Union of Hearts

Written by Francisco, Jesuit scholastic who is doing one year of service and learning in Casa Ricci.

One of these days the Gospel at mass presented to us a strange situation: Jesus enters Capernaum with His disciples, the Pharisees and the Doctors of the Law are also present and, to everyone’s surprise, a roman officer comes and asks Jesus to cure his servant. (Luke 7, 1 – 10) While listening to the reading, my attention was drawn to the moment in which the Pharisees themselves ask Jesus to do the miracle, arguing that the roman has been good to the Jews. I think that part impressed me because during these last months of work with Casa Ricci I found myself in a similar situation; not because I can do miracles, but because here we work with together with many different people. I have found here that people that are very different from one another and have different cultural, religious and even moral backgrounds can still work together for a common good.

At this moment I am in a village in Yunnan, where I came with a lady that is part of Casa Ricci’s staff. She is developing a project of Micro-credit here. Yunnan is quite famous for its rich ethnic variety with dozens of different minority groups living here, and also for the beauty of its landscapes. In these first two months with Casa Ricci I already traveled twice to Yunnan. I think I will spend much time here because, together with all the beauty, cultural variety and economic growth, there is also a world of misery, leprosy, AIDS, prostitution and all kinds of social problems.

The relationship with the gospel that I was talking about is in the group of people that are here with me in this room. Besides me, there is the lady, whose name is Cecilia and who is a Taiwanese Catholic, there are two local government officials, there is the primary school teacher, some village women with their husbands and also some people that received help in the past.

We know that during his lifetime Jesus made many miracles. We also know that sometimes he chose not to do them. I believe one of the reasons, or even one of the conditions for a miracle to happen is that, even with all the differences among ourselves, there is a union of hearts in the desire to do good things. That’s it, union of hearts for a greater good and service of those that are in need. Cecilia is for them a real miracle, and I think it would be almost impossible for this miracle to arrive here without this union of hearts. It were the government officials that brought us here in their jeep (I guess these places can only be reached by jeep!), it was the professor that gathered the people for our coming, it were the women that helped to choose the families that most needed help… and it was Cecilia that brought the money from Casa Ricci.

But money is only part of the miracle. She doesn’t give it away just like that. She knows many by their name, she asks each one how they have used the money, she gives advice and encouragement to those that feel confused or lost, and she promotes help and collaboration among themselves. An example that impressed me was of a man that suffers from AIDS, has no job and must take care of his two daughters by himself because the wife left him. They live in a cottage of bamboo… Cecilia understood the situation (even I understood it in spite of my poor Chinese) and, instead of just giving money, she helped the people to become sensible to that situation. One hour later one of the leaders had already written an official request for help (that hopefully will get half of the money needed to build a house), and the rest of the people already wanted to offer some construction materials and even help in building the house. This way you reduce the costs and form a chain of solidarity. Cecilia gives the rest.

I think we all know what microcredit is. It’s a simple concept: lend money to the poor so that they can rebuild their lives and start to do some work. When they could already make some money, they keep some of it for themselves and start to return the borrowed amount, without interest. As far I can understand it really works! Many of the people that I met today and that offered help to the father of the two little girls were helped by Casa Ricci in the past. Most of them do not have many possibilities, so the activity they chose to start is to raise pigs. With a little money they buy a little pig, raise it and then sell it and use the money to feed their families, pay some studies for the children and save for medical expenses. It was beautiful to see the people coming and “signing” the contract by making a sign with the finger in ink.

Because these places are all so far away, I have a lot of time to think while I am on the way. Today I felt amazed to see that people so different from me, people that do not have the same religious values that I have, can, nevertheless put the Gospel into practice. What if our own communities where a bit more like this? Sometimes it is not enough to wait for the “official help” to come from the sky. We need to overcome our differences and give a little more of ourselves.

September 2010

Louis Pang

Written by Louis Pang, who belongs to Casa Ricci staff and works in our office in Macau.

My name is Louis Pang and I am a Catholic. In May of 2000 I started working in the leprosy service that Casa Ricci was doing in China. Casa Ricci’s work does not involve only the medical treatment of the patients. I, for example, was working to make sure that they also have all the help and conditions they need in order to have a better life. An important part of this work is to use well the donations and contributions that we receive, most of them from abroad.
It was a friend that told me about the work and service that Casa Ricci was doing. I discovered how much the lepers were discriminated by the society and, sometimes, even by their own families. After thinking about how hard the lives of those old and handicapped lepers were, I decided to stay and started a service that I believe is very meaningful with the hope that I could help them feel that they were not completely abandoned after all, and that they could still hope for a better and safer future…

I took office as father Ruiz’s secretary, and was put in charge of “China Desk” that had the responsibility for the leprosy service in mainland China (at that time Casa Ricci was almost entirely dedicated to the service of the lepers). In order to better understand their situation, I sometimes had the opportunity to go to the mainland and see the situation by myself. Being able to see them with my own eyes made me realize even more how much those abandoned and discriminated people needed help. Some of the places I visited at that time made me shed tears…

