They are students of the Holy Family Convent of Kalutara. The School Prefects Union launched the “Green School” environmental reclamation project. Waste has been differentiated for recycling.
Colombo (AsiaNews) – Hundreds of Catholic and Buddhist girls gathered on the beach of Kalutara, south of Colombo, to collect waste. Most of them study at the Holy Family Convent of the town on the west coast of Sri Lanka. The students enthusiastically took part in the “Green School” project, an environmental protection and territorial revitalization initiative launched by the Union of School Prefects.
Speaking to AsiaNews Sr. Charitha Thandalage, in-charge of the Prefect Union, explains that the project responds “to the need to keep the environment clean”. The sister reports that the site to be reclaimed was decided upon during an interview with the Kalutara Citizen Council, which proposed the Kalido Beach because it was highly polluted.
Sathya Chathurangani and Wasath Samaranayaka, Head Prefect and Deputy Head Prefect, say that, arriving on the spot, “we expected to only collect pieces of plastic and glass. Instead, there was also rubber, worn clothes, shopping bags, leather shoes, cans, jars and waste of all kinds. We collected everything and divided it among differentiated recycling bins. ”
The young people were helped by a team sent by the City Council, which collected and transported waste to a disposal facility. At the end of the cleanup – which took four hours – the girls erected a signpost calling on people to keep the beach clean. “People destroy the environment destroy themselves and their children,” it reads.
According to Sister Charitha, the initiative was used to “change our girls’ attitude. They learned the lesson. Some people throw trash without thinking about the consequences for the beaches, sea water and the environment. Now they have realized that they shouldn’t throw away even a bus ticket, because even that pollutes our mother earth. ”
On the margins of the Green School project, a “Osu Uyana”, a botanical garden, was planted in the school grounds. On October 27, on the anniversary of the birth of Pierre-Bienvenu Noailles, founder of the Association of the Holy Family, a small pomegranate plant was delivered to Sr. Priyanthi Jayatunga, head of the institute.
 
Melani Manel Perera
 

In October 2016, a group from Newbridge Parish Community, led by Holy Family Sister Eileen Murphy, began linking with Asylum seekers who live in the Eyre Powell Hotel, a Direct Provision Centre, in Newbridge. Over 70 people, including about 10 children, are accommodated there. They come from 15 countries on 4 continents, and widely different worlds, bringing with them their own;
▪ History
▪ Language
▪ Cultures
▪ Customs
They come from a variety of educational backgrounds and life experiences. Among them, there are:
▪ Painters
▪ Nurses
▪ Photographers
▪ Bakers
▪ Electricians
▪ Teachers
▪ Students
One can only imagine the rich contribution they could make to Irish society. Adults in DP receive a weekly cash allowance of €21.60. They are not allowed to work – as already stated – or go to higher education. They are provided with three meals a day but are not allowed to cook their own meals, though changes in this regard are being introduced in some centres.
They share a room and keep all their belongings in one cupboard. They don’t know whether they will be there months or years. It began in October 2016 when residents were invited to a coffee morning in the Parish Centre. Since then, on the first Friday of every month a group of parishioners and asylum seekers meet for coffee and a chat in the Parish Centre.
Eileen Murphy,
Newbridge, Britain.

The present situation:
Asylum seekers in Ireland are accommodated by the State in residential institutions under a system known as Direct Provision. Direct Provision is intended to provide for the welfare of asylum seekers and their families as they await decisions on their asylum application. It ‘directly provides’ essential services, medical care, accommodation and board with three meals a day.

The Direct Provision system is overseen by the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA), a body of the Department of Justice. However, the majority of the 35 centres around the country are privately owned and operated, and the standards of accommodation and living conditions vary widely. When the Direct Provision system was established in 2000, it was described as an ‘interim’ solution to the high numbers of asylum seekers entering the State in search of protection. But due to an unwieldy system, the majority of asylum seekers spend over 4 years in Direct Provision waiting for their application to be processed and many wait even as long as 10 years.

During this time, they live in a state of enforced idleness; they cannot work, (but this is set to change), and in most centres, they cannot cook for themselves but are forced to eat in a canteen which only operates at certain times of the day. Hundreds of children have been born into Direct Provision and do not know any other life but institutionalised living. In some cases, the lives of residents are governed by unnecessarily restrictive rules which can feel to residents like living in an ‘open prison’. Lack of privacy is a significant issue. Single residents share a room with several other adults, and in many centres, parents live in one room with their children. Facilities such as bathrooms are often shared.
The right to work:
Ireland is one of only two EU member states to ban asylum seekers from working, the other country being Lithuania. (As a general rule, the UK, soon to leave the EU, does not allow asylum seekers to work. But they can apply for permission to fill a shortage vacancy if they have been waiting for over 12 months for an initial decision on their asylum claim.) In Malta and Bulgaria, asylum seekers may work a year after their application has been lodged; in Poland, the Netherlands, Italy and Belgium this wait is six months. In Austria, they must wait three months and in Sweden people can work the day after their application is lodged.

