In September, the community of the Nasuta village in Timor-Leste gathered to celebrate and rejoice together in being able to access clean water for the first time in their village.
The gift of water – enabled through your generosity – has brought this community joy and hope for a better future.
Many of us take clean water for granted. But for people living in the remote and rural villages across Timor-Leste, walking several hours a day to collect water is just a way of life.
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That’s all changed for the Nasuta community.
Thanks to your wonderful support, 79 families in Nasuta village now have access to clean water, just metres from their own homes.
Our partner, Jesuit Social Service (JSS) collaborated with Nasuta village to install a water tank and other infrastructure to give every household access to clean water.
Over the coming months, JSS will partner with other villages to install water tanks. At the end of the project, more than 3,000 Timorese people across 10 villages will have access to clean running water.
The gift of water is life changing for these villages. It promises disease-free water for drinking, cooking and bathing. It provides opportunities for growing vegetables and raising livestock. Thank you for making this happen.
An island of stability for the young people in Thai refugee camps
With your generous support, the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) team in Mae Hong Son in Thailand is providing young people living in the refugee camps with life-changing education.
For many refugee children who have experienced deep trauma, the routine and structure of a school environment is an island of stability in the midst of an uncertain life. Education is also vital for these children to have opportunities as they grow up. That is why, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the JRS team in Mae Hong Son has been working day and night to find ways to continue offering education to the children living in the camps. The team is doing everything they can to make schools a safe and secure environment for many refugee children who are desperately seeking a sense of normality.
Like so many places around the world, school closures were unavoidable in the Mae Hong Son camps. JRS used this time to make the necessary preparations for the students to return to a COVID-19 safe school environment.
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Teachers were trained on the importance of washing hands, wearing masks and social distancing. JRS provided COVID-19 preventative materials such as face masks, infrared thermometers, washbasins, hand sanitisers and soaps to the schools in the camps.
Thanks to supporters like you, students are now back in class with masks on and are maintaining social distance. Thank you for giving these children brighter futures by helping them to continue with their studies.
Paw Meh is one of the students in the Mae Hong Son camp who is delighted to be back at school. She is only nine years old but she’s already made her mind up to become a nurse to help those who are sick. She works hard, studies independently and is in the top three in her class – she even loves homework as it’s a chance for her to study more!
“Being a good child and student is a gift I can give in gratitude to the people who supported my education,” she says. “I want my parents and teachers to be happy with me, and I want to help people.”
If you’d like to read more about Paw Meh, and help young people like her to pursue their dreams, please click here.
Srey Neang, in the middle, smiling and chatting with her sisters
“How will my sister live?” This is a question Hy Buney would often ask herself about her little sister, Srey Neang. She was afraid for Srey Neang’s future, knowing that life would not be easy for her.
Srey Neang, now 21 years old, has been living with mental illness and a behavioural disorder since a young age. She never knew her father because he abandoned the family when she was a baby. Her mother suffered from alcohol abuse and died when Srey Neang was just five years old leaving Srey Neang and her seven siblings to survive on their own.
Srey Neang’s eldest sister, Hy Buney, took on the role of parent and worked tirelessly from a young age to raise her brothers and sisters. It was especially hard for Srey Neang who was not able to take care of herself. Hy Buney told us how heartbreaking it was to see Srey Neang hiding away from other people – finding refuge in being alone as her mental health illness became more apparent. But, the isolation made Srey Neang’s condition worse as she was not able to develop her communication and social skills. Even a simple conversation with another person felt like too much for Srey Neang to handle. So, the outside world became a frightening place for her.
Hy Buney worried that Srey Neang would never be able to live a normal life as an independent person.
Then came a ray of hope.
Because of supporters like you, Srey Neang was able to join the Enhancing Life of People with Disabilities program run by Karuna Battambang Organisation (KBO) in Cambodia. Srey Neang was involved in the support program for three years. She is now no longer afraid to talk to other people. She can take care of herself, and even help out at her sister’s shop making and selling food. Hy Buney shared how she can now see a brighter future for Srey Neang.
You have helped Srey Neang to overcome enormous challenges
and live independently with confidence – free from fear of the outside world.
