Marist (SM) Australia

Update from the Karen Mission (Refugee Camp) Coordinator

2011-03-03T12:47:00.043+11:00

March 2, 2011

Two days ago, Saw Ywa Baw, one of the leaders of Maera Moo camp and also a MMC hostel advisory committee member, told me about the TBBC meeting he attended in Maela Camp. TBBC (Thai-Burma Border Consortium) said that since there are funding constraints, they must cut down the rice amount for each person. For this year, all Camp hostels can't accept new students, which mean that new comers will not receive food rations. Hostels will also not receive building materials such as bamboos, roof thatches, etc. At the same time, we won’t refuse child refugees.

Typical Hostel Dining

Schools in the camps will start final exams next week. When our hostel students finish exams, some will visit their families in Karen State

Burma

if travelling is possible. Others will take summer courses. They will also repair their hostel buildings. Given the situation of provision reductions for the camps, I think we will reduce our hostel buildings if we can, but not too crowded for students. St. Mary Hostel coordinators from Maela Camp have told me that they want to rebuild their dining building with cement floor and bricks cover, because it is wet and dirty with mud in raining seasons. They have saved about 15,000 Baht, but they will need to request 15,000 Baht for the construction and building materials, as total cost is about 30,000 Baht. I will also like to ask the fund needed of other 3 hostels for their building repairs.

Carbon-free washing machine

PS. MMC has four hostels in three refugee camps (the term officially used is Temporary Emergency Shelter - temporary can mean 20 plus years!). Recently, young Marist Fathers from the

Philippines

visited and were deeply moved by the plight of so many young refugees who welcomed them with warm generosity.

A hostel

Marists feasting

Our MMC budget for March 2011 for 120+ young folks. (Around $4,500.00 AUD)

1. St. Mary's Hostel in Maela Camp = 25,000 Baht

2. St. Peter Chanel Hostel in Maera Moo Camp = 25,000 Baht

3. St. Champagnat Hostel in Maela Oon Camp = 30,000 Baht

4. St. Colin Hostel in Maela Oon Camp = 25,000 Baht

5. Hostel rebuilding and repairs (15,000 Baht for St. Mary; 5,000 Baht for St. Peter Chanel; 3,000 Baht for St. Colin; and 3,000 Baht for St. Champagnat) = 26,000 Baht.

Giving Hope - light in the darkness

Fr. Gil & young refugees

School homework

why MMC is there

Facebookers Are Seeking Christ, Pope Suggests

2011-02-03T08:58:00.000+11:00

This is a good article about communication through the use of new technologies.

"This means of spreading information and knowledge is giving birth to a new way of learning and thinking, with unprecedented opportunities for establishing relationships and building fellowship."

Please follow the link to read the full article.

Support the Huiling Initiative

2010-12-23T09:40:00.000+11:00

Over the past 20 years, 8 ‘Huilings’ have been opened in

China

to help our disabled brothers and sisters. Huiling’s vision is to create an environment where people with mental disabilities have the right to ask for and receive help from our society – to be able to live in a community enjoying equal opportunities. To achieve this vision, Huiling offers services to help improve the lives of people with mental disability.

The Marist Mission Centre is currently supporting 2 of the 8 Huiling initiatives – Beijing and Guangzhou. To read more about these projects please click on the following:

Burmese Refugee's Christmas Story

2010-12-14T10:09:00.000+11:00

13 December 2010

I am in Ranong and cannot sleep. For the geographically challenged, think Isthmus of Kra in southern Thailand at the point where Burma ends and Muslim Thailand begins, going down to Malaysia. I am in the Marist Fathers' house.

Outside, the fish factory that never sleeps is churning out packaged prawns for markets far away. The people working in it are illegal migrants from

Burma

, paid a pittance and treated as sub humans. As illegals, they can be arrested by the Thai police but usually pay a 'fine' to escape jail — for a while.

Young Burmese men as young as 15 and 16 come off the fishing boats owned by Thai or Burmese entrepreneurs, their pockets brimming with baht, swagger in their step, and head for the tiny brothels by the side of the road near the port, where HIV awaits them.

