Communication matters!

Text written by Simon Chan, IT professional working in our office in Macao.

 I am Simon Chan, a semi-retired IT professional from Hong Kong working part-time for Casa Ricci in Macau. Though still young at heart, most people would think that I am in the 40+ but I am in fact over 50. Father of two sons, my elder son has graduated and now studying graduate school. My wife and I are volunteers in the Catholic Marriage Advisory Council, organizing Pre-Marriage Courses for those going to get married in the Church. We are also proud to practice and teach Natural Family Planning method in parishes.

My encounters with the Jesuits went back to my secondary school days studying in Wah Yan College HK. The courageous and ground-breaking deeds of Jesuits Fathers led me to enter the Catholic Church and opened the long term relationship with the Jesuits.

The first time I heard about Fr. Luis Ruiz was in 2006 during a trip to the ShuangChuen Island in south of GuangDong province in celebration of St. Francis Xavier’s 500^th year of birth. St. Francis died on that island while waiting to go into mainland China to spread the good news of the gospel. The Wan Yan community in Hong Kong helped to renovate the chapel (or otherwise known as graveyard) and found that Fr. Ruiz was there before us to renovate the mentioned chapel.

I met Fr. Fernando Azpiroz in a Family Movement cell group gathering when he was practicing social service work in Hong Kong. Several years later, after hearing about the love & care work in China started by Fr. Ruiz, I shared the same passion immediately. How  Fr. Ruiz could start the leprosy caring work at the age of 73 without any money or people, but still provide such great service to the poor people in need, was truly an amazing miracle. With common interest in the Apple technology, Fr. Fernando and I started chatting on the modernization of Casaricci back-office and communication work. With God’s will, I am able to work part-time now in the Casa Ricci Macau office, having started in mid-2010.

My work in Casaricci falls under two main categories:

1. Information Technology support. This can be anything from selecting a printer, PC/Mac support, setting up email accounts, Internet access, to designing and operating a photo management system and a database system; and
2. Communication with Benefactors, friends and public. Besides preparing the Casaricci Newsletter “Encounter”, I also set up the Casaricci website (www.casaricci.org), a new pamphlet to introduce Casaricci, and email communication with some selected benefactors.

Through modern technology, we hope to provide more details of our charity work in China. While there are limits as to how much detail we can provide, people can generally appreciate the type of hard works and the challenging environment that we and our partners are facing. Recently we received a number of feedback from emails and letters that they can now understand more of our works through the newsletter, website, blogs etc. These are in fact great encouragement to our work. We also pray that our Lord can reward our front-line workers and partners for their health and happiness either on earth or in heaven.

Simon Chan

Lucy and Casa Ricci

Written by Lucy Chang, who is in charge of Casa Ricci's correspondence in Spanish.

1 – Why did you come to Casa Ricci? What motivated you to embrace this work?

Before a friend of mine introduced me to this institution I had never heard of it. After that I was also introduced to a Spanish Jesuit called Fr. Ruiz, that had already been working in Macao and Mainland China for many years, bringing financial help to the poor lepers of many different places in China. Latter those donations were also used to help AIDS affected people.

I am motivated to do this work because I feel I can help other people.

2 – What is for you the most fulfilling aspect of your daily work in Casa Ricci?

What makes me feel more fulfilled is that, not being a native from this lovely place, I can nevertheless be useful in this center.

To give testimony of our faith in the middle of situations of great suffering and poverty. About the works of Fr. Ruiz in Mainland China I am responsible for the correspondence in Spanish, and for all the donations that we receive from Latin and central America. I am very consoled to see that so many people supports us and send money to help.

3 – An aspect that you consider difficult in your work with Casa Ricci. (Something that is a challenge for you)

The fact that I don’t know Chinese. Frankly speaking Chinese language with its dialects its very hard for me. I am not good in languages.

4 – An experience that you had in Casa Ricci and that has impressed you.

One thing that impresses me about Casa Ricci is that, in spite of having people from many different places, cultures and mentalities, we can come together for the sake of a common good and to help other people in need.

Lucy Chang

Our Casa Ricci

This text was written by Diana Leong who works in Casa Ricci’s office in Macau.

It has been already five years since I entered this big family of Casa Ricci. I feel that during these five years our work was always changing and improving, and I believe we are able to bring healthier life conditions and comfort to many people.

