In Ethiopia, despite the strong measures taken due to the pandemic, cases have been increasing every day and growing faster in the last couple of weeks.
In the cities and semi-urban areas, the main problem for the population is the drastic lack of income, since in many cases people work every day, either in small commerce in markets or in construction work, services, which during the pandemic have been reduced to an unprecedented minimum.

Many families are living from day to day, and now obtaining the necessary food has become a challenge.

Farmers, 80% of the Ethiopian population, have seen market trading activity reduced and the prices of all products they cannot produce gradually rising.
Since March, the supply of products of all kinds has been affected and prices are constantly rising. The livelihood of the rural population is their grain harvest, which they harvest from November to January, and those who have cows sell what little milk the zebu cows produce. But now the sale of milk is difficult, income is reduced and last year’s harvest is further and further away, so food in the houses is becoming more scarce than “normal”.

In Wuchale Woreda, in the Oromo Region, where MCSPA has been working since 2007, child malnutrition was already a reality before the pandemic. Twin births, women who are anaemic during pregnancy and poor nutrition mean that many babies do not receive adequate nutrition before the age of two, those thousand days that are so important for the physical and psychological development of the human being.

In view of the current situation, many families in the countryside express their great concern: how will they be able to cover their alimentary needs until the next harvest, which will not be until November?

Since 2011 MCSPA has been carrying out a program of digging artisan wells that supply 5 families with each well, for sanitation, consumption and planting of family gardens, adding vegetables to the family diet and with the possibility of harvesting food 3 times a year.

To support this situation of precariousness and distress, we have started planting potatoes, taking advantage of the rains that begin in June, so that families can harvest potatoes in September. During the rainy season, temperatures drop drastically and many children are affected by respiratory diseases, making good nutrition even more necessary.

Since May we have distributed 3,200 kg of seed potatoes to 320 families in 4 villages in the area of Muketuri, so that each family can produce 120 kg of potatoes for consumption in September. They will also be able to keep 10% of that production and plant in the next 10 years.

This activity does not solve all the problems but it does improve the diet of families in difficult times and it strengthens their self-confidence and ability to cope with adversity.
Rumours has spread and all the villages want to be able to plant potatoes, but funds are limited…

When we arrive in the villages a line of people is ready, all of them with bags to receive the potatoes and patiently greet us with blessings: “May God give you a long life.”

We hope that we can continue to share hope among the most needed, who with their gratitude and welcome remind us that we are all brothers and sisters!

Thank you to those who have supported us for years and have kept us in your prayers. May we continue to plant potatoes for many more families!

Lourdes Larruy, MCSPA

Today, we celebrated the solemnity of Corpus Christi at our Mission in Nariokotome. Due to the ongoing public gathering restrictions because of the pandemic, only a small group of our members, young men and women associated with MCSPA and some of our workers attended the Mass.

After the Mass we had a procession to four different homes within the mission taking Christ to them. It has been almost three months that most of our parishioners have not been able to receive Christ. The families that we went to were delighted to have the Blessed Sacrament reach their homes and were very reverential during the benedictions.

May the body and blood of Christ keep us united and in peace.

Fr. Denis Odongo
(MCSPA)

In mid-April we started a campaign to handle the threat to the Covid-19 pandemic in the neighbourhoods near El Paraiso, in Mexico City. The MCSPA has been working in these neighbourhoods for over 3 years. To control the spread of the virus, we intended to conduct talks on hygiene and to distribute food and basic hygiene products the people to stay in their homes. The aim was to give 80 basic packages consisting of food and toiletries.

Two months has passed and with the help of many people – friends, our families, organisations, foundations, businesses and schools, we have been able to distribute 1,168 care packages to six villages in Tlahuac and five in Xochimilco. We are now waiting for more donations for the next round of distribution.

The safety protocols have become stricter as the days go by. We have the responsibility of protecting ourselves and also others from being infected by the virus. The hygiene talks on preventing the spread are very important in the villages which are further away and more isolated. The information that they normally receive is very vague. They may receive messages that increase paranoia or those that claim that the virus is not real and only an invention of the government!

We are still receiving food and toiletries. We want to see if it is possible to reach out to four more villages in the mountains of Xochimilco where there is serious food crisis since many families have lost their jobs and have no means to feed themselves. These are families who do not receive support from the government as they are so remote. We would like to give care packages to 400 families in these villages and 200 more to other families in Apodaca Nueva Leon, where the parish priest, Fr. Alejandro, friend of my family, has offered to help deliver the packages.

We would like to thank all who have been helping out to make all this possible. We are counting on your support to help the families who are suffering from the economic consequences of the lockdown and thus give them a breath of hope in these times of the crisis.

