writes to inform us: “My parish has about four thousand people in all, and they are poor agricultural subsistence workers. The illiteracy rate is such that only eight out of ten people

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can read, and even then quite badly. There is much ignorance here because we are so cut off, but the local indigenous culture is extremely rich and survives strongly. It takes me between three to four hours to walk to the ten communities that make up the parish. I therefore have very irregular contact with them. ” Fr David’s work is concentrated on training catechists in the communities so that the Church may have some presence amongst the people. He makes the house visits he is able to make when conditions permit, and says Mass as regularly as he can. His social work is aimed at lessening the effects of high school drop-out rates, malnutrition (he gives what food aid he can spare) and the high level of addiction to locally distilled alcohol and violence and instability in the homes of many of his flock.

(Grant: £11,677)