In May this year, the Irish Supreme Court ruled unanimously in a case taken by a Burmese man, who had spent eight years in direct provision, that the laws preventing him working in Ireland before his status was decided were unconstitutional. The government now has until November to come up with a response to implement the Court ruling.

I was one of the privileged sisters who responded to an invitation to attend a Renewal session in Martillac in May. Seventeen participants were still in Formation and 5 renewed vows in Martillac. Some would make final vows on returning to their native country. We were encouraged to come (even though not in the formation category!) by the words of Pope Francis:
“By changing our way of looking at the world, we can look with gratitude at the road already covered, to begin to listen to what the Spirit is asking of us today, asking ourselves if Jesus is really our first and only love, so that we may embrace the future with hope”.
Along with Jean and Chandani, I attended all the sessions provided by Mary and her Team of able helpers: Genevieve, Adela and Jeevan.  Also we had talented help from Margaret Bradley who assisted all of us with her art and handicrafts to appreciate and deepen our understanding of the lectures given.
To see our Indian sisters do their traditional liturgical dance was really beautiful, and to hear our African sisters from the Congo, Cameroon, Rwanda, Lesotho and South Africa sing and play their drums was truly awe-inspiring. Every day we had Mass which was usually accompanied by beautiful singing from our Contemplative sisters. I was truly amazed at the purity of tone and rhythm which was flawless. Another ceremony saw the local Cardinal officiate.
In this multi-cultural setting, one came to appreciate the original Dream of the Founder who was inspired to begin the Holy Family Association. The image of the tree with birds of every colour, of every country each one with its own song, but singing as one voice, came to mind, while the presence of the beautiful countryside, the avenue he built with us in mind was being re-told to a new group of sisters today in Martillac.
Our contemporary lectures covered a whole range of topics which would be useful for all and merited revisiting by those of a different vintage, including work on Discernment, the Principles of the Universe, Exodus, Consecration for Mission and the Interior Life to name a few. Each lecture was followed by reflection  and  a quality  sharing  in  the  various language groups. Many reflected on their particular journey, sharing their difficulties in their work sphere and in their country where, due to politics, freedom of religion was not present, and where persecution in covert and overt forms was practised. Isolation of some young sisters, was mentioned seeing as one sister only was in formation.
During  our  time  we  visited Bordeaux, “walking in the footsteps of the Founder”; our booklet was a great help to us. For many this was their first experience of the places and churches associated with our Founder’s life. We had Mass from a very young French priest in St. Eulalie. Reminiscent of the Founder? We also went to Lourdes with a very early start in the morning. Everyone was delighted to visit the grotto, and the Basilica above, where there was again a multi-cultural celebration of Mass. Some first-timers went to the houses where Bernadette had lived, and witnessed first-hand her poverty.
After numerous blessings, a weary party departed Lourdes arriving back home late but very happy.
The Mass on Pentecost Sunday was awe-inspiring. The “list” of different nations who heard the first sermon by St. Peter was replaced by a similar list of nationalities present in the Congregation, each one answering in her native tongue. Eighteen nationalities responded. Also, the singing of the Veni Creator was very nostalgic.
There is a wide outreach, of course, in Martillac to the many participants who come for direction and guidance in their journey, and many groups from the local parishes and diocese. We owe a lot to the Sisters who manage the premises so well. Visits to the Island were many, and we enjoyed our pilgrimages there immensely, remembering all in our communities before the Founder’s statue and in the Chapel to Our Lady of all Graces.
A family spirit prevailed and what impressed us most were the high tributes paid to our missionary sisters in the past who had helped and taught abroad in the various places. What a legacy they had left in these young women so willing to dedicate their lives to the same one who had inspired them to act. There was a cultural presentation of each one’s situation in her respective country.

This was documented, and apparently well presented! Another similar event but very different in content was our evening of cultural enter- tainment! A Pakistani sister performed her cultural dance for the second time on the Island the next day.
One of the highlights was a rare visit to our Contemplative community. We were well received. Srs. Melanie and Bernadette introduced all of the Community, and the participants did likewise. Sr. Teresa McElhone was in good form and chatted to all of us from our Province. They now have six  sisters  from  abroad, from Africa and Sri-Lanka. Some sisters are in formation.
The whole group was totally diverse but rich in their c u l t u r a l heritage; there was a strong sense of “belonging” to Holy Family, and a wish to deepen their values within the context of their commitment. There was much mutual enrichment in this place of internationality. It was interesting to observe how many future vocations are from the southern hemisphere whereas so few from Europe.
Sandra Harrington, Woodford – England.

