A Mission of the Heart
Donation protected
My dear friends
I have some very special news to share with you all. In just a few weeks from now, at the beginning of July, I leave Australia to embark on a beautiful mission of love which will see me travel to the Middle East and then all the way to the deserts of Africa. Inspired simply by the ideal of Christian love, it is God’s providence that leads me again to undertake this journey to the other side of the world.
It is not every day that one is given such an opportunity and it is truly amazing where God leads us in this one precious life that we are given. I never thought that today I would write to you all about the beautiful missions I am about to embark upon and I am excited and humbled to share this news with you all. I cannot wait to get started.
I will spend the next six months of 2018 into 2019 on two very special missions that, as a Catholic and as a teacher, are close to my heart. While I will leave my little school, my beautiful Prep students here, it is not with a heavy heart that I leave, instead, it a heart full of hope, of love, of faith and of joy to spend time with and serve the poor and the weary.
The needs are real and countless, the situation is alarming, the task is immense.
I feel deeply called to this work, to serve as a volunteer on a humanitarian mission helping the Christians of war torn Syria and poor street children of East Africa. I am so very grateful for the opportunity to be part of this work and as many of you know it is a deeply personal journey of faith, hope and charity. ‘Give your hands to serve and your heart to love’ - St Teresa of Calcutta.
We need your help.
Let me share with you a little bit about these two special missions.
MISSION SYRIA
This time next month, I will be in Damascus, Syria, where I will volunteer with French Catholic NGO, SOS Chretiens d’Orient. Many of you already know the work of this organisation and you have been amazing in the support you gave last year when I went with them to Iraq. This young and vibrant organisation is determined to be with the people of Syria as they rebuild their lives and I will join the team on the ground there.
SOS Chrétiens d’Orient has been working in Syria since 2013, providing essential humanitarian aid, organising projects with children and developing economic initiatives to help the Christian population, who have suffered so much, to regain some normality in their shattered lives. Teams of volunteers work alongside locals in Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Tartus, Sadad and Maaloola.
Whilst in the field we assess the needs of the displaced, bring food and medicines, build and expand schools, provide nursing facilities, participate in reconstruction projects and organise summer camps and lessons for children.
Whilst I am in Syria, where I will volunteer for two months, I will travel to Aleppo where I will join a team who are engaged in the mammoth task of rebuilding and reconstruction projects in Christian areas of this once beautiful but battle wearied city. A city almost completely obliterated and devastated after five years of war, wounded, battered, torn, but a city in which today there is hope, hope for the future, hope in the eyes of its people, who are so strong, so resilient, and so determined to begin again.
Now is the time, so that residents can return to a normal life and find a reason to stay.
One of the biggest projects is rebuilding of a school. For six years the children's education has been neglected. And as a teacher, the education of the young is my passion. With education, one can hope for a brighter and better future for the next generation.
Before the war, Al Imane school had 1000 students from kindergarten to high school but because of the damage caused by shelling, many buildings have been damaged and the cathedral partially destroyed. Starting in 2013, the school was moved to the basement of the Holy Cross Church, which belongs to the Armenian Catholics. By helping the Armenian Catholic community we are helping to reinstate the educational institutions of Aleppo. This is just one of many projects ongoing at present in Syria and it is amazing to play even a little part in this work of renewal.
You too can participate in the rebirth of this city. Schools, churches, homes, livelihoods.
Here in Brisbane, I have been blessed and privileged to meet some of the warmest people from Syria and today many of them have become my dearest friends. I have listened to their stories, I have shared their beautiful culture, eaten many meals together; their hospitality is unrivalled.
They have made so many difficult decisions to leave their homes in the country they hold dear, to seek a life of safety here in Australia. And each and every one has left loved ones behind. So, for them and for me, this mission is personal. We have not had to suffer what they have; their lives have been torn apart because of hatred and war.
Can I count on you dear friends, to help rebuild their beautiful country?
MISSION DJIBOUTI
At the beginning of September, I will continue my volunteer journey. I will travel to Djibouti, a tiny but so very poor country on the horn of Africa. There I will spend time with some beautiful Catholic sisters of St Joseph of Tarbes. These Kenyan sisters run a school for poor children in the capital city. The climate is harsh, one of the hottest countries in the world, food shortages are commonplace as the rains often fail. There is little infrastructure and few resources.