Blanca Beltrán

MCSPA

Now that COVID-19 has forced so many to be locked down, we, in Malawi, are no different. The seminary where we study in Balaka closed and we had to go to stay at the mission in Benga. Another colleague and I asked Fr. Fernando and Fr. Steven to teach us how to make cheese. They happily accepted and agreed to teach us that very evening. Being a doubtful person, I was somehow hesitant but decided to give it a try. I am happy to confirm that it has been for me a learning experience helping me to be more determined to explore what my talents are and not being afraid to fail because it is through trial and error that we learn and move forward.
This is how this time of uncertainty for many has become a moment for reaffirmation for me and my colleague Sylvester, a “come and see” who has been at Benga Mission for the last six months. Processing the milk of the mission cows into various types of cheese, yoghurt, and cream has been an opportunity for us to grow personally as missionaries in the making as well as to contribute to the wellbeing of our community. This has helped us to learn that our mission should not be deterred by setbacks or difficulties but, on the contrary, it is precisely the setbacks and difficulties that can enhance our missionary drive. Because it is when we reach out and empty ourselves that the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, fill us with its love and helping us to achieve extraordinary things in spite of us being ordinary beings. I must acknowledge, that I was gladly surprised to see the joy of His Grace Archbishop Ziyaye when we took cheese to him at his residence at Maula, Lilongwe.
Being missionaries in the making, this experience has taught us that it is through little things that greater things can be achieved. The patroness of the Missions Teresa of Liseux, advocated for doing little thing with great love and this is truly what mission is about.
Some other lessons we have learn that cheese making is not just an activity but a craft. The lactic bacteria used to do cheese, often called “starter cultures” play a key lowering lactose’s PH turning it into a place not suitable for spoiling organisms and what can later be, or not, a delicious and nutritious cheese. In our case we are still learning and hope that with time and humility we might improve and turn cheese making from an activity into a craft.
Another lesson milk processing has taught us is that hygiene, time management and patience play a key role in its success. We still wonder how a negative thing like the COVID19 has taught us a lesson that we will be with us forever.
Having done the cheese for 37 days has also help us to have some practical lessons, which we here share with you.
a. Average milk production from our two milling cows is 18 liters per day
b. We make 2 cheeses of 350g each from 9 liters of milk.
c. We drink 7 liter of milk daily in our community house of 20 people.
d. We share also them milk with our 4 workers to get 2 liters daily.
It is our hope that this activity will help us in the future to make our mission station sustainable and help us to improve the nutrition of people in the area who have a deficit protein intake.

Bernard Okuku, apprentice MCSPA

Hello everyone!
We would like to share with you how we have been here at our Formation House in Manila, Philippines. Ever since this Covid-19 lockdown was officially announced on 15th March 2020 here in Manila, with immediate effect, all movement came to a halt. Life changed suddenly for most people. We imagine that it is the same with you all there where you are.
Only one person is allowed out of our housing village for doing our groceries and purchasing medications if needed. We organised ourselves to do the daily responsibilities in the house – the pilotship, the garden, cooking, laundry, cleaning, liturgy – and we also have time for exercise. We are spending very much time together under the same roof and at the table – more than before. And we are happy for this! We enjoy the cooking even, learning new dishes, and we have our supply of greens from the backyard vegetable plot!
For the four of us studying theology, we officially end the semester this week. We had to submit all our assignments online. The others are still having online classes and exams until the end of this month. Some of us are learning Spanish online in the meantime. Our two Come and See candidates from Timor Leste are still continuing with English classes in the house. The older ones among us are giving them classes in grammar and composition writing. They are improving very much!
Besides the life in common in the house, during this lockdown, we have been helping the families who are constantly in touch with us through our apostolate areas of Payatas, Parola, Ronas Garnens and Daan Tubo. Those of you who have been to Manila know some of these places. Majority of the families are daily wage workers and in this time of lockdown, there is no work and so they are not in a position to put food on the table for their families. We have been channelling the help via the barangay (or neighbourhood) officials due to social distancing regulations or through point persons.
To give you an idea, since the start of the quarantine on 17th of March we have been able to assist with cash and relief food (rice, meat, milk) disbursements to about 380 families and groups, from the above-mentioned depressed areas, on a weekly basis. We were able to give one-off aid to relief efforts of church organisations and faith-based charities operating in the Diocese of Cubao and at Central Manila.
Thanks to friends and well-wishers from the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore, we were able to carry out this relief effort, and we will continue to do so until such time as when the lockdown restrictions will be eased and families are able to fend for themselves again. We appreciate all the help they have given!
This time has been a very big learning experience for all of us. Learning to stay together, study, work and pray; reaching out to needy families in a coordinated way, and accounting for the help received; looking out and supporting each other.
We look forward for our lockdown here to be lifted or modified by end May. We will have to learn to live with the virus in our midst, trying to carry on with our lives but taking all the necessary precaution and adhering to standard operating procedures. And of course giving thanks to God for all the blessings, big and small, everyday.
We pray for the end of this pandemic. And we pray for all of you too, that you stay well and healthy.

