Dear Friends,

After 45 days of hectic work, the Church and its group of committed volunteers take a pause from the long journey of rebuilding our people’s lives to express our deep gratitude to all of you who stood by us and the people of Myanmar in their hour of darkness.

Thousands are returning home, or where their home used to be. Children return to school, knowing some of their friends will not be here. Farmers are returning to a slowly healing land, wounded by the marauding sea on that fateful day. The Ayeyawady River is subdued into serenity after straddling killer waves and exhibiting dead bodies for a month.

It has been a heavy month for the Church. In Dedeya, Fr. Benedict and his group valiantly buried dead bodies, exposed to sun and rain for a month. It is a challenging work, for days together, many villages were a valley of bones, and now they are rested with dignity in a place. Elsewhere the caregivers, our volunteers, faced threats to their own physical and psychological health, living amidst contaminated water and rotting bodies. Some have to be carried back to Yangon for medical attention.

All the parishes have been turned into disaster response teams. Food and non-food items are distributed through them. Many times the Buddhist monks are fellow sojourners in this act of mercy. Just a month ago, no family had wish or wherewithal to send their children [to school]. This month, with our support for uniforms, books and fee, hundreds of children are returning to the school. This return is healing and is the first signs of life to the battered communities. Hundreds of temporary shelters are coming up. Seeds are distributed. The Church is designing a healing process through psycho-spiritual training and trauma healing services.

The nightmare is slowly replaced with hope. The Catholic Bishops Conference of Myanmar (CBCM), all the religious and faithful, Karuna (national Caritas) and the Caritas International reiterate their commitment. We thank all of you at this juncture. Our work has been very challenging, done under great restrictions on access. But you all made our work rewarding by standing by us with your great fellowship. Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI evinced fatherly concern from the day one. He mourned with the Myanmar Bishops when they met him for their ‘ad limina’ visit. His Delegate Archbishop Salvatore Pennachio rushed in by the first plane available and personally interacted with the survivors and the caregivers all through these days. The churches from various nations contributed their mite and prayers to our work.

It has been a month of pain and sorrow for our people. But the tide is turning, because people like you felt their pain from far and rushed with assistance. The Church could save lives because of you. On behalf of those thousands who survived we owe a deep debt of gratitude to all of you. Once again we realize that the Universal Church is a mother who reaches out where there is a tear, a human brokenness.

It is still a long journey. The full recovery will take at least two years. Cyclone Nargis was nature’s nuclear attack on our people. There are villages destroyed without any trace. The farm lands are polluted with the sea water. The human asset is diluted, social assets destroyed, natural assets mutilated with wanton destruction. The poor of Myanmar, already handicapped by some of the worst permanent disasters, are crawling back to normalcy.

So our journey continues. The urgent needs are for setting up homes, shelter and regenerating the livelihoods through supply of seeds to farmers, encouraging micro enterprises. This has been a month of challenge, but a blessed challenge because we felt the power of human oneness, the unstinted support of the Mother Church and great generosity of human sprit among Myanmar’s people through their selfless service to their suffering brothers and sisters.

Our heartfelt thanks to every one of you,

In Solidarity,
Archbishop Charles Bo, S.D.B.

A letter from Archbishop Charles Bo of Myanmar:

As the waters raged in the predominantly Christian village, the monks from the nearby monastery were on the noble mission of saving people. A monk swam across the currents to pull out a woman who was about to be dragged by the marauding river. In the far off Phyapon, where Church workers linked to Caritas Internationalis were distributing aid to the survivors, they choose Buddhist monks as their partners in distributing aid to non-Christian villages.

Archbishop Bo reaches out to those affected by the cyclone

All religious groups were made victims by the cyclone. All places of worship — monasteries, clergy houses and convents — bore the brunt of the deadly cyclone. Nargis, in its monstrous ferocity, tore through many of the famous places of worship of all religions. In Aima, in the Pathein Diocese, Fr Andrew Soe Win offered his life as a supreme sacrifice in trying to reach his marooned people. His body was found after 18 days.

