Spiritan Office for Mission Advancement Grants in Action

NIGERIA: Poultry farm expansion at Okura

The Spiritan poultry farm in Okura, Nigeria, was expanded to allow for the sale of eggs and broiler chickens as a source of nourishment for the local Spiritan confreres and income from sales to the surrounding community. Under the direction of fathers Andrew Edogbo, C.S.Sp., and Dominic Ikede, C.S.Sp., the farm, in the first 12 months of the expansion, is realizing a profit of $750 per month, and on its way to sustainability.
 

SIERRA LEONE: Primary school at Samie

The residents of Samie Village have a vision of a community settlement providing traditional schools as well as agricultural and vocational training. That vision has been embraced by Fr. Michael Fillie, C.S.Sp., who has led fundraising activities to realize this vision. He is recognized as the first native Sierra Leonean to become a Spiritan and as the first Catholic missionary priest in the West African country.  

Land is abundant, fertile, and now relatively inexpensive in the Samie region. The inhabitants of the village are working towards the first phase of the settlement, namely the construction of the basic primary school structure. The villagers have cleared the land, and they are in the process of forming the quantity of bricks that will be required to begin construction.

A water well will come online within the next several weeks for use by the village for many purposes including the irrigation of hundreds of cassava/tapioca roots planted in the adjacent farm. The sale of these products will help to defray school construction costs and other needs of the village.

ETHIOPIA: Renovation of health care facility Dhadim

The health care facility at Dhadim received much needed upgrades to improve the quality of care and the security of medical staff and members of the adjacent communities who rely on continuing operation.

The fence surrounding the facility was completed, and a secure entry point with guard house has provided that desired sense of peace and security. Door locks and windows were replaced, and walls resurfaced and painted in the in-patient rooms. New toilets and bathrooms were also included in the facility’s improvements.

Common ailments in the region are HIV/AIDS, TB, upper respiratory issues and malaria.

This $20,000 project was co-funded by SOMA and SOS Chrétien’s d’Orient. Co-funding is a common occurrence as few funding entities can award grants in the $20,000 range.

UKRAINE Updates

In an August email Bishop Fr. Mykhaylo Bubniy C.SS.R,  Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archiepiscopal Exarch of Odessa, a southern Ukrainian city that has suffered repeated bombing since the Russian invasion, told of conditions the diocese has and is encountering.

“Russia’s invasion in Ukraine February 2022 resulted in millions of people being displaced, which saw thousands of refugees: women with children, the elderly, and the sick people, who saw the real-time slaughter of innocent Ukrainian residents and bombs of houses which created catastrophic impact on people`s mental health. And the only safe places people saw to survive are Cathedrals, seminaries, monasteries and parish houses and we opened our doors to them.

The Russian invasion on Ukraine has also inflicted psychological damage that would last for generations. The Greek Catholic church and civilians who have been impacted by war are at a higher risk of developing mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression.

The greatest challenge for the local Church, however, will be to heal the wounds in the souls of so many people, especially children, elderly mothers and both the priests and sisters.  Rehabilitation is a major challenge, as is the psychological formation of priests or sisters related to pastoral care. 

The Priests working with the affected populations need to involve in psychologists and other mental health training of seminarians of both the Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic Churches to teach them to recognize and react to signs of war trauma, in addition to the spiritual assistance they provide to people. (August 8, 2023)
 

Spiritan Efforts in the area

Fr. Marek Myslinski, C.S.Sp., the Spiritan Superior in Poland has been directing the Congregation’s efforts in response to Ukrainian refugees displaced in Poland. The following is from his recent email.

”Thank you for your help, which has been very useful both here on the ground in Poland, where we have been continuously hosting refugees, mothers with children since March 1, 2022, but also part of the funds have been used to organize humanitarian convoys to Ukraine. We have already been there nine times with aid and on August 18 we are going once again. Since the beginning of the year, we have been going mainly to the Kherson region.” (August 11, 2023)
 

Global water security 

• 187 children die every hour from lack of access to clean water
• 25% of the population in 12 African countries spend 30 minutes on a round-trip to find safe water.
• By 2024 (next year) 1.8 billion people will be living in regions with absolute water scarcity.
• A 2% temperature rise will likely result in 3 billion people experiencing water stress.
• 87% of the world’s population – around 5.9 billion people – have access to clean and safe drinking water resources, however, that means almost one billion people do not.

Your contribution helps us support water security projects including wells, rainwater catchment systems, boreholes, and water tanks.