Thank you!
“Now I have my own skill as a cook. I can make coffee, make sweets, and lemon tea. Thank you Karuna Battambang Organisation, and especially my lovely sister who always helped me so that I can have a good day like today”, beams Srey Neang.
Watch here how Srey Neang is living an independent life.
In early August, two deadly explosions decimated the port and nearby streets of Beirut. The explosions killed more than 170 people, wounded 6,000 and left nearly 300,000 people homeless.
On the same day of the explosions,
the main hospital in Beirut, treating the city’s coronavirus patients, announced
it was on the verge of reaching full capacity.
Then just days after the
explosions, Beirut saw record daily highs of new coronavirus cases – placing
even more pressure on the fragile health system.
For Lebanon, the explosions and
the COVID-19 pandemic have occurred during a time of social and political
turmoil, making recovery efforts even more challenging.
Situated just two kilometres from the explosion site, several Jesuit offices were badly damaged with blown-out windows, shattered walls and ceilings. Fortunately, there were no Jesuits or staff seriously injured in the blast enabling them to respond to the emergency.
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Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Lebanon was already providing COVID-19 relief through food and hygiene supplies as well as assistance to vulnerable families.
After the explosions, JRS expanded its efforts to support blast-affected families in the Bourj Hammoud and Karantina – two neighbourhoods that were badly damaged and where JRS has been working for the past few years.
The JRS ‘Beirut Blast Emergency Response’ program will target 500 families or 2,500 people who have been most affected by the explosion. Over the next four months, JRS will provide them with emergency shelter assistance, food, mental health and psychosocial support.
Are you looking for a special gift to give this Father's Day? Why not browse our Gifts for Change shop to find a gift with the power to transform lives. MORE
Thank you for rebuilding the lives of returned migrant workers in India
Participants of the Jesuit Coronavirus Relief Program in Chatra, India
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After a slow start, the coronavirus
is spreading like wildfire throughout India. With over 2.5 million active cases
and more than 50,000 deaths, the numbers continue to rise exponentially.
Thousands of workers in the cities have lost their jobs and have made harrowing
journeys back to their rural villages. People are desperate and unable to
provide food for their families.
Through the financial generosity
of Lenity Australia, the Jesuits in Hazaribag are responding to the pandemic by
providing emergency food supplies, a ‘cash for work’ program and an income-generating
scheme.
Targeting vulnerable families and
unemployed migrant workers, the Jesuit Coronavirus Relief Program will support
nearly 7,000 people, primarily from Dalit and tribal backgrounds, across 200
villages in Jharkhand state.
Sanjay Bhyuian at his Chow Mein stall
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For 25-year old Sanjay Bhyuian,
the program has offered his family life-saving support.
As the pandemic gripped India and the country went into lockdown, Sanjay was forced to return to his village after losing his job as a Chef at a Mumbai Hotel. Uneducated and only able to write his name, Sanjay recognised providing for his wife and child was going to be difficult.
Through Lenity Australia and your generous support, Sanjay was able to buy cooking supplies through the Jesuit coronavirus relief ‘small-income generating scheme’. Just three days later, Sanjay had set up his own food stall selling Chow Mein in the local market. For Sanjay, the program upheld his dignity, retained his independence and revived his ability to provide for his family.
Your
generosity has enabled Sanjay and many other returned labourers to re-establish
their lives in their home villages by starting up small food stalls, raising
pigs, and running rations shops. With your support, the program upholds dignity
and empowers the local people to provide for themselves – even in these
unprecedented pandemic times.
“Many are getting help in a
dignified way for they earn, and at the same time, useful work is done in a
village”, said Fr Bob Slattery SJ, one of the Jesuit’s involved in running the
Coronavirus Relief Program.
Are you looking for a special gift to give this Father's Day? Why not browse our Gifts for Change shop to find a gift with the power to transform lives. MORE
Scholarship students at Xavier Jesuit School Cambodia
On the evening of the 12th August, we
successfully held our first Gratitude Webinar. Hosted by Jesuit Mission CEO,
Helen Forde, the 30-minute webinar was held to thank our friends of Jesuit
Mission – like you – for your ongoing support, particularly during these
difficult past few months. We are so blessed and are truly grateful for your
generosity!