 
FIRST WORLD DAY OF THE POOR
33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 
19 November 2017
 Let us love, not with words but with deeds
 
1. “Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in deed and in truth” (1 Jn 3:18).  These words of the Apostle John voice an imperative that no Christian may disregard.  The seriousness with which the “beloved disciple” hands down Jesus’ command to our own day is made even clearer by the contrast between the empty words so frequently on our lips and the concrete deeds against which we are called to measure ourselves.  Love has no alibi.  Whenever we set out to love as Jesus loved, we have to take the Lord as our example; especially when it comes to loving the poor.  The Son of God’s way of loving is well-known, and John spells it out clearly.  It stands on two pillars: God loved us first (cf. 1 Jn 4:10.19), and he loved us by giving completely of himself, even to laying down his life (cf. 1 Jn 3:16).
Such love cannot go unanswered.  Even though offered unconditionally, asking nothing in return, it so sets hearts on fire that all who experience it are led to love back, despite their limitations and sins.  Yet this can only happen if we welcome God’s grace, his merciful charity, as fully as possible into our hearts, so that our will and even our emotions are drawn to love both God and neighbour.  In this way, the mercy that wells up – as it were – from the heart of the Trinity can shape our lives and bring forth compassion and works of mercy for the benefit of our brothers and sisters in need.
2. “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him” (Ps 34:6).  The Church has always understood the importance of this cry.  We possess an outstanding testimony to this in the very first pages of the Acts of the Apostles, where Peter asks that seven men, “full of the Spirit and of wisdom” (6:3), be chosen for the ministry of caring for the poor.  This is certainly one of the first signs of the entrance of the Christian community upon the world’s stage: the service of the poor.  The earliest community realized that being a disciple of Jesus meant demonstrating fraternity and solidarity, in obedience to the Master’s proclamation that the poor are blessed and heirs to the Kingdom of heaven (cf. Mt 5:3).
“They sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need” (Acts 2:45).  In these words, we see clearly expressed the lively concern of the first Christians.  The evangelist Luke, who more than any other speaks of mercy, does not exaggerate when he describes the practice of sharing in the early community.  On the contrary, his words are addressed to believers in every generation, and thus also to us, in order to sustain our own witness and to encourage our care for those most in need.  The same message is conveyed with similar conviction by the Apostle James.  In his Letter, he spares no words: “Listen, my beloved brethren.  Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?  But you have dishonoured the poor man.  Is it not the rich who oppress you, and drag you into court? … What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works?  Can his faith save him?  If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled”, without giving them the things needed for the body; what does it profit?  So faith by itself, if it has not works, is dead’ (2:5-6.14-17).
3. Yet there have been times when Christians have not fully heeded this appeal, and have assumed a worldly way of thinking.  Yet the Holy Spirit has not failed to call them to keep their gaze fixed on what is essential. He has raised up men and women who, in a variety of ways, have devoted their lives to the service of the poor.  Over these two thousand years, how many pages of history have been written by Christians who, in utter simplicity and humility, and with generous and creative charity, have served their poorest brothers and sisters!
The most outstanding example is that of Francis of Assisi, followed by many other holy men and women over the centuries.  He was not satisfied to embrace lepers and give them alms, but chose to go to Gubbio to stay with them.  He saw this meeting as the turning point of his conversion: “When I was in my sins, it seemed a thing too bitter to look on lepers, and the Lord himself led me among them and I showed them mercy.  And when I left them, what had seemed bitter to me was changed into sweetness of mind and body” (Text 1-3: FF 110).  This testimony shows the transformative power of charity and the Christian way of life.
We may think of the poor simply as the beneficiaries of our occasional volunteer work, or of impromptu acts of generosity that appease our conscience.  However good and useful such acts may be for making us sensitive to people’s needs and the injustices that are often their cause, they ought to lead to a true encounter with the poor and a sharing that becomes a way of life.  Our prayer and our journey of discipleship and conversion find the confirmation of their evangelic authenticity in precisely such charity and sharing.  This way of life gives rise to joy and peace of soul, because we touch with our own hands the flesh of Christ.  If we truly wish to encounter Christ, we have to touch his body in the suffering bodies of the poor, as a response to the sacramental communion bestowed in the Eucharist.  The Body of Christ, broken in the sacred liturgy, can be seen, through charity and sharing, in the faces and persons of the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters.  Saint John Chrysostom’s admonition remains ever timely: “If you want to honour the body of Christ, do not scorn it when it is naked; do not honour the Eucharistic Christ with silk vestments, and then, leaving the church, neglect the other Christ suffering from cold and nakedness” (Hom. in Matthaeum, 50.3: PG 58). 
We are called, then, to draw near to the poor, to encounter them, to meet their gaze, to embrace them and to let them feel the warmth of love that breaks through their solitude.  Their outstretched hand is also an invitation to step out of our certainties and comforts, and to acknowledge the value of poverty in itself.
4. Let us never forget that, for Christ’s disciples, poverty is above all a call to follow Jesus in his own poverty.  It means walking behind him and beside him, a journey that leads to the beatitude of the Kingdom of heaven (cf. Mt 5:3; Lk 6:20).  Poverty means having a humble heart that accepts our creaturely limitations and sinfulness and thus enables us to overcome the temptation to feel omnipotent and immortal.  Poverty is an interior attitude that avoids looking upon money, career and luxury as our goal in life and the condition for our happiness.  Poverty instead creates the conditions for freely shouldering our personal and social responsibilities, despite our limitations, with trust in God’s closeness and the support of his grace.  Poverty, understood in this way, is the yardstick that allows us to judge how best to use material goods and to build relationships that are neither selfish nor possessive (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nos. 25-45).