Only the strong return from the fishing trips. If you are ill and cannot work, you can be tipped into the sea along with the other rubbish for the seagulls. If you trip and fall overboard, the boat ploughs on regardless.

Young Burmese women in longyi, with long, black hair tied in a ponytail, stand out and can be abducted by men in dark glasses in passing cars and taken to the brothels and bars of Phuket, Bangkok or Pattaya. Being illegal with no papers or rights, they disappear, to the despair of their parents. It's part of the dangerous deal of crossing the border from a regime that regards most of its people as scum to a country where a subsistence income can at least be earned.

HIV is rife here — among the Thai and the Burmese. The Global Fund gives money to

Thailand

for those living with the virus but Thai doctors in Ranong, which has more Burmese than Thai, say the cash for anti-retrovirals is only for Thais. So the Burmese die. A few are saved by the Marists among other religious groups with funds from an NGO. But who decides who lives and who dies?

A young Burmese boy of nine who was found abandoned in the forest and then cared for by a poor Burmese family with support from the Marists plays with the priest's big toe. He ran away again but promised he wouldn't do it in future if 'Father' bought him a TV. He is not quite ready for the factory or the fishing boats and is desperately vulnerable.

A young girl of 15 dressed in a school uniform, her hair cut short like a Thai to escape abduction, is too young for the ACU online diploma but asks to attend anyway to learn, just to be part of the dream of having higher education. She is lucky that her parents don't force her into the fish factory.

We visit a young fishermen and his wife in a wooden warren of tiny hovels for the dispossessed. It leans over the water so that when the Thai police come they can abandon their few possessions (an ancient black and white TV, a few dishes, a mattress) and dive into the river to escape the fine/bribe.

Both have HIV and they lost their baby to the virus the year before. They show us a grainy picture of the child, beautiful as all infants are, and we are stunned into silence. The dignity of the couple in their immense human suffering awes us.

A few hours south of here, tourists soak up the sun on the beaches of Ko Samui, Phuket and the islands of the film, The Beach. In the lead-up to Christmas, the contrast is striking.

In Ranong, through an open door, I see a Burmese woman in the lotus position meditating and venerating the Buddha, hoping the next incarnation will be better than the misery of this existence, as a beatific smile crosses her face.

Happy Christmas.

About the author:

Duncan MacLaren coordinates Australian Catholic University's Refugee Program on the Thai-Burma border and lectures in Catholic Approaches to Humanitarian and Development Work. He worked for Caritas for over 25 years and, prior to coming to Australia in 2007, was based in the Vatican as Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis.

The Beginning of the Journey

2010-10-07T10:51:00.000+11:00

http://inside.org.au/the-beginning-of-the-journey/

Afghanistan’s Hazara people, targeted by the Taliban, still have a strong reason to seek protection from countries like Australia, writes Michelle Dimasi in Kabul. Read more...

Dimasi, M. 2010, 'The beginning of the journey', Inside Story, Current Affairs and Culture, viewed on 07 October 2010, http://inside.org.au/the-beginning-of-the-journey/.

The Australian Bishops Conference and the NSW Association of Religious on Border Security and Immigration

2010-07-27T14:34:00.000+10:00

The Australian Bishops Conference and the NSW Association of Religious – priests, sisters, brothers and their networks have their views on Border Security and Immigration debate preceding the upcoming election. Their views reflect solidly on what the Gospels expect from the disciples of Jesus. The secular media and politicians seem to be taking the lower path on these issues which is sad.

* Please click on the images to view the articles.

Kuya Centre for Street Children, Philippines

2010-06-24T10:39:00.003+10:00

The Kuya Centre was established in 1991 by an association of religious brothers in the Philippines. The aim of the centre is to reunite street children with family or refer them to a more stable and supportive living arrangement.

The centre is run by a budget that is made up of the income generated by the efforts of the kids themselves as well as funds from International Marist partners. If you would like to help this project, you can make a designated donation to Kuya Centre for Street Children through the Marist Mission Centre.