Korean Jesuit, Fr Jinhyuk Park joined the webinar to share his experiences of working and living through a global pandemic at Xavier Jesuit School (XJS) in Cambodia.
Fr Jinhyuk talked about delivering emergency food relief to XJS
students and families in their home villages.
He also discussed how the closures of schools in Cambodia has highlighted
the educational inequalities for students from low-income families as they
consider discontinuing their studies to support their families.
Here is one story of how your support to our Emergency
Action Fund has changed one girl’s life by enabling her to continue her
studies.
Mardi is one of the oldest scholarship students at XJS. She started high school later than her peers due to hardships at home. When she was younger, her house burnt down leaving her family with nothing. They never fully recovered from that disaster. Mardi’s mother, as the sole breadwinner of the family, was a migrant worker in Thailand. However, with the COVID-19 border closures, she had to return home and has not been able to find any work in her village. With no support from the government, she struggled to provide her family with three meals a day.
Mardi with her mother standing in front of their chicken coop
Fr Jinhyuk and his team came to know of this dire situation
when they visited Mardi’s home to deliver emergency food relief. They knew that
this food relief was not going to last very long and needed a sustainable
solution. So, they invited Mardi’s mother to join the chicken bank
income-generating project where the school supports the participants to start
raising free-range chickens to sell at the market.
Everyone was relieved when Mardi’s mother agreed to take
part in the project, as Mardi was considering discontinuing her studies to work
in Thailand with her mum once the borders open up again. With her mother’s
involvement in the chicken project, Mardi felt less guilty about her desire to
finish high school.
Fr Jinhyuk recalls Mardi’s smile when her mum accepted the
invitation to join the chicken project. He said that smile spoke volumes. “I
felt happy as if we found a lost sheep. At the same time, I felt sorry for what
they had to go through. I believe there are many others like Mardi in Cambodia
and other countries”.
“With your generous support, they can still continue to build their bright future. You also enabled us to accompany our students more closely and continue to find ways to provide quality education for students. I thank you for your solidarity with our students and their families and us here”.
Are you looking for a special gift to give this Father's Day? Why not browse our Gifts for Change shop to find a gift with the power to transform lives. MORE
Sustaining education for children in refugee camps
Paw Meh is a nine-year-old girl, growing up in one of the two refugees camps located in the Mae Hong Son province on the Thailand-Myanmar border.
In her young life, she has already experienced many, many challenges. The daughter of Burmese refugees, she was born in the camp and lives with relentless poverty and uncertainty every day.
Yet this has not dampened her beautiful spirit or her burning ambition to become a nurse when she grows up.
Paw Meh is one of the 10,000 ethnic Karenni people living in the Mae Hong Son camps. The Karenni people were forced to flee their home country when they opposed the military government of Myanmar.
Sadly, they are amongst the most forgotten and excluded populations in the region, and the majority – including children and young people – have been affected by armed conflict, persecution and human rights abuses.
Life in the camps is tough. Located in a very isolated region, the terrain is steep and inhospitable, making it very difficult for families to build adequate shelters or farm. On top of this, the Thai government places heavy restrictions on the movements of refugees which limits the opportunity to find work and make a living.
But there is hope for young people like Paw Meh.
Sustaining education
Our local partner Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Asia Pacific runs the ‘Sustaining Education for Burmese Refugees’ program which is educating, training and empowering 200 teachers in the camps so they can deliver quality, life-changing education to over 3,000 children.
The program focuses on ensuring that refugee children and young people in the Mae Hong Son camps have ongoing access to quality education. To do this, the program builds the capacity of the Karenni Education Department (KnED), a local organisation that runs schools and educational programs in the region.
This inspiring program:
Trains teachers
Helps develop and improve school curriculum
Supports school operations
Trains new teacher-trainers
Distributes teaching and learning materials
Provides extra-curricular activities for students
Education is vital in the Mae Hong Son camps setting. Many refugee children have experienced deep trauma, so the routine and structure of a school environment helps give them a sense of normality. This is also crucial to reducing their risk of exploitation, including trafficking.