Let us, then, take as our example Saint Francis and his witness of authentic poverty.  Precisely because he kept his gaze fixed on Christ, Francis was able to see and serve him in the poor.  If we want to help change history and promote real development, we need to hear the cry of the poor and commit ourselves to ending their marginalization.  At the same time, I ask the poor in our cities and our communities not to lose the sense of evangelical poverty that is part of their daily life.
5. We know how hard it is for our contemporary world to see poverty clearly for what it is.  Yet in myriad ways poverty challenges us daily, in faces marked by suffering, marginalization, oppression, violence, torture and imprisonment, war, deprivation of freedom and dignity, ignorance and illiteracy, medical emergencies and shortage of work, trafficking and slavery, exile, extreme poverty and forced migration.  Poverty has the face of women, men and children exploited by base interests, crushed by the machinations of power and money.  What a bitter and endless list we would have to compile were we to add the poverty born of social injustice, moral degeneration, the greed of a chosen few, and generalized indifference!
Tragically, in our own time, even as ostentatious wealth accumulates in the hands of the privileged few, often in connection with illegal activities and the appalling exploitation of human dignity, there is a scandalous growth of poverty in broad sectors of society throughout our world.  Faced with this scenario, we cannot remain passive, much less resigned.  There is a poverty that stifles the spirit of initiative of so many young people by keeping them from finding work.  There is a poverty that dulls the sense of personal responsibility and leaves others to do the work while we go looking for favours.  There is a poverty that poisons the wells of participation and allows little room for professionalism; in this way it demeans the merit of those who do work and are productive.  To all these forms of poverty we must respond with a new vision of life and society.
All the poor – as Blessed Paul VI loved to say – belong to the Church by “evangelical right” (Address at the Opening of the Second Session of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, 29 September 1963), and require of us a fundamental option on their behalf.  Blessed, therefore, are the open hands that embrace the poor and help them: they are hands that bring hope.  Blessed are the hands that reach beyond every barrier of culture, religion and nationality, and pour the balm of consolation over the wounds of humanity.  Blessed are the open hands that ask nothing in exchange, with no “ifs” or “buts” or “maybes”: they are hands that call down God’s blessing upon their brothers and sisters.
6. At the conclusion of the Jubilee of Mercy, I wanted to offer the Church a World Day of the Poor, so that throughout the world Christian communities can become an ever greater sign of Christ’s charity for the least and those most in need.  To the World Days instituted by my Predecessors, which are already a tradition in the life of our communities, I wish to add this one, which adds to them an exquisitely evangelical fullness, that is, Jesus’ preferential love for the poor.
I invite the whole Church, and men and women of good will everywhere, to turn their gaze on this day to all those who stretch out their hands and plead for our help and solidarity.  They are our brothers and sisters, created and loved by the one Heavenly Father.  This Day is meant, above all, to encourage believers to react against a culture of discard and waste, and to embrace the culture of encounter.  At the same time, everyone, independent of religious affiliation, is invited to openness and sharing with the poor through concrete signs of solidarity and fraternity.  God created the heavens and the earth for all; yet sadly some have erected barriers, walls and fences, betraying the original gift meant for all humanity, with none excluded.
7. It is my wish that, in the week preceding the World Day of the Poor, which falls this year on 19 November, the Thirty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time, Christian communities will make every effort to create moments of encounter and friendship, solidarity and concrete assistance.  They can invite the poor and volunteers to take part together in the Eucharist on this Sunday, in such a way that there be an even more authentic celebration of the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King, on the following Sunday.  The kingship of Christ is most evident on Golgotha, when the Innocent One, nailed to the cross, poor, naked and stripped of everything, incarnates and reveals the fullness of God’s love.  Jesus’ complete abandonment to the Father expresses his utter poverty and reveals the power of the Love that awakens him to new life on the day of the Resurrection.
This Sunday, if there are poor people where we live who seek protection and assistance, let us draw close to them: it will be a favourable moment to encounter the God we seek.  Following the teaching of Scripture (cf. Gen 18:3-5; Heb 13:2), let us welcome them as honoured guests at our table; they can be teachers who help us live the faith more consistently.  With their trust and readiness to receive help, they show us in a quiet and often joyful way, how essential it is to live simply and to abandon ourselves to God’s providence.
8. At the heart of all the many concrete initiatives carried out on this day should always be prayer.  Let us not forget that the Our Father is the prayer of the poor.  Our asking for bread expresses our entrustment to God for our basic needs in life.  Everything that Jesus taught us in this prayer expresses and brings together the cry of all who suffer from life’s uncertainties and the lack of what they need.  When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, he answered in the words with which the poor speak to our one Father, in whom all acknowledge themselves as brothers and sisters.  The Our Father is a prayer said in the plural: the bread for which we ask is “ours”, and that entails sharing, participation and joint responsibility.  In this prayer, all of us recognize our need to overcome every form of selfishness, in order to enter into the joy of mutual acceptance.
9. I ask my brother Bishops, and all priests and deacons who by their vocation have the mission of supporting the poor, together with all consecrated persons and all associations, movements and volunteers everywhere, to help make this World Day of the Poor a tradition that concretely contributes to evangelization in today’s world.
This new World Day, therefore, should become a powerful appeal to our consciences as believers, allowing us to grow in the conviction that sharing with the poor enables us to understand the deepest truth of the Gospel.  The poor are not a problem: they are a resource from which to draw as we strive to accept and practise in our lives the essence of the Gospel.
From the Vatican, 13 June 2017
Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua
Francis