In 2002, after a visit of Fr. Ruiz to some leprosy villages in Sichuan Province, he planned to start 3 new rehabilitation centers and, at the same time, invite religious sisters to do service there. The centers were all located at Sichuan Province. At that time there was a big organization in Spain – Anesvad – that greatly supported our work. They followed very carefully how the money was being used, demanded a strict control on the work and construction times of those centers, and required clear reports on the progress of the operations. Regarding this aspect, I was a bridge of communication and followed closely the construction process of those centers so that I could report properly.
For several years I assumed the task of fund raising with this organization.
After the care centers were successfully established and including the money for the patients and the sisters at one center, that Spanish organization spent more than one million US dollars from 2002 to 2006 to be used many other centers in the mainland. Besides this I would also try to help my colleagues at work, especially in their contacts with foreign benefactors, and several other projects.
Casa Ricci Social Services is a bond of help between our foreign benefactors and the poor Chinese that suffer from disease and discrimination. In the beginning we focused on the lepers (especially those that had lost the ability to work and sustain themselves). Afterwards we extended our help to their families, especially supporting the children in their studies, and finally also reaching people with AIDS. (We built schools, provided scholarships, and started AIDS care centers.)

I feel honored to be doing this kind of work, because I feel this is the work of God! Even if sometimes I feel certain monotony and tiredness, I can always find inner joy for being here! When I see a new center being opened for those that need help I really feel great consolation and satisfaction! May God continue to help us to serve the poor and marginalized!


Luis Pang
October, 2010

A trip in China (2010.7.10 – 2010.8.10)

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

My name is Chou Chiu Hua (Theresa Chou), I work at Casa Ricci Social Services and I am responsible for our programs for leprosy affected people. Because of this I always have many opportunities to serve together with other people that serve the same mission. I would like to introduce the CFG group, of which I am a member. This group was founded to help improving the assistance and service in each of the leprosy centers. It includes priests, (religious) sisters and other lay persons and we all work for the leprosy affected people. We all believe that the quality of the service that is provided in these centers must improve, therefore, in order to accomplish this, we spent almost half a month visiting 8 leprosy centers in Yunnan and Sichuan. This process is very enriching, exciting and challenging!

The leprosy centers of Sichuan are often located in remote areas of difficult access. The time, for example, we had to follow along a small track in a cliff, knowing that a stone could fall down at any time. When it rains, the land-slides often make many stones fall on the road, making the passage even more dangerous or inaccessible. This scares the people. But for me, even more thrilling was to pass a fragile suspension bridge that stretches for 200 meters, before we could arrive at the leprosy center.

This time our specific purpose was to discuss and share the center’s evaluation report with the sisters that serve there. We spent 2 days in each place, experiencing by ourselves the life in the leprosy center, and in the process we always learn something new. We strongly believe that every experience has its own value and meaning, even if it is an experience that involves suffering! Happiness! Conflicts! Struggles! Why not? Through this activity of discussion and sharing we can also train the sisters of the place, broaden their horizons, and also improve their working skills. We hope in the future they will be able to assume roles of leadership and promote an environment of local self-sustained service.

Theresa Chou

2010/08/27

To give Hope

Written by Sister Maria Cana, Argentinean religious sister who, together with three companions, works in the centre for rehabilitation of lepers in Sishan, Minguan, Province of Anhui.

In March of 2010 we celebrated the third anniversary of our arrival, three years in which by pure grace, Jesus could be served in the persons of these patients.

    In our center life around 40 patients that suffered of are suffering from leper and all its consequences. Some can no longer walk, others became blind, others suffered injuries, wounds in their hands and feet; and so we are helping and assisting in all we can and in the measure they allow us to. We take care of their wounds, wash and mend their clothes, clean their little rooms. For ourselves, besides giving material assistance we also try to give them joy and love. They themselves told us our God must be good because if we that are His daughters are good, He must be good too. In this way they slowly get to know God, His love and His providence for each of His creatures through our activity and gestures. On Sundays and feast days we prepare special activities like games, singing and even some sport. Who could imagine that someone in a wheelchair, that has lost all the fingers of his hands and is already more than 80 years old, would wait so enthusiastically the arrival of the next Sunday so that he can play ball!

    Life in a leprosy center is not easy at all. When someone has been excluded from society, separated from his or her family, compelled to live alone and without any support, life seems not to have the same value anymore. The patients that we assist say that, before we arrived, every year 2 our 3 would die, and in most cases it was suicide. Finding themselves in this state of abandonment, with no help and unable to help themselves, humiliated for such a long time, they decide to end their own life. When we arrived one of them had already decided to do it soon. He himself told us that, having lost his legs, and suffering what he believed where incurable wounds for more than 20 years, he thought he would not have much more time of life and so decided to end it. These are his words: “The sisters arrived just in time. They healed my wounds and here I am!”