The most important part of my work is to keep contact with our benefactors. Every once in a while, I inform our benefactors about Fr. Ruiz’ mission, about the work that the staff of Casa Ricci is developing in China, and about the lives of the people we help. Sometimes I also receive letters from benefactors and friends, who also like to share about their lives with us, or to say hello to Fr. Ruiz and to the patients we help.

For me the most encouraging thing is to see that we receive help and donations from so many kind hearted people. We use this money to help the leprosy rehabilitation centers, to improve the medical assistance to leprosy patients, to build “children’s homes” and give the AIDS affected children a better environment, to help pay the studies and life expenses of children from poor families and allow them to receive education and care, etc…

As the saying goes: “many a little makes a mickle”, every little bit of help we receive from our benefactors is very precious to us. And here I am, as faithful member of this Casa Ricci family, promoting our mission and thanking all of you for your help towards the poor.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10 )

Diana Leong

Story of a life

Written by Sister Teresa, who works in a center for rehabilitation of leprosy afected people in the province of Guangzhou.

A 21 years old girl is should normally be someone full of vitality, dreams, expectations and ideals of youth, but a ruthless leprosy forced Shanshan to live in our rehabilitation center isolated from the rest of the world.

Since 2009, Shanshan and her younger sister live with us at the rehabilitation center and until now I had never asked much about their family background. But now I wanted to share with all of you. I don’t do it  not  to inspire compassion, but hopping that each one of us from our different points of view can reflect about this story and gain something from it.

When Shanshan was six years old, her mother became very sick and because the family was very poor, they couldn’t get treatment for her and she passed away. On the year she turned 13, and also because of their poverty, she, her father and her younger sister were forced to leave their home and went to Shenzhen where they lived as beggars. Less than a year after, her father also got sick and died. With the help of the local police, they buried their father and afterwards were sent to live in an orphanage. One year later Shanshan finally had a chance to go to school. When she saw the other children with their parents she really envied them, and wished she too could have a mommy and a dad to take care of her.

In 2005 she was finally given a chance to go and live with a family. Mr. and Mrs. Chen’s conditions were not bad at all; he is a policeman and she also has a decent salary. Moreover they were good to her. But unfortunately Shanshan didn’t adapt well to this new environment and returned to the orphanage back with her little sister (that had also lived for a while with a different family). In 2009 Shanshan went to study in a technical school and her sister was in middle school. At that time, her sister’s arms and legs slowly began to lose sensibility and finally became numb. This situation worsened to the point that she would began to develop injuries all over her body without feeling pain. One year after the first symptoms, she couldn’t walk normally anymore, and her face was completely disfigured.  Finally she was diagnosed with leper. It was then that the nurse that took care of her, suggested that Shanshan would also be examined by a doctor because she had been together with her younger sister most of the time and had also experienced some of the same symptoms. After the medical exam she found out she also had leper. The news stroke the two sisters like a thunderbolt, and after that, in February of 2009, the director of the orphanage together with some teachers brought them to our center of rehabilitation for leprosy affected people.

In these two years nothing impressed more than to see the two sisters bravely facing all the difficulties and hardships that life has been repeatedly throwing at them. But I worry about them. What disturbs me more is the concern about their future; one day they will have to go back to the big family of society, and I don’t know how they face it. And here we can only rely on their own ability to change and let themselves be changed and continue to grow until the end. Aren’t we all like that?  In our lives, none of us received the promise that things would always be easy and smooth. Sometimes we have to “row upstream”.

April 2011

Sister Teresa

The Source of Joy: Fr. Ruiz and Casa Ricci

Dear friends these are the links to the video with the story of Fr. Ruiz and Casa Ricci's service in Macao and China.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Irw7rqtp8HQ

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=900mNT4uxIA&feature=related

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbmFV5wpPnE&feature=related

Hope you enjoy it and that it helps us all to fell greater communion with Fr. Ruiz, and with Casa Ricci's mission.

Being touched

Written by Theresa Chou, who is responsible for Casa Ricci’s leper rehabilitation programs.

Wangdu is located in the district of Baoding, Province of Hebei. It is a small city and not very developed. Without having any special natural resources, it is respected for its ability to preserve the traditional rustic flavor of old Chinese towns. The day we arrived there to pay a visit, was exactly the last day of the Chinese Spring Festival, and the streets were crowded with people running up and down to buy the traditional paper lanterns for their celebration. We took a taxi, and headed for the center of rehabilitation for leprosy affected people, where the 3 sisters who live there where already waiting for us.