In 1998 June, then was my Provincial, Sr.SophieBastiampillai, asked me to go to Kilinochchi to work with the people with disability, helping Sr. Lourdes Joseph. I was so happy and I joined the work. In 2001 September I was sent to University College London to get the Diploma in Community Disability Studies. Provincial and the Sister from Provincial House London and St. Gabriel’s Convent were so helpful in many ways. When I came back in2002 October Late Sr. Ancilla our Provincial asked me to start the work in Mannr. Even though I did not have the courage, trusting in God’s Providence, with the support of the Councilors and the community, with the permission of Rte.    Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph, we began our service in 2003.
To love and serve and see the suffering God in people with disability I continued this ministry with enthusiasm.  Our aim is to enhance these vulnerable children and adults in social, cultural and economic state of life. We provide different kind of Medical and Aesthetic therapies for them. In 2012 when the Donkey Assisted Therapy was introduced I was amazed.  Why amazement?  The Holy Family was travelling by Donkey. Jesus’ Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem won the donkey with the signing of “Hosanna!” by children and others (Mk.11: 2-10).So, going back to the source or root is wonderful. When the donkey is taken care, tamed and groomed any children can become friendly, building good and positive relationship, learn empathy, compassion and experience how to care for the feelings and welfare of other living creatures. Studying and reflecting the ‘Emerging World View’ it leads me to a sense of wonder and ‘Greening in spirituality’
In 2012 Officers and veterinary surgeons from Donkey Sanctuary India and supported by their parent agency in the UK, visited Mannar on three occasions to undertake an assessment of hundred of donkeys in order to develop a future management and welfare plan for the donkey population. At the same time preparationof  people and children  were given  awareness, and knowledge about the donkeys, Donkey Assisted Therapy Centre was planned. When I went to UK in 2014 I had the chance to go the Donkey Sanctuary and Therapy Centre in Devonand get some knowledge and training on this subject.
The opening of Donkey Assisted Therapy Centre &Programme took place on 27th.April 2017. It was inaugurated by the Minister of Sustainability Development and Wildlife- Hon.Mr.Gamini Jeyawardabna Perera.
The Theme of wildlife is an ancient concept in Sri Lanka. Conservation of natural environment and the welfare of animals considered noble in keeping with the teaching of every Religion. Successive Kings gave protection and security to animals in the forest, fish in the great tanks and thy also commanded their subjects not to catch the birds and instead provide security for them. Some years back the donkeys were abandoned, considered as unclean animals, they were tortured and ill-treated, and they too were caused accidents for the people. Now it has come as interdependency because it is realized that they are needed for people, and they need us to and to take of them. It is the same for all the creation, the Scripture says “The entire creation is groaning……” (Rom 8:22-23).
The strategy outlined five programme objectives as follows:
To change the attitudes of Mannar/ Sri Lanka  society to donkeys and disability by demonstrating the benefits of donkey-assisted therapy as part of an effective disability including elderly and sick people  rehabilitation programme
To provide opportunities for children and others to benefit physically and emotionally, and to develop and strengthen their life skills, through interacting and developing relationships with donkeys
To collect evidence of the benefit of donkey-assisted therapy
To bring enjoyment and pleasure into the lives of children and to give them the satisfaction that comes with developing a positive donkey-human relationship
Re – integrate donkeys into the social fabric of Mannar Society.
 