    These few years we have spent among them we have accompanied the dying trying to relief their sufferings if when can. The first one was an old lady that, already without the two legs and blind, could not help herself. Still, for us, it was unbelievable to see how much she could still do by herself. During her agony, that lasted for a week, we tried to help her in all we could, in spite of the contrary opinions of the other patients. This dedication impressed them and help, little by little, to change their way of thinking.

Before our arrival no one would assist these dying people… simply because the others had no way to do it. Taking care of someone in a final state requires great energy and, of course, you need the ten fingers in your hands and to be able to move without crutches or wheelchair.

    One day one of the sisters heard a strange conversation: “When I reach that state”, said one of the patients, “I don’t want them to take care of me.” To this, another one said: “I want, they came from so far… I do want them to assist me in that moment”. Others were of the same opinion.

    We understood that, because of the long time of solitude, the abandonment and all sort of needs made them gradually lose the conscience of their own dignity. And that is why we should, with our words and actions help them understand how valuable and important each human life is, and how much we should care for it. We believe that it is growing in them the certainty that someone will take care of them when they reach their final moments, that they won’t be alone, and this gives them a little bit of hope.

    We trust God will bless abundantly what we are doing and, the same way a seed becomes a tree, one day (and even if we won’t see it ourselves), this will give its fruit. Our part is to sow generously.

Sister Maria Cana
September, 2010

A first trip to the world of casa Ricci

Written by Francisco, Jesuit scholastic who is doing one year of service and learning in Casa Ricci.


    My name is Francisco, I am a Jesuit scholastic (still in training) and I will be with Casa Ricci for one year of service. A few days ago I arrived from my first trip to places that Casa Ricci supports. After one meeting about leprosy service, where I could listen to some sharing about what is being done for the people that suffer from leper, we took a night train to another place in Yunnan. There I had the chance to meet two lovely sisters, one equally lovely lady that works with them, and especially 5 wonderful children that, not having a change to live with their own families, have here their new home.
   
Of the children there the youngest is 4 the oldest 8 years old, and the moment we arrived two of them immediately jumped to say hello to us. They had never seen me, but smiled and hugged me with their little arms and hands. One of them called me shushu, that is, uncle or informally a sort of older brother. I was so moved. I was never called like that before, because I don’t have nephews or nieces. Now I have 5! I spent the afternoon playing with them, trying to make myself clear in my still poor mandarin… But with the children is so easy, they only need someone to laugh with them, to make funny faces, to hold them tight when they cry, or to sit next to them while they make a beautiful “abstract drawing” to offer you.
    The sisters, that are full time professors/mothers for them, have a delicate and essential role. Their mission is to love, and love means to care for the greater good of the other. While I can play and make the children laugh, the sisters have to make sure these little ones learn their first characters, eat their vegetables, wash their hands, take their medicine, etc… I had the impression the sister that is responsible for them there has the gift of being tender and strong at the same time. She will make an angry face if someone doesn’t want eat, and the next minute she will be holding the same child in the most joyful and kind embrace. I was impressed by that and also to see how the children are so polite and capable of performing their little daily tasks, and yet so much like any other children, always jumping and calling all attention, and playing and crying and being children…
    I must confess that on that first day I was a little bit distracted. Before going I already knew that many of the children we serve suffer from AIDS. Maybe on that first day I was so happy to be with them, so much enriched by their joy and simplicity, that it didn’t come occur to me they were sick. Only on the way back we talked about it and suddenly I realized I had just spent the whole afternoon in the middle of children that have a very serious health problem. I don’t want to talk about it now, but it is clear that they suffer much more than they had to, due to the unfair look with which society tends to look at them, not to mention the fact that they also have complicated family stories where love often is not as abundant as it should.
    The next day I came back to “my” little ones. I was happy on the way there, eager to meet those beautiful smiles (some of them already lacking a few milk teeth) again. I confess that in the first moment, and in spite of all the information that tells us AIDS is not contagious just by being friends with someone, I was still a bit unsecure about touching the children, hugging, cleaning, and breathing with them. The problem was in my mind, it was my problem, as it is society’s problem, not the children’s problem. The children were just like the day before, happy and jumping, and crying, and asking for attention and care. And so I let myself become their shushu again, and, even if I am the one who is supposed to help, I was the one who left with an enriched heart and a happy spirit. The little ones might be sick, and they might even not live many years, but it seemed to me they are as full of life as any other child. Under the loving care of the sisters, and with God’s eyes looking on them, they are certainly children beautiful future.

    Finally we went to another place, a much bigger house for children and young people. The children were not there yet, because now if vacation time for them. But I did had the chance to meet the sisters and also two volunteers that will spend one full year serving there. I was very glad to meet them, and to see how joyfully they are willing to give their time and energy for those children. I returned to Macau with a feeling of consolation. It is true that there are many unfair and said things in our world. It is sad to think that, one day, those little ones will not be there anymore to receive us with shouts of excitement. It is sad how we and our society sometimes can’t see the value of those that are sick, and the importance of giving them equal changes to be happy. But to know that there are so many good people out there that want to do good, is a wonderful sign of hope, and a reminder to us that there is nothing happier than to make others happy!


Francisco
August, 2010