Sister Celine 2007-2008

Caixa Postal 80,
Campina Grande,
Paraiba, 58100-970,
Brazil.
Email: celineke@terra.com.br

Warm greetings from a very hot, dry and dusty Campina Grande. It doesn't feel or seem like Christmas here with the clear blue sky and soaring temperatures, it's well in the 30's here today- in the city the Christmas trees, lights and Santa look totally out of place. However, the simplicity of the Christmas story is very much in evidence with so many without the basic necessities of food, clothing and shelter.....

At present I'm busy getting ready for the Graduation Ceremony for our six Adult Literacy classes. This project is going from strength to strength and this year 150 adults participated in the classes learning basic literacy and numeric skills. It is hoped that all will continue their education in the public schools next year. The ceremony takes place on the 7th when they will all receive their certificates in the presence of their families, Principals of the local schools and the Municipal Secretary of Education. This year we trained four more local girls as monitors - we now have eight Monitors and a coordinator who does the office work and the planning with me. All of these receive a monthly salary from the Project and five are now in the University (fee paying!) - a great achievement!

The city dump continues to be a place where extreme poverty and deprivation is very evident. Last year we had a malicious fire at the Cooperative were one of the buildings was completely destroyed as well as a lot of valuable equipment. We decided to "abandon" the building on the dump and look for an alternative base. Thankfully we are now renting a large shed nearer to the city where 13 ex-dump workers are involved - in "selective collection of rubbish" in the city of Campina Grande (like we have in Ireland). They have uniforms, hats, gloves, masks and an I.D. card! These workers have gained a dignity that they never had when working on the dump. Each household is invited to separate their rubbish leaving it easier for the workers to collect & select materials which will be used for recycling. This collection is done on foot pushing specially designed carts - not easy in this heat! They sell this material every 15 days to recycling companies at a better price because it is clean! One of the workers is employed full-time making the recycled paper which we use to make Christmas cards, greeting cards, notebooks etc. Last month we started making soap from used cooking oil - the oil is collected at houses or donated by hotels and restaurants. This soap is used for washing clothes on a washboard! (Not too many washing machines here!) We hope to market it in the New Year! We also hope to expand the recycling collection to other areas of the city and thus bring more people off the dump.

While the north east of Brazil is burning up with the heat, the south is suffering from dreadful flooding. Over 2000 people have been left homeless and over 50 people have died. Earlier in the year (May, June, July) we had similar flooding problems here and many people lost their homes. At present, every place is dried and scorched from the sun; fields of crops have been destroyed due to lack of rain.

Hope this gives you some idea of what I'm involved in here! My sincere thanks to all who support our mission through donations, prayers, and encouragement, it's wonderful to have such support from home.

Hoping the coming New Year will bring you good health, joy, happiness and many blessings. May the simplicity of the crib continue to remind us of those who are in need in our world.

Sister Celine 2006-2007

Spring 2006 Ms Doyle organised a big fund raiser with the help of the six year students.

Incredible result: 2,500 euro!!!

This went to Sister Celine without delay.

(click on picture to enlarge)

Sister Celine's letter for Christmas 2007:

Warm greetings from a very hot, dry and dusty Campina Grande! It doesn't feel or seem like Christmas here with the clear blue sky and soaring temperatures- the Christmas trees, lights and Santa look totally out of place. However, the simplicity of the Christmas story is very much in evidence with so many without the basic necessities of food, clothing and shelter.....
At present I'm busy getting ready for the Graduation Ceremony for our six Adult Literacy classes. This project is going from strength to strength and this year 120 Adults participated in the classes learning basic literacy and numeric skills. It is hoped that all will continue their education in the public schools next year. Next Sunday they will all receive their certificates in the presence of their families, Principals of the local schools and the Municipal Secretary of Education. This year we trained two more local girls as Monitors- we now have eight Monitors and a coordinator who does the office work and the planning with me. All of these receive a monthly salary from the Project and six are now in the University where they pay a monthly fee - a great achievement!
The city dump continues to be a place where extreme poverty and deprivation is very evident. In September we had a robbery at the Cooperative where we make the recycled paper. A new water pump, frames for making the paper, the electrical installation and other materials were stolen. A week after this, we had a fire which destroyed part of the building and a lot of the equipment. Needless to say this was devastating for me and for all the workers. However, we have begun the repair work and replaced the equipment for the paper recycling. It was great to get such a fantastic order from Ireland for our Christmas Cards! The project house was like a mini factory with ten women working around the clock to fulfill the order! The money received will make a huge difference to their families this Christmas - thanks to all who bought cards or made donations! We are slowly getting a market for our cards and other products made from the recycled paper here in Campina Grande and in other cities.
The political scene here continues to be difficult. This year brought more scandals of corruption for the political party of President Lula - many of his ministers fell from grace. Despite all this, the Brazilian people still believe in Lula and his policies. He was reelected in Oct for a further four year term. Hopefully we will see a greater distribution of wealth, economic development and improved educational and health services in the coming years!
All is well with me! I continue to be very happy and fulfilled here in the north east of Brazil! Though our group is small -just three of us - the circle of Mercy is expanding all the time, reaching out to new communities in need. My sincere thanks to all who contribute so generously to our mission, as a result all our projects are going from strength to strength. Next year, we will celebrate 25 years of our Mission in Brazil - a wonderful milestone!
Hoping the coming New Year will bring you good health, joy, happiness and many blessings. May the simplicity of the crib continue to remind us of those who are in need in our world.
Fondest thoughts,
Celine.