One of the objectives of “Donkey Management & Welfare Projects is Donkey Assisted Therapy Centre & Programme”consists the discovering new and beneficial ways that human population can use donkeys. They are;
1. Donkey Research
2. Donkey Assisted Therapy Centre & Programme
3.  Donkey for eco-tourism
4. Donkeys and integrated livelihood for people.
 
Psychosocial skill development, speech and communication:
MARDAP was chosen for Donkey Assisted Therapy (DAT) Centre & Programme. DAT brings together two lesser affirmed groups – MARDAP.s children with special needs and donkeys. Bonding with donkeys through riding, grooming, and befriending them encourages affective engagement and stimulate the child’s development – improving balance, muscles, core stability, fine motor skills, hand and eye contact/ coordination, body posture, speech, language, colour –number-shape- symbol recognition, thusboosting self-esteem and confidence in children.
It is a pilot project to start the Donkey Assisted Therapy (DAT). It is a fairly new project in our country of Sri Lanka hoping to bean effective to complement and enhance the existing rehabilitation programmes of MARDAP. It will explore an opportunity to represent donkeys in a new light. On return to their home communities, children involved in the programme will be encouraged to build on the interactions and relationships developed with the donkeys by becoming advocates for donkeys.
A green and wildlife inheritance for future generations is safeguarded by enhancing biodiversity and managing the animal population within the acceptable resource limit, minimizing any detrimental effects on the environment. Protection of the nature and the environment is a demonstration of one’s inner – development and a society’s self –actualization.The Minister of Sustainability Development and Wildlife expressed in his speech that we and the animals co-exist on the earth. Further he expressed “I am happy that, MARDAP collaboration with Bridging Lanka, Donkey Sanctuary – India and its’ Parent agency of UK has come forward to start this programme First time in the continent of Asia”
Sr. JosephineMary
Mannar – Sri Lanka.

As we are preparing for the meeting of the 7th  Regional Convention of the Lay Associates of Asia in Sri Lanka, September 2th   6th part of which will be the revision of the Statutes of the Lay Associates which were formerly given to them throughout the Family in 1992. Some of our sisters met in Okara to reflect on the articles given by Regina Ramalingam, the Inter-national Asian leader of the Lay Associates. Each country in Asia had been assigned different chapters of the Statutes. We re-read each article on the chapters assigned, gave our suggestions for up-dating, especially in the light of the new emerging world view.
 
In the Church: Articles:                                      18-30
Our life of Faith: Articles:                                  31-45
Formation and Commitment: Articles:                 75 -96
 
We first met on Laster Monday, and then 3 weeks later met again to co-relate what the sisters in Sindh and Kohat had written. This was a daunting task but thanks to the co-operation and generosity of those who gave their time and talents to complete this work, we were able to send our suggestions to Regina by the middle of May. Still there is more work to be done as we have to go through the suggestions made by India and the Philippines and finalize this before the end of June.
 
This work gave each one of us an insight into the depth of spirituality within the Statutes and made us realize how we need to get our associates to understand them and live them out in their day to day life. We need to encourage our Sisters and Lay Associates to become familiar with them so that our mission becomes more meaningful. In this meeting we also decided to animate our sisters often about these Statutes so that they may come to know them, understand them well and live and find j oy in imparting them to the groups they are animating.
I also take this opportunity to thank each and every sister in the Delegation who supported us by their prayers as we under took this task of sharing and reflection in order to prepare for the 7th  Regional Convention of the Lay Associates.
Sr. Sumble, Pakistan

This was the very special day when Sr. Rose Devlin, who was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) received her shining insignia in person from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace. She was accompanied by Sr. Catriona Gore of the Magherafelt community. They were warmly welcomed by the community of St. Gabriel’s road – Srs. Kathleen, Margaret and Marie – where they spent the nights before and after the event, and from where they were sent off to Buckingham Palace by taxi on the auspicious day.
The dress code for these ceremonies is quite strict but simple. Ladies are required to wear dresses/skirts that are knee length or below and a hat, or perhaps we should say headgear, because most seem to prefer fascinators nowadays. Comparisons with how recent, and not so recent, lady visitors – heads of states or spouses of same – to the Pope comply with Vatican protocol in this respect are interesting.
On her return to Ireland, accompanied by Kathleen, Rose stopped at Griffith Downs where an account of the ceremony was again related and the medal displayed and examined. In Newbridge, where Rose is currently staying, the whole community and staff were assembled to welcome and congratulate her.
As we rejoice with Rose on her reception of this honour, we also congratulate and thank all who worked with and supported her in achieving it from her earliest days in the Holy Family. We are what we are through others and, as we are becoming more aware nowadays, through all the interaction of life and matter in the cosmos.