For Paw Meh, school is an island of stability in the midst of an uncertain life. Paw Meh’s parents were young when they fled Myanmar and these days are doing everything in their power to support Paw Meh’s education.
“With our situation now and our uncertain future, we are just happy that in the camp there is good education." - Paw Meh's mother
Paw Meh’s parents are so proud of their daughter.
Paw Meh is thriving. She works hard, studies independently and is in the top three in her class. She even loves homework as it’s a chance for her to study more and learn more outside of school.
Paw Meh’s dream of becoming a nurse is never far from her mind. “I like to take care of the sick,” she says. “Especially old people, they are the ones who need the most help.”
“Being a good child and student is a gift that I can give in gratitude to the people who supported my education.”
Two years ago Sophea was working as an unskilled labourer. Now, she’s thriving in Year 8 at Xavier Jesuit School and studying hard so she can achieve her dreams of developing a career that will support herself, her family and give back to her community.
A choice no mother should face
Earning just $5 a day as a labourer in rural Cambodia, Sophea’s mother Mony simply couldn’t afford to put food on the table and send her children to school. But now she is getting the education she deserves.
No family should have to choose between education and having enough food to eat.
For us, living in Australia, it’s almost unimaginable – education and food security are both human rights.
But for a single-mother like Mony, education is a ‘luxury’ she simply can’t afford for her children.
With little education herself, Mony works as a day labourer in rural Cambodia.
She often travels great distances to find work and toils tirelessly in factories or on farms to earn just $5 a day.
Sophea with a classmate
To send Sophea and her three siblings to a local government school would cost Mony $4 a day – 80 percent of the family’s income.
Education in Cambodia
Without help, Mony simply can’t afford to educate her children – and, she is not alone.
Over 75 percent of students across Cambodia do not compete high school.
The vast majority leave to start work and contribute to their family’s survival. It’s not uncommon to see children as young as 10 years old labouring on construction sites or farms.
And, even if parents can afford to send their children to school, after years of war, the education system in Cambodia is so broken that most students finishing Grade 6 cannot read or write well.
Taking action
Seeing the urgent need for affordable, quality education, our local partner Jesuit Service Cambodia took action.
Led by Australian Jesuit Fr Quyen Vu SJ, the Xavier Jesuit School was founded in 2015 in one of the poorest provinces in Cambodia.
Xavier Jesuit School strives to empower students, strengthening their hearts and minds so they can learn, grow and contribute to the new future of Cambodian society.
Committed to serving the poorest of the poor, Xavier Jesuit School offers complete scholarships (including food, accommodation, tuition and expenses) for students who would otherwise miss out on an education – children like Sophea, Mony’s daughter.
Seeking out the most vulnerable families, Jesuit Service Cambodia’s Outreach team met Sophea when she was 15 years old, and working in a bottle factory alongside her mother.
Fr Quyen sharing food with students
Sophea received a scholarship to Xavier Jesuit School that has changed her life and her family’s future.
When Sophea arrived at school she was several years older than her Year 7 classmates. She struggled with guilt about leaving her mother and younger siblings. But her mother Mony’s vision is strong and, like Fr Quyen, she encourages Sophea to be brave and dream big.
“Our goal is to convince students that you sacrifice a few years now, but then you can help not only yourself, but your family," says Fr Quyen. "Education is the key to helping students out of their poverty. Without education they will become unskilled labourers. But if they have a dream, then they have a goal and a purpose. We try to help them dream big.”
An incredible transformation is happening for disadvantaged farmers in Cambodia.
A new method of farming is more than doubling rice crop yields and helping vulnerable people like Mrs Vanny transform their lives.
Mrs Vanny
Like many of the poorest people in Cambodia, Mrs Vanny and her community in Keov Mony are subsistence farmers who use traditional techniques to farm small plots of land.
Although they work extremely hard, most families live hand to mouth, producing just enough food to feed themselves.
And sometimes, when crop yields are bad, there is not enough food to last a season.
Mrs Vanny’s husband makes a meagre living as a scrap dealer.
