In July 2016, Paul and I had a most enjoyable and informative tour of Vietnam and Cambodia.
At the end of the tour we flew from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) to Buon Ma Thuot in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, to visit the Mother House of the Sisters of Mary, Queen of Peace. We stayed in a hotel in the city, opposite the Sacred Heart Cathedral, which was filled to capacity and more at each Mass. Paul and I were the only Europeans at the Mass we attended. We seemed to be the only Europeans in the City for the six days we were there.
The Sisters’ Mission is to support the indigenous ethnic minority villagers with education, health care, social work and food when required. These people are not regarded as citizens of Vietnam. As I watched the Sisters going about their work, the song “Can you feel the love tonight” by Elton John from “The Lion King” kept running through my head. In all my life, I have never been in the presence of such love, devotion, kindness and happiness exhibited by these ladies.
We visited the village of Cu Knao and saw the poorest of the poor. The village is surrounded by farm land that belongs to the Government and Vietnamese citizens. Some of the male villagers work the land but they have no access to the crops. We met one lady who had been bitten by a dog about a year earlier. Her prognosis was death unless she had access to drugs for diabetes. There was an old couple who were childless, therefore, they had no one to support them except the Sisters. They hadn’t eaten for three days. There was a young mother with at least three children and wasn’t able to naturally feed the baby. She required baby formula. The villagers live in cement dwellings but not this family.
There is also a school for some of the children of these ethnic villagers. The children stay with the Sisters who bathe, clothe, feed, teach them Vietnamese and give them basic education.
We also visited St. Therese’s Boarding House, where the Sisters take in teenagers from the minority villages and leper communities and give them formal education as well as life skills.
We were invited to lunch at the Mother House, where we met Sister Catherine, General Superior and many other Sisters, Novices and Postulants. Their welcome was absolutely wonderful and we felt honoured to be the guests of these wonderful ladies and of course Brother Peter, of the De La Salle Order who is a visiting lecturer from Saigon University.
We visited the Binh Minh school in Buonmathuot for the children who are intellectually and physical disadvantaged. The parents of these children find it difficult to care for them and some are abandoned by their families. We met Anh who has Hydrocephalus and was able to undergo surgery to have a shunt inserted due to the financial generosity of donors from Australia.
Sister Kim, with whom many of you are acquainted, was sent here to establish a community to provide support and lodging for her fellow Sisters, who come to Australia to further their education. She has also been charged with raising funds to build a sheltered workshop at Binh Minh School for the older students. Sister would be grateful for any donations for this project.
She can be contacted at [email protected] or 0434 173479.
The website http://www.heartsbeatingtogether.weebly.com is an interesting site for further reading.
At the end of the tour we flew from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) to Buon Ma Thuot in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, to visit the Mother House of the Sisters of Mary, Queen of Peace. We stayed in a hotel in the city, opposite the Sacred Heart Cathedral, which was filled to capacity and more at each Mass. Paul and I were the only Europeans at the Mass we attended. We seemed to be the only Europeans in the City for the six days we were there.
The Sisters’ Mission is to support the indigenous ethnic minority villagers with education, health care, social work and food when required. These people are not regarded as citizens of Vietnam. As I watched the Sisters going about their work, the song “Can you feel the love tonight” by Elton John from “The Lion King” kept running through my head. In all my life, I have never been in the presence of such love, devotion, kindness and happiness exhibited by these ladies.
We visited the village of Cu Knao and saw the poorest of the poor. The village is surrounded by farm land that belongs to the Government and Vietnamese citizens. Some of the male villagers work the land but they have no access to the crops. We met one lady who had been bitten by a dog about a year earlier. Her prognosis was death unless she had access to drugs for diabetes. There was an old couple who were childless, therefore, they had no one to support them except the Sisters. They hadn’t eaten for three days. There was a young mother with at least three children and wasn’t able to naturally feed the baby. She required baby formula. The villagers live in cement dwellings but not this family.
There is also a school for some of the children of these ethnic villagers. The children stay with the Sisters who bathe, clothe, feed, teach them Vietnamese and give them basic education.
We also visited St. Therese’s Boarding House, where the Sisters take in teenagers from the minority villages and leper communities and give them formal education as well as life skills.
We were invited to lunch at the Mother House, where we met Sister Catherine, General Superior and many other Sisters, Novices and Postulants. Their welcome was absolutely wonderful and we felt honoured to be the guests of these wonderful ladies and of course Brother Peter, of the De La Salle Order who is a visiting lecturer from Saigon University.
We visited the Binh Minh school in Buonmathuot for the children who are intellectually and physical disadvantaged. The parents of these children find it difficult to care for them and some are abandoned by their families. We met Anh who has Hydrocephalus and was able to undergo surgery to have a shunt inserted due to the financial generosity of donors from Australia.
Sister Kim, with whom many of you are acquainted, was sent here to establish a community to provide support and lodging for her fellow Sisters, who come to Australia to further their education. She has also been charged with raising funds to build a sheltered workshop at Binh Minh School for the older students. Sister would be grateful for any donations for this project.
She can be contacted at [email protected] or 0434 173479.
The website http://www.heartsbeatingtogether.weebly.com is an interesting site for further reading.