A Blessed Triduum!
These “holy” days we contemplate the mystery of God’s LOVE, God’s self-gift in Jesus.  This is holiness and “real holiness doesn’t feel like holiness; it just feels like you’re dying. It feels like you’re losing it. And you are! Every time you love someone, you have agreed for a part of you to die. You will soon be asked to let go of some part of your false self, which you foolishly thought was permanent, important, and essential!
You know God is doing this in you and with you when you can somehow smile and trust that what you lost was something you did not need anyway. In fact, it got in the way of what was real.
Many of us were taught to say no without the deep joy of yes. We were trained to put up with all the “dying” and just stand up to face things bravely. Saying no to the self does not necessarily please God or please anybody. There is too much resentment and self-pity involved. When God, by love and freedom, can create a joyous yes inside of you—so much so that you can absorb the usual ‘no’s—then it is God’s full work. The first might be resentful dieting; the second is a spiritual banquet.”  (An extract from Richard Rohr)
These last three days of the Holy week, may we hear deeply, the invitation to allow the God within to live in us; may we recognize the beauty of being “given” for the other as the only way to ‘put on the mind and heart of Christ’; may we embrace the little deaths so as to allow something bigger and greater to be born in us and through us!

Tracing Rwanda’s highs and lows as it moves beyond history’s shadow
They call Rwanda “The Land of a Thousand Hills.” Small mountains and knolls blanket this tiny country, from north to south and east to west. No matter where you stand, your feet are never on level ground — you are always either going up or going down.
Those hills never felt more real as when I was clinging for dear life onto the back of a motorcycle taxi as I traveled to meet one sister or another, the government-mandated green helmet clanking on my head. With a driver going much too fast, we would climb up and up amid stunning vistas, hills rippling toward the horizon, or zoom down steep embankments where rice paddies squeezed into valleys or buildings rose from the capital of Kigali’s pulsating downtown.
Rwanda, roughly the size of Vermont, is a land filled with highs and lows. Inescapable, of course, are the lows of almost 23 years ago, the genocide between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes that killed more than 800,000 people in 100 days. The genocide demolished 14 percent of Rwanda’s population, and left the country completely in tatters.
Then, however, are the highs that came afterward: the way the country has built itself up, mud brick by mud brick, bean field by bean field, to a place where women make up 64 percent of the Parliament, ribbons of asphalt connect the country with smooth highways, and internet startup companies dot Kigali, birthing a strong middle class.
 