Marist Asia Pacific Solidarity 2010, ‘Kuya Centre for Street Children’, viewed on 24 June 2010, http://www.maristsolidarity.net.au/maps/index.php?option=com_

content&view=article&id=26&Itemid=16.

Climate Change & the Catholic Church

2010-01-06T11:27:00.005+11:00

POPE URGES ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=18357

Pope Benedict XVI says industrialised countries have to be responsible over environmental problems and that government policies, the activities of multinationals, and individual behaviour all have an impact on the environment.

In a message for World Peace Day on January 1 2010, released this week, the pontiff states: "It is indeed important to recognise, among the causes of the current ecological crisis, the historic responsibility of the industrialised countries."

"Less developed countries, and especially emerging nations, are not however exonerated from their responsibility... because the duty of gradually adopting effective environmental measures and policies belongs to all," he was quoted saying by an AFP report in the Sydney Morning Herald.

"We cannot remain indifferent to what is happening around us, for the deterioration of any one part of the planet affects us all," the pope said, according to a report by the Catholic News Service.

"Can we remain indifferent before the problems associated with such realities as climate change, desertification, the deterioration and loss of productivity in vast agricultural areas, the pollution of rivers and aquifers, the loss of biodiversity, the increase of natural catastrophes and the deforestation of equatorial and tropical regions?" the pope asked.

"It is becoming more and more evident that the issue of environmental degradation challenges us to examine our lifestyle and the prevailing models of consumption and production, which are often unsustainable from a social, environmental and even economic point of view," the pope said.

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Pic: 512, 894 people endorsed the campaign Caritas took part in

SHAMEFUL DEAL IN COPENHAGEN SPELLS DISASTER FOR POOR

19 December 2009

http://www.caritas.org/newsroom/press_releases/PressRelease19_12_09.html

CIDSE and Caritas Internationalis, the world's largest alliance of aid and development agencies, say the proposed‘Copenhagen Accord’ is a weak and morally reprehensible deal which will spell disaster for millions of the world’s poorest people.

“People in developing countries are already struggling with the effects of climate change. We only have a short window of opportunity to prevent even worse to come. The deal put forward in Copenhagen fails to provide the commitments that the science says is required. Millions of people are now fighting to keep their heads above water while political leaders stall’, said Niamh Garvey of CIDSE member Trócaire/Caritas Ireland from the Bella Center.

“It suggests an unambitious non-binding agreement that sees countries set their own individual targets based on what is considered economically and politically viable rather than what is required by science and justice,” she said.

While countries expressed a willingness to continue working, the proposed deal itself presents no clear time line for concluding a fair ambitious and legally binding agreement in the coming months.

Over the last decade, a lack of political will has hamstrung international efforts to tackle climate change whilst the impacts in developing countries have become increasingly severe.

‘It is inconceivable that with more than 100 world leaders gathered together in one room to make a pact to solve a global problem, they have failed to commit themselves to adequate and binding obligations, said CIDSE Secretary General Bernd Nilles.

“They can call it an historical accord, a declaration, whatever they like. The reality is that leaders have failed to deliver a concrete and effective solution; they have passed up this historical opportunity to set a clear and collective pathway to a sustainable future,” Nilles added.

The networks say the blame lies squarely at the feet of developed countries. Scientific evidence and economic analysis clearly sets out what is required from industrialised nations in terms of emissions reductions and support for developing countries, and they failed to produce the goods.

"Leaders may be lagging behind, but the level of commitment shown by people from all over the world in the run up to Copenhagen has shown unequivocally that the public is firmly behind a strong climate change deal. Leaders must now set a firm deadline for coming to a comprehensive and binding agreement as soon as possible in the coming months, and we’ll be watching them every step of the way,” said Lesley Anne Knight, Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis.

CIDSE and Caritas believe the world must accept nothing less than a fair, ambitious and legally binding agreement which commits developed countries to greenhouse gas emissions cuts of more than 40% by 2020 –based on 1990 levels. The alliance also wants to see wealthy nations provide $195 billion in funding by 2020 – on top of existing aid commitments - to help developing countries harness green technologies and protect themselves from the worst impacts of climate change.