A French speaking country, Djibouti has been spared the ravages of wars that have been raging all around it’s borders. And it is here that this elementary school, a little oasis in the midst of chaos, serves 167 children and is growing. They have but few books in English, very limited resources but lots of little people to teach and lots of heart among the sisters who work there.
The Catholic Church in Djibouti runs ten schools throughout the country, with just five priests scattered on missions throughout the land from Djibouti city to Tajourah to Obock. They are helped by the beautiful religious sisters, whose work it is to run little schools for the local population. With literacy rates startlingly low in Djibouti it is clear that without the presence of the Catholic Church many children would simply never receive schooling. As it is less than half of girls Djibouti receive an education.
Your donations are their only resource.
This little school is the only English-speaking school in the diocese and a place which provides education to the poorest children, many of them refugees whose families have fled years of successive and brutal war, conflict and famine in the neighbouring countries of Eritrea to the north, Ethiopia to the west, Somalia to the south and Yemen, just across the water to the east.
Many of these beautiful children have no identity papers, no means of education and they live in the direst conditions and depend on the Catholic mission, working tirelessly to provide them with a good start in life. Without education, what will become of them?
We need your help, your prayers and your support.
As a teacher, one of my greatest passions and joys in life is being with children, teaching them, loving them, spending time with them. Childhood is such a precious time.
The Catholic Church has been in Djibouti since 1865, working in this predominantly Muslim nation, working quietly as wars rages around it, working as a beacon of hope for the impoverished, the hungry, the young, the displaced, providing the only means of education for many, skills for agricultural projects, technical skills so that young men can learn trades and emergency aid in times of disaster, such as the Cyclone Sagar and subsequent flash flooding which happened just last month, which destroyed so much property and livelihoods, including the little office of Caritas Djibouti.
We are called to love one another.
So, the Catholic Church both in Syria and in Djibouti works humbly amongst the local population, gentle in its ways, providing education, in the spirit of Christian love. It is this that changes hearts, it is through simplicity of heart and actions that we go as disciples of the Good News. We go to the farthest reaches of the world and through humble deeds He can somehow use us to let Himself be known.
YOU can help this work to continue.
Please spare a thought for those families of these countries who are not as fortunate as yours; for those children who will try to sleep tonight in a place that is far from their home, where fear interrupts sleep, where tummies are hungry and where hope is hard to come by.
Ponder upon the words ‘For I was hungry and you have me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you made me welcome, I was naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me…’’
What an amazing wisdom we have inherited. What are we doing with it?
An inspiring Catholic priest, who runs a technical school for young men in Tadjourah in the north of the Djibouti, Fr Mark said that ‘Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega; without him we can do nothing.’
What can you do to help?
Dear friends, there is so much work to be done. Perhaps, like me, you have always wanted to do missionary work, but you never had the opportunity. I will go for you, while I ask you to support this mission. I will post regular updates from the field on the work and you can be assured that the people of Syria and Djibouti will know of your love and your care for them.
We can undertake this mission together, by donating now.
Please support and encourage communities who are living in such difficult circumstances. Encourage them by your generosity; help them to hope for a better future and to know that we, in the Western world, do care.
I am so grateful to those who have helped to make these opportunities come to fruition and with the help of God I will do my very best. My only wish is to serve others, to know and grow in the love of Christ.
Dear friends, you have always been so generous in your support and for that I am truly grateful. If you are not in a position to donate, please pray for these missions. I know that the power of your prayers is immense.
We must not abandon these families, these children, in their hour of need.
My personal goal is to extend the hand of friendship and compassion to all I meet as I know you would want to as well. So, I go simply as a Christian woman, to serve in simplicity, in whatever way I can. With my hands I offer to help, with my legs I will walk beside them on their journey. Together we can love, share and pray.
This campaign is to help those who have little or nothing. I hope that together we can raise $5000, which I will divide between both missions. Whether your donation is big or small, be assured that you are helping another person to live with dignity and hope.
We have so much to be grateful for. How amazing it will be to bring the gift of your generosity with me to Syria and to Africa to support the communities there.
You can make a difference.
It is through small and simple acts of kindness, it is ordinary people working together that can make extraordinary things happen so that our world becomes a better place. Whether or not you can donate, please pray for these missions. You will be remembered in our prayers and I will take with me each and every message of support from Australia, from Ireland, from wherever you are dear friends.
Be inspired. ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of my brethren, you did it to me’ Matthew 25:40
Thank you. May God bless you.
