Rempang Construction update June 2007

Letter from Father Yance June 2007

OLPS PC Recycling Project Announcement

If you have a used PC of at least Pentium 3 (purchased no earlier than 2003)and would like a Friend of SVDP benefit from it, please let us know via email or SMS and we will arrange for you to send it to the PC Recycling Team@OLPS

Que Pasa Event

OLPS Kid's Carinval

Dear all,

I was there yesterday at the Kid's Carnival and I can tell you that the FiNs that I met there were all having a ball of a time. The children (some were teens) were all lugging with them the prizes that they won - bow & arrow sets, hula hoops, toy, mini game sets and lots of bags of munchies. But more importantly, they were all there having fun as a family together.

The 3 tickets per child / accompanying adult made it a luxury for them to enjoy themselves there. This is something they don't usually have the priviledge of having. I would like to echo what Yvonne said to you guys in ther email message .... thank you for initiating this, spending time selling tickets and thinking of Bethany & SSVP.

God Bless you all & Thank you once again!
Stan

OLPS Kid's Carnival Thank You Note

On behalf of the kids at Bethany we want to say a great big Thank You to all parishioners who have contributed so generously thus allowing us to participate and enjoy ourselves at the Kids Carnival.

A great big thank you also to those who initiated this idea.

May God shower His blessings on you all abundantly.

Much much love
Yvonne Yeo

Kid's Carnival Ticket Selling Fast!

OLPS Kid's Carnival is coming soon! Just four days away! Yipee!

How cool is Fr Greg!

Forgotten Children of Providence

They study at St. Ignatius Lolyola Elementary School and 60% of them live at the St. Theresia Dormitory run by the Catholic Diocese of Pangkal Pinang responsible for the Riau Islands. They are children from low income families living in the surrounding remote islands, wanting a basic education, in the hope of a better life. Without the school and dormitory, these children will not have access to primary education because of distance and the lack of finance, as their families are predominantly farmers and casual workers who cannot afford to send them to the government schools in Batam.

With limited resources, the Catholic Diocese can only provide one class for each grade from Grade 1 to Grade 6 (ages 6 to 12). There are 124 students attending the school, 74 of which stay at the dormitory.

The living conditions at the dormitory are modest. Water is from an open well and a manual water pump. Electricity is from a diesel generator which operates for a limited period at night. Cooking is with firewood collected from around the location. Food is simply rice with tapioca leaves supplemented by the occasional chicken.

The existing Girls Dormitory was built for 20 but they now have 29 living in it. The Boys Dormitory built for 34 has 45 currently. 30 more are expected in June. A double-decker bed is shared by 4 children. They sleep on mattresses without sheets or pillow cases. They also share towels and in so doing, share the skin diseases that plagued them due to poor hygiene, nutrition and their environment.

We are raising funds to improve the children’s living conditions. Priority is the building of a new dormitory, bedding and sanitation. Their scabies, head lice, malnutrition, infestation of tape and round worms, and other skin conditions were treated by a team of medical professionals in April this year, and it needs continued attention with medication.

We are also extending an invitation to anyone interested in experiencing mission work. Briefly, we are a group of Catholics from different churches inSingapore, who have come together to form a ‘Mission Outreach’.

Although itwas started by a priest in OLPS church, it is not limited to parishioners from that church or to Christians only. There is a core group and a larger secondary group made up of couples and singles especially young adults, as well as families, who come on mission together because they want to expose their kids to outreach and values of the faith such as compassion, service with special focus on the concept of a living faith, hence the Mission's emphasis on being "God's Love in Action". We are all created for that.