Destitute Families Get Christmas Visit, Gifts From Catholic Youth Group

Posted: 3rd January 2008

Kim Piseth give the gift to poor families in Prey Veng

PREY VENG, Cambodia (UCAN) -- A group of 13 young people, alumni of the Catholic Church Student Center in the capital, visited 10 poor families and gave them basic necessities as Christmas gifts.

The Catholics, members of a Christian Life Community (CLC) group the center started, visited the poor families in Prey Veng, about 45 kilometers east of Phnom Penh, on Dec. 16 and presented their gifts. Each family received blankets, clothing, school uniforms, noodles and soap, all contributed by the group members themselves.

The Catholic student center has formed 13 CLC groups since it started in 1999. Nine of these groups comprises young people who have left the center. Its director, Father Ashley John Evans of Jesuit Service Cambodia (JSC), has formed a new CLC group with the new students who come to the center each year. The group that visited the families in Prey Veng was formed in 2002.

Father O. Indon, another Jesuit priest with JSC, led the 13 group members on the visit. "We have received a gift from God. Our mission is to help others, especially to serve the poor," he told UCA News.

Some of the poor people the young Catholics visited told UCA News about their situation.

Oum Hangtha, a widower with three children, said he earns the equivalent of less than US$2 a day working at the docks. "It is not enough to support my daily life and my children's schooling," added the 49-year-old man, who was wearing torn clothes and had dirty hands. He thanked the young Catholics for their gift.

Sitting on an old bed in front of her hut was Heng Channy, an HIV-positive widow with four children. "I'm grateful for the gift today. Even if it is small, it is very meaningful," the 36-year-old woman said, adding that she earns the equivalent of US$1.50 a day cleaning houses and doing laundry for other people.

The Catholics then visited a hut with many holes belonging to Trob, 60, who lost her right hand in an accident. Receiving the gift, she thanked the young Catholics while covering her right arm out of embarrassment. Then with eyes full of tears, she said: "Please help me. I am suffering so much." She explained that she is aging and has to deal with a problematic daughter.

CLC member Kim Pisit, 25, told UCA News they try to act "from our heart, and out of love for the poor." Now he can give something to the poor, unlike in his student days, he said. Even though the gifts are small, he added, it helps him understand how to love others.

Another group member, Chu Damo, said he has worked in a Church ministry for the poor in Prey Veng for a year and he feels great pain seeing so many poor people. "Today they are happy with these gifts. But what will they do, how will they feel, when they finish using the items?" pondered Damo, 23.

According to fellow member Hin Rann, "We come here to visit the poor out of love, and to share what we have received from God." He recalled, "In group meetings we always reflect on love and pray, but we never had real activities." Rann explained that "while we are not rich, CLC collected money from each member" to buy the items. He admitted that 10 families is a very small number, but said it is the love shown that is important.

Local CLC members gather for Bible study and sharing to support each other in living a Christian life in Cambodia's predominantly Buddhist society. The first CLC group had eight members. There are now about 140 members in the current 13 groups.

CLC is a global Christian lay organization. Its roots go back to 1563, when Jesuit Father John Leunis founded it in Rome as the Sodality of Our Lady, inspired by Ignatian spirituality. Its members were young lay students.

Article Source: UCAN