Much love,
Ora
P.S. I am doing my best to fund my travel expenses myself, so 100% of your donations (minus the GoFundMe 5% fee,) will go directly to SOS Chrétien’s d’Orient and to the Horn of Africa Elementary School in Catholic Diocese of Djibouti.
I have some very special news to share with you all. In just a few weeks from now, at the beginning of July, I leave Australia to embark on a beautiful mission of love which will see me travel to the Middle East and then all the way to the deserts of Africa. Inspired simply by the ideal of Christian love, it is God’s providence that leads me again to undertake this journey to the other side of the world.
It is not every day that one is given such an opportunity and it is truly amazing where God leads us in this one precious life that we are given. I never thought that today I would write to you all about the beautiful missions I am about to embark upon and I am excited and humbled to share this news with you all. I cannot wait to get started.
I will spend the next six months of 2018 into 2019 on two very special missions that, as a Catholic and as a teacher, are close to my heart. While I will leave my little school, my beautiful Prep students here, it is not with a heavy heart that I leave, instead, it a heart full of hope, of love, of faith and of joy to spend time with and serve the poor and the weary.
The needs are real and countless, the situation is alarming, the task is immense.
I feel deeply called to this work, to serve as a volunteer on a humanitarian mission helping the Christians of war torn Syria and poor street children of East Africa. I am so very grateful for the opportunity to be part of this work and as many of you know it is a deeply personal journey of faith, hope and charity. ‘Give your hands to serve and your heart to love’ - St Teresa of Calcutta.
We need your help.
Let me share with you a little bit about these two special missions.
MISSION SYRIA
This time next month, I will be in Damascus, Syria, where I will volunteer with French Catholic NGO, SOS Chretiens d’Orient. Many of you already know the work of this organisation and you have been amazing in the support you gave last year when I went with them to Iraq. This young and vibrant organisation is determined to be with the people of Syria as they rebuild their lives and I will join the team on the ground there.
SOS Chrétiens d’Orient has been working in Syria since 2013, providing essential humanitarian aid, organising projects with children and developing economic initiatives to help the Christian population, who have suffered so much, to regain some normality in their shattered lives. Teams of volunteers work alongside locals in Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Tartus, Sadad and Maaloola.
Whilst in the field we assess the needs of the displaced, bring food and medicines, build and expand schools, provide nursing facilities, participate in reconstruction projects and organise summer camps and lessons for children.
Whilst I am in Syria, where I will volunteer for two months, I will travel to Aleppo where I will join a team who are engaged in the mammoth task of rebuilding and reconstruction projects in Christian areas of this once beautiful but battle wearied city. A city almost completely obliterated and devastated after five years of war, wounded, battered, torn, but a city in which today there is hope, hope for the future, hope in the eyes of its people, who are so strong, so resilient, and so determined to begin again.
Now is the time, so that residents can return to a normal life and find a reason to stay.
One of the biggest projects is rebuilding of a school. For six years the children's education has been neglected. And as a teacher, the education of the young is my passion. With education, one can hope for a brighter and better future for the next generation.
Before the war, Al Imane school had 1000 students from kindergarten to high school but because of the damage caused by shelling, many buildings have been damaged and the cathedral partially destroyed. Starting in 2013, the school was moved to the basement of the Holy Cross Church, which belongs to the Armenian Catholics. By helping the Armenian Catholic community we are helping to reinstate the educational institutions of Aleppo. This is just one of many projects ongoing at present in Syria and it is amazing to play even a little part in this work of renewal.
You too can participate in the rebirth of this city. Schools, churches, homes, livelihoods.
Here in Brisbane, I have been blessed and privileged to meet some of the warmest people from Syria and today many of them have become my dearest friends. I have listened to their stories, I have shared their beautiful culture, eaten many meals together; their hospitality is unrivalled.
They have made so many difficult decisions to leave their homes in the country they hold dear, to seek a life of safety here in Australia. And each and every one has left loved ones behind. So, for them and for me, this mission is personal. We have not had to suffer what they have; their lives have been torn apart because of hatred and war.
Can I count on you dear friends, to help rebuild their beautiful country?
MISSION DJIBOUTI
At the beginning of September, I will continue my volunteer journey. I will travel to Djibouti, a tiny but so very poor country on the horn of Africa. There I will spend time with some beautiful Catholic sisters of St Joseph of Tarbes. These Kenyan sisters run a school for poor children in the capital city. The climate is harsh, one of the hottest countries in the world, food shortages are commonplace as the rains often fail. There is little infrastructure and few resources.