Japanese Catholic Community Fundraiser

2009-12-16T14:52:00.033+11:00

Recently the Japanese Catholic Community of Sydney held a fundraiser at the Holy Name of Mary Parish Hall in Hunters Hill to raise money for Orphanages in Myanmar.

The event comprised of a concert featuring performances using the traditional stringed instrument national instrument of Japan called a Koto (see picture) and singing. There was a Japanese BBQ lunch and a raffle as well as a stalls featuring, Fr Paul Glynn's books soaps made by women of the Japanese Community and white elephant stalls made up of goods donated by the community.

Koto performance by Hitomi Kurosawa and Shoko Ono

Shoko Ono originates from Kanagawa prefecture in Japan. She regularly performs and instructs at koto workshops at Australian Shakuhachi Society Festivals. Shoko was awarded her teaching license from the Sawai International Koto School in 2003. She plans to continue her Koto studies in Australia and Japan. Her vision is to make the Koto and Japanese culture more accessible to global audiences.

Hitomi Kurosawa has been studying koto since 1998 under Satsuki Odamura and she has also studies with koto master Kazue Sawai in Japan. She has accumulated a wide range of performance experiences in various formats as a member of The Sawai International Koto School and as an individual koto player.

Misako Piper accompanied by Hiroko Fisher

Misako Piper (Saito) is a soprano from the Fukushima Prefecture. She studied voice and piano at Senzoku Gakuen University, Japan. She was later awarded scholarships for singing and piano at the Canberra School of Music. Misako is also a triple Eisteddfod winner and continues her studies and performances with David Tatersall, the musical director the University of Canberra.

Hiroko Fischer is the president of the Australian-Japan Society the ACT,

Hiroko has made an outstanding contribution to the deepening of mutual understanding and friendship between Japan and Australia. Also, she provided dedicated support to the student exchange programs as president of the Australia Japan Society (ACT) and promotion of Japanese language with in the ACT education system. She gained a Batchelor of Fine Arts Degree from the Kunitachi College of Music, Tokyo.

Fr Paul Glynn's Books

(all available through MMC for purchase)

Fundraiser Mini Markets

Busy BBQing for lunch!

Japanese BBQ Buffet Lunch

Raffle Prizes

Fr Frank drawing the Raffle Prize winners

If you would like to get in contact with the Japanese Catholic Community please call the Marist Mission Centre on 02 9844 2275.

Thai-Burma Border Refugee Camps Profiled in The Irrawaddy

2009-12-16T14:13:00.015+11:00

MMC supports a number of residences in the camps along the Thai/Burma Border. This year, a special issue of the IRRAWADDY Magazine featuring the lives of the Burmese Refugees on the Thai/Burma Border was published in October.

Link: http://www.irrawaddy.org/

Link to that Issue On Line: http://www.irrawaddy.org/magazine.php

ARTICLES

A Sad, Sad Celebration
Twenty-five years of challenges and achievements for the Thailand Burma Border Consortium—and no end in sight. JIM ANDREWS reports.
Link

Peace in Name only
DAVID SCOTT MATHIESON explains why war and refugees will remain a fact of life in Burma’s borderlands as long as the causes of conflict are not addressed.
Link

A State of Fear
Caught in the crossfire of Burma’s civil war, hundreds of thousands of Karen, Karenni, Mon and Shan are trapped in No Man’s Land, reports SAW YAN NAING.
Link

Homesick
YENI finds that even after years of living on the Thai-Burmese border, most Karen refugees hope to return to Burma one day.
Link

Blending In
Unlike other ethnic minorities, the Shan are seldom recognized as refugees and must keep a low profile to survive in Thailand. KO HTWE reports.
Link

A Fresh Start
Resettlement programs offer tens of thousands of refugees the chance of a new life in the West, writes YENI.
Link

Entangled in Red Tape
The jobs are waiting for Burmese refugees in Thailand, but the road to them is full of obstacles.
Link

MMC is an active supporter of these camps along the Thai-Burma border. To view our project page click here.