Nothing deterred them from the sacred duty of saving lives. In the predominately Buddhist country, where Metta and Karuna (mercy and compassion) are the major tenets of a great religion, compassion broke forth like a healing stream after the demonic deluge. Churches and monasteries became the refugee camps. With death and mayhem threatening them in their villages, thousands took refugee in sacred spaces, seeking coping and mutual consolation. Even before the government could move in, or the do-gooders and NGOs could move in, spontaneous charity sprang forth with Buddhists feeding Christians and Christians feeding the Buddhists, etc. Nargis broke many things in an evil way. Goodness broke all parochial borders that fateful night, when death danced arrogantly across, wounding a nation.

In Bogalay, the Hindu temple opened its portals to feed the multitude. In the ravished streets of Yangon, Muslim merchants were distributing food to the starving masses. More poignant was the response of many poor and lower middle class people. They collected whatever they had and every weekend they treaded across in aid convoy to far off Labutta. Nargis stripped naked a nation with violence, but people of all faiths are clothing it now with compassion.

With other Christian communities, Catholics threw in everything into rescue — money, material and manpower. Many young men and women volunteered to go to the risky villages, strewn with dead bodies of people and animals. The first psycho-social assistance came from nuns who risked their lives by undertaking dangerous boat travels, without life jackets, etc. They were the first ones to hold mothers who lost their children, carried orphans and consoled a grieving community with prayer and simple presence. Hundreds of seminarians were the first rescuers, clearing the villages of debris. All these are done under extreme restrictions. Through the Caritas Internationalis network, assistance continues.

Compassion is the common religion in the post-disaster phase. In Myanmar people lived with various tags — religion, color and tribe. But now Nargis taught us all that human tears have no color, no religion and no tribe.

A partnership between CRS and the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA)

The past ten years CRS and NCEA have offered an experience of global solidarity to Catholic high school teachers through the Frontiers of Justice (FOJ) program. For two weeks each summer, FOJ participants learn firsthand the issues faced by people in the developing world through interactions with people involved in CRS programs in education, health, agriculture, community banking and peacebuilding.    During the trip, participants pray and reflect on their experiences through the lens of Catholic Social Teaching as they discern how the experience can enhance their educational ministry.   

Frontiers of Justice returns to West Africa this year! The group will travel through Burkina Faso and Ghana from June 28 to July 13, 2008.  Join this year’s FOJ journey by visiting this travel log — see pictures of  the places they visit, meet the people they encounter on their journey, read first-hand reflections and become part of their stories of solidarity.

Read the rest of this entry »

This Friday, June 20th, is World Refugee Day. This year, the theme is “protection.”

But who is a refugee? And why do they need protection? Read the rest of this entry »

June 2, 2008 marks the start of the school year in Myanmar and also one month after Cyclone Nargis. However, for so many children there will be no school to go to. For the children in the delta region their lives have been turned upside down. Many of them lost their parents and their homes.

Last week I visited a village called Aima and some surrounding island villages called Pha-ya-lay-gone, Pein-ne-gone, Ta- yoke-gone, and Lein-maw-gone. Aima village is in Labutta township in the southern delta region and is very difficult to reach.

It took almost 10 hours to get there by boat. There, I met families who are still struggling to survive and feed their children. In this area all the schools have been destroyed. For the children of Aima, the horror of the cyclone still haunts them.

Many children cry at night and when it rains. The children fear the worst and re-live the trauma of the night of the May 2. In this village there are so many inner wounds that must be healed over time.

To date very little aid has been able to get to these communities. For the first two weeks, the only aid received by these people was from the Catholic Church.

They told me that without this, they would not have survived. The government now only supplies two cans of rice per person per day, which is not enough for people to live on. In some cases people have been asked by the government to leave temporary camps and return to their villages. In many of the villages there was still no shelter, food or clean water and the government only supplied them with a few kitchen utensils.

My trip to Aima also demonstrated how important it is for the Catholic Church to continue our work and ensure that we support communities as best we can. To date we have been able to supply food, clean water, tarpaulins for shelter, cooking utensils and medical supplies to approximately 20,000 people in Labutta township.

