austraLasia 1327
'When will you return?' doctors, nurses and authorities ask Don Bosco Pakistan...'And indeed we shall'.
QUETTA: 13th November 2005 -- Fr Peter Zago, superior of the Salesian mission in Pakistan, has just returned to Quetta from Lahore, where he attended the joint meeting of Bishops and Major Superiors from Pakistan. At the conclusion of that meeting, the president of Caritas in Pakistan, Bishop Joseph Coutts of Faisalabad Diocese, praised the work of the Salesians in Abottabad where a rehabilitation camp of 200 tents was pitched by the side of the Aiub Teaching Hospital, itself badly damaged by the earthquake. The Bishop mentioned that the Salesians, helped by local generous friends, were amongst the first to move to the area from far away Lahore (560 km) and Quetta (1,400 km). Fr Zago was then invited to briefly present the work done and immediate future plans. We will let him take up the story from here:
"The many present were amazed at how a group of about 50 young students aged 12-18 could put up in such a short time, about 15 days, such a complex work of pitching 200 tents, providing electricity, water, toilets, gas kitchen, cooking and serving food, preparing the interior of tents with beds, mattresses, carpets, plus transporting to the camp the many wounded who had been flown in from the mountains by helicopters, and helping doctors and nurses to deliver medical services.
"Fr Miguel and myself, present day and night till the end, when we handed over the camp to local authorities, were ourselves touched by the generosity of our students. We were also much encouraged by the Apostolic Nuncio in Islamabad, Msgr Alessandro D'Errico who,following the Mass and meeting, announced that the Nunciature would give 20,000 euro for the continuation of our work. A few days ago, soon after the celebration of the Muslim Eid, we received phone calls from our friends, camp authorities, doctors and nurses, thanking us for the dedication our Salesian personnel had shown in the camp work and asking us 'When will you return'?
"Yesterday, Fr Francis Alencherry, answering a letter I had sent to the Rector Major, was encouraging us to return. And indeed we shall. Fr Miguel went yesterday to the many friends and authorities in Abbodabad to study the possibility of placing a tent survival camp in Muna Jafra, 12 kms from Balacod the epicentre of the quake.
"It seems that news of our project is reaching faraway countries and peoples. Today. Fr Miguel will be interviewed from Spain by telephone. We have received positive and generous answers first of all from the Rector Major and Council, then from VIS, from the Don Bosco Mission Offices in Bonn and Madrid, Stiching Porticus from Holland, Jugend Dritte Welt from Austria, 'La Madre' Foundation in the USA through Fr Lorenzoni, and many parishes and individuals from around the world who follow our mission work. The list is too long to remember.
"This coming week and group of young men from Quetta, accompanied and led by Fr Julio Palmieri (Principal of Don Bosco Learning Centre), and some of our postulants, our Italian nurse Arianna, will join Fr Miguel and his students, postulants and instructors in Lahore. Together they will venture 2,400 metres up to Muna Jafra...a third camp could follow next Spring, March-April, to construct solid houses in collaboration with Caritas and local and foreign NGO's.
"May Don Bosco and his Mother and Teacher, Mary, through the prayers of many, accompany us."
Fr Peter Zago.
_____________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/rssala.xml. If you subscribe, email this information and your name will come off the regular email list. RSS eliminates problems such as multiple mailings, viruses, email bloat. Think about it!
'When will you return?' doctors, nurses and authorities ask Don Bosco Pakistan...'And indeed we shall'.
QUETTA: 13th November 2005 -- Fr Peter Zago, superior of the Salesian mission in Pakistan, has just returned to Quetta from Lahore, where he attended the joint meeting of Bishops and Major Superiors from Pakistan. At the conclusion of that meeting, the president of Caritas in Pakistan, Bishop Joseph Coutts of Faisalabad Diocese, praised the work of the Salesians in Abottabad where a rehabilitation camp of 200 tents was pitched by the side of the Aiub Teaching Hospital, itself badly damaged by the earthquake. The Bishop mentioned that the Salesians, helped by local generous friends, were amongst the first to move to the area from far away Lahore (560 km) and Quetta (1,400 km). Fr Zago was then invited to briefly present the work done and immediate future plans. We will let him take up the story from here:
"The many present were amazed at how a group of about 50 young students aged 12-18 could put up in such a short time, about 15 days, such a complex work of pitching 200 tents, providing electricity, water, toilets, gas kitchen, cooking and serving food, preparing the interior of tents with beds, mattresses, carpets, plus transporting to the camp the many wounded who had been flown in from the mountains by helicopters, and helping doctors and nurses to deliver medical services.
"Fr Miguel and myself, present day and night till the end, when we handed over the camp to local authorities, were ourselves touched by the generosity of our students. We were also much encouraged by the Apostolic Nuncio in Islamabad, Msgr Alessandro D'Errico who,following the Mass and meeting, announced that the Nunciature would give 20,000 euro for the continuation of our work. A few days ago, soon after the celebration of the Muslim Eid, we received phone calls from our friends, camp authorities, doctors and nurses, thanking us for the dedication our Salesian personnel had shown in the camp work and asking us 'When will you return'?
"Yesterday, Fr Francis Alencherry, answering a letter I had sent to the Rector Major, was encouraging us to return. And indeed we shall. Fr Miguel went yesterday to the many friends and authorities in Abbodabad to study the possibility of placing a tent survival camp in Muna Jafra, 12 kms from Balacod the epicentre of the quake.
"It seems that news of our project is reaching faraway countries and peoples. Today. Fr Miguel will be interviewed from Spain by telephone. We have received positive and generous answers first of all from the Rector Major and Council, then from VIS, from the Don Bosco Mission Offices in Bonn and Madrid, Stiching Porticus from Holland, Jugend Dritte Welt from Austria, 'La Madre' Foundation in the USA through Fr Lorenzoni, and many parishes and individuals from around the world who follow our mission work. The list is too long to remember.
"This coming week and group of young men from Quetta, accompanied and led by Fr Julio Palmieri (Principal of Don Bosco Learning Centre), and some of our postulants, our Italian nurse Arianna, will join Fr Miguel and his students, postulants and instructors in Lahore. Together they will venture 2,400 metres up to Muna Jafra...a third camp could follow next Spring, March-April, to construct solid houses in collaboration with Caritas and local and foreign NGO's.
"May Don Bosco and his Mother and Teacher, Mary, through the prayers of many, accompany us."
Fr Peter Zago.
_____________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/rssala.xml. If you subscribe, email this information and your name will come off the regular email list. RSS eliminates problems such as multiple mailings, viruses, email bloat. Think about it!