The sisters, too, are part of these highs and lows. The Catholic Church played a complicated role in the genocide. Sometimes priests and sisters rescued hundreds of people, protecting their own community members at severe risk to themselves. They stood strong as angry crowds outside their doors demanded blood.
Other times, church leaders aided the genocidaires (people who organized and carried out the genocide). Victims fled to churches for protection, but the clergy did not assist them or they even actively took part in the killing. Thousands of people were murdered in the pews of churches.
Although many sisters were quietly doing heroic acts, protecting fellow sisters and their parishioners, others were not. The international courts indicted four priests and two sisters for war crimes in connection with the genocide. The two Benedictine sisters, Sr. Gertrude Mukangango and Sr. Maria Kisito Mukabutera, received 15 and 12 year sentences, respectively, for their role in handing over 7,000 Tutsis who were hiding at their convent in southern Rwanda.
It was only on Nov. 20, 2016, the last Sunday of the Year of Mercy, that the Catholic Church in Rwanda officially apologized for the church’s role in the genocide. “Although the Church sent nobody to do harm, we, the Catholic clerics in particular, apologise, again, for some of the Church members, clerics, people who dedicated themselves to serve God and Christians in general who played a role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi,” the statement by the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Rwanda said.
However, government officials claimed that not all dioceses read the message, especially dioceses that are majority Hutu. The government also said the Church’s statement appears “to take the extraordinary step of exonerating the Catholic Church as a whole for any culpability in connection with the Genocide,” and expressed anger that the Vatican did not make any statements about the genocide.
Three months later, when Pope Francis met with Rwandan President Paul Kagame on March 20, Francis made an official apology.
Francis “conveyed his profound sadness, and that of the Holy See and of the church, for the genocide against the Tutsi,” the Vatican said in a statement. “He expressed his solidarity with the victims and with those who continue to suffer the consequences of those tragic events.”
The genocide and its aftermath are a silent undercurrent beneath many daily interactions in Rwanda. As part of the government’s far-reaching control, it is illegal to talk about ethnicity in Rwanda. You will never hear “Hutu” or “Tutsi” in casual conversation. But it is impossible to escape.
“How many brothers or sisters do you have?” people often ask me in my travels, as a way of making conversation. “One younger brother, and how about you?” I always reply.
But in Rwanda, this question was met with an awkward pause. “We were eight, but two survived,” one sister told me, which was the last time I asked that question.
But both the country and the women religious working there are choosing to focus on the realities and hopes of today rather than the massacres that haunt the past. Women religious are involved in many types of reconciliation work, including the internationally recognized Capacitar mindfulness training and “sister-listeners,” a uniquely Rwandan solution pioneered by the oldest indigenous congregation, the Benebikira Sisters.
Sisters are combining psychological support with economic empowerment programs, finding ways for people from the Hutu and Tutsi tribes to work together to lift themselves out of poverty.
Rwanda has one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa, and is held up as the poster child of the region, a success story for the ages. World leaders, aid organizations and international nongovernmental organizations are often stunned by the speed with which Rwanda has picked itself up from the depths of depravity and surpassed its neighbors in terms of education, infrastructure and economic growth.
Everyone I talked to — sisters, activists, community leaders, farmers — spoke of the government’s support for development. They always mentioned the efforts to streamline regulations for business licenses, meaning opening a business is a process of just a few hours. Many spoke of the almost total lack of corruption, which makes the country a favorite for international donors and organizations.
There are lows, of course, to the steady 8 percent average yearly growth in gross domestic product over the past 15 years. President Paul Kagame has been in power since 2000. In 2015, 98 percent of Rwandans voted in favor of a constitutional amendment that enables Kagame to stand for additional terms, possibly until 2034. The international community widely condemned the election, urging Kagame to develop “a new generation of leaders.”
Though Kagame is well-respected and genuinely passionate about Rwanda’s development, the country is still under a dictatorship. There is no press freedom and government supervision is constant and widespread, with all communications monitored.
Rwanda has wallowed in the lowest of the lows, but is now aiming for heights that other countries in the region can only dream about. Its commitment to countrywide high-speed fiber-optic internet cables or national health insurance for a $3.50 copay per year should make more developed countries blush. Almost 10 percent of the country’s energy comes from solar, and streetlights run with energy-saving LEDs. Litter is nonexistent, plastic bags are illegal, and the streets are cleaner than any other city in the world.
Still, the country is having difficulty outrunning its shadow. Internationally, the first thing that comes to mind when hearing Rwanda is always “genocide.”
“Genocide is something that we need to educate people about, but I don’t think it should be a brand for a nation,” said Honore Gatera, the director of the Kigali Genocide Memorial. “It’s one part of the dark history that we’ve gone through, and this history of our country will never be erased,” he said. “Even though we’ve gone through that history, we are resilient and we are sending a big message out there to humanity.”
This message rings out loud and clear in a village called Gisagara, outside of the southern regional capital of Huye, where I met 58-year-old Jean Damascine Bizimana. He was working in the Dususuruke (“Warm Solidarity”) fish farm, started by Sr. Mary Rose Mukakibogo of the Helpers of the Holy Souls. Bizimana was speckled with mud, after trying to catch the last few tilapia in one of the four fish ponds as the farm association drained the pool to fix some small leaks. He had been fish farming for six years, ever since he was released from prison, where he served time for committing genocide crimes.
“Can I take a picture of you?” I asked Bizimana.
“Wait! Wait!” cried Charlotte Nyiromasuhuko, also 58.
Nyiromasuhuko was one of the original members the Dususuruke Association, and today is a central leader. She divvies up the jobs during the weekly fish harvest. Nyiromasuhuko lost her husband and most of her family in the genocide. She tossed Bizimana two fish. Both of them grinned as he mugged for the camera, a fish in each hand.
Twenty-three years ago, Bizimana was part of the group that massacred Nyiromasuhuko’s family. Now the two were playing catch with a pair of slippery tilapia and laughing together.
Nyiromasuhuko said it was difficult when the association, which started in 1997 for Tutsi genocide victims, began to accept Hutu members in 1998. Mukakibogo hoped to sow unity in the fractured village through a cooperative farm, to lift the residents out of poverty and depression.
“In the beginning, we were afraid of each other,” said Nyiromasuhuko. “Once we started to talk, we were slowly, slowly gaining trust. The fear was moving out slowly until it was possible to be together.”
In the Land of a Thousand Hills, the villagers from Gisagara found themselves in the deepest depths, their worlds shattered emotionally and physically after the genocide.
But every road that descends to the valley eventually begins to rise as it traces the contours of the land. Together, slowly, the residents of Gisagara and the country of Rwanda are climbing to new heights.
[Melanie Lidman is Middle East and Africa correspondent for Global Sisters Report based in Israel.]