We now must continue to support them, firstly to survive but also in rebuilding their lives. The people I met remain modest in their requests, and ask only for food and shelter. Read the rest of this entry »

CRS Board Member Dr. Carolyn Woo, dean of University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, recently returned from touring CRS projects in Ethiopia and Kenya. Other delegation members included her son Justin Bartkus, CRS Board Chairman Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee, CRS Board Member Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, CRS Foundation Board Member Art Wigchers, and CRS’ Executive Vice President of Overseas Operations Sean Callahan. Here, Dean Woo shares final thoughts about her experiences in the field.

The last leg of our Africa trip was the most overwhelming for me.

In Kenya, we got a more detailed grassroots look at the violence that resulted after the election at the end of December 2007. While the trigger was mass reaction to election irregularities, the seething anger was stoked by ethnic divisions tied to unresolved tensions about rights to land. These differences, played up by politicians to create voter support, erupted in ways that took the average Kenyan by surprise. Approximately 1,000 people died while 600,000 (estimates varied) were displaced when neighbors turned on each other along ethnic lines to claim homes, livestock and land. People who had worked, lived and worshipped together suddenly looked upon each other with suspicion and, in some cases, with hostility. While the situation has calmed down and the Church is doing extraordinary peacebuilding work, the underlying factors remain. In addition, there are now new grievances, unclear accountability for those who incited the violence, and thousands of citizens still displaced.

In one of Mombasa’s slums, we walked with Emma, who works for the local diocese on peacebuilding in her neighborhood. This is home for her and her 9-year old son. In a place where the unemployment rate is 60%, Emma is one of few who are employed, but she worries about being mugged on a daily basis. She showed us the effort of a neighbor to build a stone side for his house to replace the straw that currently upholds the dwelling. He puts a few stones on when he has the money. But the stones don’t stay because they are taken away almost as soon as he puts them up. Emma tries to be home before sundown. I wondered what a challenge it must have been for her to get home the night the diocese held a celebration for us until 10 p.m. There is no light, no roads (just paths made muddy by rain) and little sense of safety.

In a later meeting with Cardinal Njue of the Archdiocese of Nairobi, it was clear to me that the diocese must reach out to business — not for philanthropy, but as a partner for development. The unemployment problem cannot be solved without engaging the business sector. Left alone, the problem could breed more violence. My advocacy for peace through commerce went from a rather intellectual level to the gut level. Perhaps this is the most important gift for my own education.

I emphasized to the Cardinal how the Catholic Church has successfully reached across many boundaries: from relief to economic development and from Christian brothers and sisters to partners of other faiths. The Church must now use its influence and highly sophisticated education of her leaders to convene business in addressing these issues. While business and Church will have different primary focuses, there are also common ground and common interests. Much depends on our recognizing and forging these common elements.

Finally, in a session at an AIDS clinic, we met with approximately 20 discordant couples, where one spouse is living with HIV and the other is not. Three women spoke about their hopelessness when they found out they were HIV positive. One, in her early or mid-20s, felt like both her marriage and her life would be over. They talked about the care that they received from the clinic and the restoration of their lives and livelihoods. I could not help but imagine for each couple the trauma to their marriage and what it took for the couple to stay together and care for each other. It was a much-needed reminder to me that forgiveness, healing and new hope are possible despite our own frailties and limitations.

I need to believe this because it is the only counterforce to violence. When I think pragmatically, I can’t help but note how easy it is to resort to violence and the Herculean efforts it takes to create peace. It is in such moments that I turn to God, who is not pragmatic and fortunately gives us love and grace beyond what we think is humanly possible.

I am convinced: Divide and we will be conquered. But with God’s grace, we can instead try a little harder to come together, suspending one grievance, one suspicion, one self-interest at a time. The alternative fills me with dread.

Justin Bartkus, a sophomore at the University of Notre Dame, recently returned from touring CRS projects in Ethiopia and Kenya with his mother, CRS Board Member Dr. Carolyn Woo. Here, Justin shares impressions from project visits in Kenya.

