Since May 2021, Saigon city has been suffering much from the fourth wave of the Covid pandemic. New infected cases and deaths reported daily increase remarkable. Lockdown, strict regulations and curfew were introduced. While these regulations are necessary to constrain the pandemic, they make the life of those who live from hand to mouth becoming more dreadful. Archbishop Joseph Nguyen Chi Linh sent an appealing letter to dioceses, Caritas, parishes, religious orders, communities and everyone to act urgently, and to do all we can for Saigon, to reach out to people who are affected by the this deadly pandemic.
Responding to the Archbishop’s invitation, the sisters of Our Lady of the Missions in Viet Nam province quickly joined hands with parishes, our associates and benefactors to support Saigon whatever we can to bring some relief to the people, especially to the poor workers, the unemployed who are under a strict lockdown for weeks. Each community has different ways, such as cooking and providing hot meals to hundreds people daily, sharing vegetables and fruits in their gardens, sharing necessities with brothers and sisters in quarantined and blocked areas nearby our communities. All communities, including the our elderly sisters, novices and aspirants have made more sacrifices these days by having simpler meals or by cutting down our needs to save a modest amount of money to contribute to the Diocese’s Caritas Fund. Some friends and sisters’ family members also contributed financially to this program. It is in the midst of the sufferings, we witness so much goodness, generosity and love of the people. People reach out to those in need, regardless religion and belief. We are One!
We hope the Covid pandemic will end soon. May God bless our Việt Nam country and its people.
Sr. M. Tuyet Mai- Rndm
SOME PICTURES FROM OUR COMMUNITIES:
FROM NHA TRANG DIOCESE: VINH TRANG COMMUNITY
FROM DA LAT DIOCESE: DA LAT COMMUNITY, NAM BAN COMMUNITY
FROM PHU CUONG DIOCESE: CU CHI COMMUNITY
FROM XUAN LOC DIOCESE: QUANG LAM COMMUNITY, THACH AN COMMUNITY
FROM BAN ME THUOT DIOCESE: LONG ĐIEN COMMUNITY
FROM KONTUM DIOCESE: PLEIJUT COMMUNITY
FROM THE ARCHDIOCESE OF SAIGON: THE COMMUNITIES OF TAN BINH, DISTRICT SEVEN, THI NGHE, THU DUC, ELDERLY SISTERS, NOVICE, ASPIRANT