From the community at Quezon City, Philippines.

Edward and Theresa got married when they were young in a small village called Source Yubu in South Sudan, just at the border with the Central African Republic. The two were blessed with three lovely children whom they loved so much. Years passed by and their love grew weaker day after day until they divorced. Edward remained in South Sudan and married. Theresa on the other hand went to Central African Republic, and married there too.

Sometimes because of our youth we do things that we may regret when we are older. This happened to Edward, even though he remarried, he was not very happy and always thought of his first wife. One day he made a journey in search of his wife. They met, but Theresa was not willing to come back.

The years went by, and now they were both old and had lost their spouses. They did not know, but fate would bring them back together. They both fell sick and became blind. Theresa had to come back home and her daughter would take care of her. The two met again and love flourished once more between them, and they came back together. Though now both blind, and unable to see each other, they have reunited and are happily living together.

When he hear stories like the one, we realise that the most important thing in life is to be happy and united with our loved ones.

We would like to thank all those people who act as bridges, to try and bring people, who were once divided, together again, to find happiness with their loved ones once again.

Benjamin Khandi
Apprentice MCSPA

In the face of the Covid19 pandemic, improving hygiene is very important, especially handwashing with soap and using disinfecting gels. This practice of maintaining hygiene has for many years been paramount in Nariokotome Mission, where we have long manufactured liquid soap, bleach, soap bars and disinfectant; that we use in our health centres, nurseries, schools and workshops, to maintain hygiene in our development programs.

Educating and promoting our Turkana community, in the practice of good hygiene in these critical moments of the pandemic, and doing it ourselves showing example, in the situation caused by COVID 19 is very vital. However, it is difficult to have clean hands in a place with a shortage of soap and water and constant dust.

Given the shortage of water and other supplies, we thought it would be a good idea to start producing our own sanitizing gels, and explaining how they should be used as a preventive measure for daily use.

Thanks to the help and advice of Antonio Matji, a pharmacist who knows the mission and its needs, it has been possible to achieve it. We have started producing sanitizer in sufficient quantity to supply the Turkana population living in the mission, for our own consumption, and we are even producing to be able to distribute supplies to nearby populations through our mobile clinics.

Lenny Jillo MCSPA

Dear friends,

I write to you from Ave Maria Mission in Mboko, Tombura-Yambio region in South Sudan. I came here to visit our missionaries and also to discover the possibility for mission work here. We were among the last persons allowed to enter the country just before it went into lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Now there is no turning back, I will be here until the borders are opened again … God knows when!

At the moment there are apparently only 2 suspected cases of infection in South Sudan. I pray for many of you who are now either locked down or have your movements restricted. There are many who have lost their loved ones because of this virus. We pray that during these hard times, we may be strong and united in faith and spirit.

The few weeks that I have spent here in South Sudan have been wonderful and I am learning many things. I arrived with the preconceived idea that this was a poor country because of what I had seen in the media. During the flight from Juba to Yambio I could only see whole forests of mango trees laden with fruit. In Yambio town and later on at Ave Maria Mission, there were again plenty of mangoes even on the ground and no one even bothered to pick them!

As I am living in Turkana, I have the urge to pick the mangoes and carry them with me to the house to make mango juice or dry them and keep them for later. It is not good to let these precious fruits go to waste!

The most striking moments have been these last three days of the Paschal Triduum. We could not celebrate mass in the outstations because of the need for social distance. However many people have been coming to the mission, walking sometimes for 6 to 9 km, to see if perhaps the priest would allow them to attend mass at the mission. Some of the faithful cried when they heard that there would not be masses over Easter.

But we thank God that despite all this, they went back home affirmed in their faith.

Happy Easter of the Resurrection to all!

Lillian Omari, MCSPA

Happy Easter from Ave Maria Parish, South Sudan. As we could not celebrate Easter mass for our Christians, Frs. Albert and Avelino and the rest of us went around walking for some good five hours, to meet Christians at their homes.

We had short prayers and there was blessing of seeds and different stuff that is valuable to them. This is a tradition here in South Sudan. During Easter, everyone brings seeds, tools for planting or hunting, torches, books, logs for harvesting honey, matchboxes, firewood, and just anything you can imagine. So that soon after, when rains will come, their plants will do well and will have plenty of harvest.

We thank God for the privilege of being able to share with such a strong-faith people as these. Any opportunity of a priest visiting them is a big blessing.

While walking to the different homes many passerby stopped us for blessing. Others rushed home to bring their seeds, and along would come the whole family to receive the Easter blessing. It was a great joy seeing how people were singing and dancing after the blessings.

At least the people were able to celebrate Easter in a different way. Indeed, the light of the risen Christ has reached them today in spite of not being able to attend mass.

Lillian Omari MCSPA