June 1, 2008—I actually am writing this from home in South Bend, but only because we were without Internet access for our last three or four days in Kenya! We did and saw so many things that it would be impossible to describe them all.

Two of our days in Kenya were spent in Mombasa, a hot and humid (and very poor) city in the southeast of the country on the coast of the Indian Ocean. Here we visited an AIDS clinic, witnessed a support group meeting for married couples living with HIV and ventured into an urban slum. We also spent time in Nairobi visiting with the papal nuncio to Kenya and the local cardinal. I’d like to comment on two of our experiences in particular, as they both left a deep impression on me.

First, while in Mombasa, our CRS delegation had the opportunity to visit the home of a recipient of HIV treatment supplied through the local Catholic Church in partnership with CRS. The woman with whom Archbishop Kurtz, Kenya country director Ken MacLean and I met was named Selena. She was an
incredibly inspiring woman.

Selena and her son with members of the delegation.

Selena’s husband died in 2002, and she has five children. Last year, she received the news that she had tested positive for HIV. She is a tenant in a small mud house with corrugated steel roofing. She pays 400 Kenyan shillings a month (about $6.50—not cheap for her) to rent a mere two rooms of the house.

It is hard to imagine how agonizing it is to learn that one has the virus; she knew that her life would never be the same. Yet she faithfully takes her antiretroviral drugs and has had the courage to head up a support group for other women living with HIV in the neighborhood—not an easy task considering how people with HIV, especially women, are often stigmatized and belittled in this culture. Selena is also an active participant in a local savings and internal lending community (SILC), which helps empower disenfranchised women to assert economic independence. She was not only courageous but also very funny, pleasant and good-willed. You could tell that she had a huge heart, and even though her life must have flashed before her eyes when she learned of her HIV status, she has remained strong (and her youngest son is really cute, see the picture!). To see someone who lives life with such fullness in spite of such difficult circumstances illustrates what true hope looks like and how it translates to action.

Another of our stops in Mombasa was the office of the Coastal Interfaith Council of Clerics (CICC). In response to the political violence earlier this year in Kenya, a group of local Muslim, Catholic, Protestant and Hindu religious leaders banned together to examine the roots of these conflicts and preach messages of peace to their congregations. Undoubtedly, many of these men met resistance from their flocks; in such times of upheaval, cooperation and solidarity are often trampled by division and vengeance. In the Mombasa region, the work of the CICC was certainly felt in dissolving the religious tensions that followed the controversial elections. The ironic thing was that the conflicts between Muslims and Christians on the coast were really not about religion at all. When resources are scarce and land is contested, opposing groups will latch onto religious differences as a justification for prejudice and violence toward each other, even though this is not the real problem.

We heard one story about how Catholic Archbishop Lele of Mombasa stood in front of the doors of a mosque that was about to be burned by a mob of angry young Christians. He told them that in order to burn the mosque, they’d have to kill him first. Hearing that, the mob laid their torches down. What tremendous courage.

I also was impressed by the fact that the clerics of the CICC admitted that there did exist tension among them several months ago when they first met, and to an extent, there still does. Fortunately, theological differences didn’t prevail over the urgent need for collaboration in resisting the post-election religious violence. I thought it tremendously wise that they have postponed theological debate so as not to let those differences get in the way of the work they have to do. The CICC is a shining example of leaders of various religions coming together in effective collaboration without reducing their respective faiths to a watered-down, “least common denominator” belief system.

CRS Board Member Dr. Carolyn Woo, dean of University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, is currently touring CRS projects in Ethiopia and Kenya. Other delegation members include her son Justin Bartkus, CRS Board Chairman Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee, CRS Board Member Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, CRS Foundation Board Member Art Wigchers, and CRS’ Executive Vice President of Overseas Operations Sean Callahan. Here, Dean Woo shares details of her experiences in the field.

In Ethiopia’s capital, I visited the Missionaries of Charity, the order founded by Mother Teresa. The sisters all wore the white saris with blue trim and smiles that just didn’t quit. The facility in Addis Ababa serves about 1,200 adults and children in residence. They are all very sick with deformities and illnesses that make them outcasts of society. Quite a number are near death.