Two years ago, Mrs Vanny and her husband were living with their two children in a home bound together from banana leaves and sheets of plastic, uncertain of what the future would bring.
But thanks to the generosity of our kind supporters in Australia, Mrs Vanny had access to a life-changing program run by one of our local Jesuit Partners, the Karuna Battamband Organisation.
Through the program Mrs Vanny learned a new method of rice farming, called the System of Rice Intensification (SRI).
A new way to farm
Developed over many years by a Jesuit priest, this astonishingly simple, effective technique uses a quarter of the usual amount of seeds that farmers use to plant their crop, 40 percent less water, and can produce more than twice their usual crops.
The program not only teaches the SRI method, our local Jesuit Partners support farmers every step of the way as they learn this new, sustainable farming technique.
When it came to harvesting time, Mrs Vanny could scarcely believe her yield. On her family’s half hectare Mrs Vanny produced over 2,000kg of rice, more than triple the usual 600kg.
With the money from the harvest, Mrs Vanny was able to secure a loan to build a new house, which is weather-proof and safe, along with a brick outhouse for better sanitation for the family.
Mrs Vanny's old home was open to the elements.
Her new home is comfortable and secure.
In Mrs Vanny’s community, word is spreading about the benefits of SRI. This year 26 new farmers will attend the program, and with the support of Australians like you, we can realise our plan for a Demonstration Farm where more Cambodian farmers can learn this life changing technique.
These days Mrs Vanny is a vocal advocate for SRI and she has recently become a leader in her local Women’s Group. Now, she looks forward to the future with great joy, and is especially delighted that she will be able to provide her children with a good education.
“I am very happy!” Mrs Vanny exclaims. “Learning the SRI method of rice farming has changed my future.”
Our innovative new project in India is empowering Dalit people like Arti to become the agents of their own uplift.
When Arti’s husband died 15 years ago from kidney disease, she was left a widow with three children to raise. A Dalit woman in North-East India, Arti had few options. To survive, she began working at the local brick kilns, day-in-day-out carrying heavy loads of bricks on her head.
But her life changed when a Jesuit-run program started in her village.
Exploitation of the Dalit
Dalit people like Arti – previously known as the ‘untouchables’ – are subject to the worst kinds of discrimination and exploitation. The Dalits have long-suffered social exclusion in India, and today are still denied the very fundamentals they need to survive.
With extremely limited access to education or well-paid work, few Dalit people have savings. If an emergency occurs – like a child needs medicine in the night – they’re at the mercy of money-lenders who swoop in and take advantage.
Cunning and exploitative, the money-lenders offer small loans at extraordinary interest rates – up to 24 times the regular interest rate in Australia.
Burdened by soaring repayments, most borrowers are then forced to work for the money-lenders to pay off their debt. But, without knowing when the debt is paid, they end up working for years as virtual slaves to the money-lenders.
The uplift team
Our project in Hazaribag, Eastern India, works by teaching a core group of Dalit people useful skills – leadership, advocacy, project planning and budgeting.
Known as the “Uplift Team”, this group then goes out into the community to pass on their skills to fellow Dalit people and initiate a range of sustainable programs, like the Women’s Savings Group that changed Arti’s life forever.
So far, the project runs 30 Women’s Savings Groups in the Harzaribag Province.
Each group of around 10-20 women meets monthly or fortnightly, and every woman gives around 50 cents per meeting. This money forms the Group’s capital, and after six months, villagers can then apply to the Women’s Savings Group for small loans, at a reasonable interest rate – around 3 percent.
Through Women’s Savings Groups Dalit women are being empowered to uplift one another and take control of their futures – 50 cents at a time.
With support from the women around her at the Women’s Saving’s Group, and guided by the Uplift Team, Arti improved her financial literacy, learned new business skills and developed a plan to open her own small shop.
Arti borrowed 3,000 rupees from the Women’s Savings Group, and her dry goods business has been so successful, she’s already paid back the loan.
This powerful program has enabled Arti to become an independent woman who – for the first time – can make free choices about her future. And she's helping other Dalit people in her community to achieve their freedom too.