The first thing that came to my mind was to go see our friend, which I like to call “Jesus’ loved one”. He is a leprosy patient that was blessed by God with a beautiful singing voice. I am not sure when was it that he lost his eye sight and became completely blind, but the deep impression he caused in me the first time we met is still very alive in my memory. On that occasion he was asked to offer us a song. While he was singing his blind eyes where suddenly filled with tears that rolled down his face. Then he turned around and wiped his face with the coat’s sleeve. Was he moved by the beauty of the moment, or simply embarrassed to find himself – a Chinese Man – crying in public? I will never know for sure, but I could sense in him a deep touch of melancholy that quickly spread to all of us and made us feel an indescribable sadness. I am sure that none of them wanted to leave their homes and “be forced” to live isolated with a group of strangers.

One day, the sisters told me that he often says how much he misses his parents. He begged the sisters to accompany him to his home in the northeast but, not without great sadness, they had to tell him that it would be very difficult for them to take him there because for a blind man, even the most basic actions such as going to the toilet would be very hard, especially if he has to be on a train that takes several nights and days to get to the destination. When he sang for us, he chose a song that is precisely about how “there is nothing like mother’s love under heaven”. Can you imagine what he was feeling at that moment? Completely heartbroken. Even if he tried to smile at the end of the song, there was no way he could hide such a strong feeling. Many years ago he still had a sister that came to visit him, but afterwards his family ceased to contact with him. One of the problems is that, if people discover he has leper, they will start rejecting his whole family. How would his parents be able to live then? The simple thought of this was enough to make him doubt his idea of visiting his family.

When was the last time we made someone cry of happiness? When we touch someone in this way, especially those who are lonely and suffer the most, we give them the strength they need to continue hoping that their lives are still worth living.

March, 2011

Forty Days in the Love and Care Center

In 2010 I visited the Love and Care Center in Hunan Province, not long after my year-long chemo treatment in Taiwan and before going back to my teaching career.

I went there with a grateful and zealous heart and at the same time a weak and wearied body, I felt myself in a quest for inner healing. I remembered several years ago I have browsed the newsletter of Casa Ricci Social Services and was deeply struck by their multiple projects in Mainland China. After I received the permission of my community, Teresian Association, I volunteered to give some language lessons to the Sisters who work in the Love and Care Center. Fr. Fernando discussed with the Sisters and informed me they were glad of having language lessons. In God’s Providence, I spent forty days in the Love and Care Center. 

            In July 2010, was the first time I visited the Love and Care Center. We had individual classes from morning till evening in those ten days. All the Sisters learned with great enthusiasm, in spite of the hectic schedule amid their heavy working load. We had countless moments of fun and joy in teaching and learning. I was much moved by the Sisters eagerness to empower themselves in one way or another. Although I did not have much contact with the patients, from the sharing of the Sisters I found their mission was so attractive. The life stories of patients revealed a world not only filled with discrimination and marginalization, but also with dignity, love and care. The Sisters’ selfless generosity and profound happiness attracted me to know more about the mission of Love and Care Center.

            After a month, I paid another visit to the Love and Care Center. This time I stayed a bit longer. Aside from teaching the Sisters, I had classes with an adult patient as well. We became friends soon and he shared with me many of his opinions about life. I would always remember how excited and delighted he was when we revised those English phrases he was familiar with. Regarding the children patients, we played English games three times a week. During day time, they always asked to have English games in the evening. Their cheerful laughter will be forever on my memory. Through the fun of learning, life became different. I was happy that I could contribute in my small way.

            Apart from teaching, I was also invited to almost all the activities of the Center, such as visiting  a senior citizens compound in Mid-Autumn Festival, fruit harvesting with all the patients, making calendars in manual workshop, annual evaluation and planning workshop, etc. The Love and Care Center is an AIDS medical center which admits the seriously ill patients, it is amazing that because of the loving care of the Sisters many patients get better and better.
            From time to time we talked about many of the aspect of life in the Center, and there I discovered more of the generous self-giving spirit of the Sistes. This rekindled my heart.

Regardless of all the bitterness in life and all the bodily pains, the patients always wear friendly smiles. When I worked with them in the manual workshop, they were fond of making jokes. The atmosphere in the Center is so welcoming. Like a family, the Sisters, the adult patients, the children patients and the volunteers live together in harmony and share different responsibilities cooperatively. No one treated me as a stranger, but as a menber of the family, and I am very grateful to them all. Meeting them and having their friendship, gave me a lot strengh and even now that I am far awayI can still "drink" from so much good that I have received at the Love and Care Center.

                                                                                                            Katherine, Feb 2011