Another nearby facility houses 450 HIV-positive orphans. When we arrived, I saw a small sculpture of Mother Teresa and then scores of boys and girls dressed in their festive best (white dresses and colorful saris). They sang and danced for mass that was joy unlimited. The sisters and volunteers came from all over the world: Philippines, Italy, Denmark, India, a Jewish doctor from Brooklyn, England, Ireland, Spain, etc.

It was heartbreaking to see the adults, but the children just made me laugh. They performed tricks for us that they learned in lessons given by children from a circus who had sought assistance from the sisters.

The little ones love to be held and they are beautiful children. We went into the newborn wing (about 1-3 months). These are babies who have been abandoned: dropped in garbage bins, etc. They are like dolls. There are 350 adoptions per year.

The sisters are simply wonderful. Sister Benedicta, a German sister who is also an MD and a joyful soul, runs the place. Later in the afternoon, at a big ceremony to honor the 50th anniversary of CRS in Ethiopia, she spoke in the way that I imagined Mother Teresa would have spoken. She talked about how each person is God in disguise—that we will all end up in the same place, and God will ask us whether we turned Him down when we ignored our brothers and sisters in suffering. She quoted Mother Teresa, saying “We can’t do what you do, you can’t do what we do; but together we can bring about something beautiful.”

It was poignant because by this time next year, due to a projected reduction in USAID allocations, high food prices and low dollar value, Missionaries of Charity food rations could be cut in half. The gathering included the U.S. Ambassador, the director of USAID in Ethiopia, and other dignitaries. We were all choked up. It was a moment when we all recognize what is at stake: the wellbeing of those we just visited and our own humanity. It was a wonderful moment—there was no question that the Holy Spirit was with Sr. Benedicta.

At the ceremony, a painting was unveiled depicting CRS’ work in Ethiopia. It included a sister of the Missionaries of Charity, a handshake in acknowledgment of work made possible only because of our local partners, and a scale and a dove, representing justice and peace.

Now for those who are really into sustainability practice: ECO-SANITATION. Disposal of waste is a major problem and the source of much illness and death in developing countries. The existing solution, which collects all waste into a central location, is not sustainable and has horrible collateral effects. (Actually, the centralization of waste follows the approach we use in the west). How does one talk about this without grossing everyone out?!

Needless to say, a new solution is needed. CRS pioneered a simple, sustainable solution. It is a new paradigm: a decentralized approach. Each household digs a hole about 3 feet in diameter and 6 feet deep. On top of hole, a family places a concrete slab (3 feet by 3 feet). The concrete slab can be made for about $5 and takes one hour. Privacy is provided by a fence of branches, rocks or whatever materials are available. At the end of each use, ash from cooking is sprinkled into the hole. The ash is highly absorptive, creates good compost, and dispels the smell. At the end of six months, the family moves the fence and concrete slab to another location and plants a fruit tree on top of the hole. This innovation by CRS was featured in a BBC documentary. More than 24,000 holes have been dug in the last two years.

As it always happens on these trips, whenever I see the bags of grains marked “USA,” I am deeply moved. I am so glad that we send these grains. They are the only bridge between starvation and a chance at another day for so many people.

Justin Bartkus, a sophomore at the University of Notre Dame, is currently touring CRS projects in Ethiopia and Kenya with his mother, CRS Board Member Dr. Carolyn Woo. Here, Justin shares more impressions from the field.

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CRS is working in partnership with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) office of Food for Peace to meet the immediate needs of those most affected by the food crisis in Haiti. USAID is funding a $10 million emergency food security program that will enable CRS to reach 382,500 Haitians during the next 12 months.

CRS Haiti will distribute 7,730 metric tons of cereals, pulses and oils over the next two months to meet the immediate needs of vulnerable groups through orphanages, nutrition programs for pregnant and lactating women, primary school lunches and assistance for people living with HIV and AIDS.

To meet the longer term and livelihood needs of families, a Food For Work program will help people help themselves by improving agricultural infrastructure, drainage and mitigating the effects of ecological degradation.