A French speaking country, Djibouti has been spared the ravages of wars that have been raging all around it’s borders. And it is here that this elementary school, a little oasis in the midst of chaos, serves 167 children and is growing. They have but few books in English, very limited resources but lots of little people to teach and lots of heart among the sisters who work there.
The Catholic Church in Djibouti runs ten schools throughout the country, with just five priests scattered on missions throughout the land from Djibouti city to Tajourah to Obock. They are helped by the beautiful religious sisters, whose work it is to run little schools for the local population. With literacy rates startlingly low in Djibouti it is clear that without the presence of the Catholic Church many children would simply never receive schooling. As it is less than half of girls Djibouti receive an education.
Your donations are their only resource.
This little school is the only English-speaking school in the diocese and a place which provides education to the poorest children, many of them refugees whose families have fled years of successive and brutal war, conflict and famine in the neighbouring countries of Eritrea to the north, Ethiopia to the west, Somalia to the south and Yemen, just across the water to the east.
Many of these beautiful children have no identity papers, no means of education and they live in the direst conditions and depend on the Catholic mission, working tirelessly to provide them with a good start in life. Without education, what will become of them?
We need your help, your prayers and your support.
As a teacher, one of my greatest passions and joys in life is being with children, teaching them, loving them, spending time with them. Childhood is such a precious time.
The Catholic Church has been in Djibouti since 1865, working in this predominantly Muslim nation, working quietly as wars rages around it, working as a beacon of hope for the impoverished, the hungry, the young, the displaced, providing the only means of education for many, skills for agricultural projects, technical skills so that young men can learn trades and emergency aid in times of disaster, such as the Cyclone Sagar and subsequent flash flooding which happened just last month, which destroyed so much property and livelihoods, including the little office of Caritas Djibouti.
We are called to love one another.
So, the Catholic Church both in Syria and in Djibouti works humbly amongst the local population, gentle in its ways, providing education, in the spirit of Christian love. It is this that changes hearts, it is through simplicity of heart and actions that we go as disciples of the Good News. We go to the farthest reaches of the world and through humble deeds He can somehow use us to let Himself be known.
YOU can help this work to continue.
Please spare a thought for those families of these countries who are not as fortunate as yours; for those children who will try to sleep tonight in a place that is far from their home, where fear interrupts sleep, where tummies are hungry and where hope is hard to come by.
Ponder upon the words ‘For I was hungry and you have me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you made me welcome, I was naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me…’’
What an amazing wisdom we have inherited. What are we doing with it?
An inspiring Catholic priest, who runs a technical school for young men in Tadjourah in the north of the Djibouti, Fr Mark said that ‘Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega; without him we can do nothing.’
What can you do to help?
Dear friends, there is so much work to be done. Perhaps, like me, you have always wanted to do missionary work, but you never had the opportunity. I will go for you, while I ask you to support this mission. I will post regular updates from the field on the work and you can be assured that the people of Syria and Djibouti will know of your love and your care for them.
We can undertake this mission together, by donating now.
Please support and encourage communities who are living in such difficult circumstances. Encourage them by your generosity; help them to hope for a better future and to know that we, in the Western world, do care.
I am so grateful to those who have helped to make these opportunities come to fruition and with the help of God I will do my very best. My only wish is to serve others, to know and grow in the love of Christ.
Dear friends, you have always been so generous in your support and for that I am truly grateful. If you are not in a position to donate, please pray for these missions. I know that the power of your prayers is immense.
We must not abandon these families, these children, in their hour of need.
My personal goal is to extend the hand of friendship and compassion to all I meet as I know you would want to as well. So, I go simply as a Christian woman, to serve in simplicity, in whatever way I can. With my hands I offer to help, with my legs I will walk beside them on their journey. Together we can love, share and pray.
This campaign is to help those who have little or nothing. I hope that together we can raise $5000, which I will divide between both missions. Whether your donation is big or small, be assured that you are helping another person to live with dignity and hope.
We have so much to be grateful for. How amazing it will be to bring the gift of your generosity with me to Syria and to Africa to support the communities there.
You can make a difference.
It is through small and simple acts of kindness, it is ordinary people working together that can make extraordinary things happen so that our world becomes a better place. Whether or not you can donate, please pray for these missions. You will be remembered in our prayers and I will take with me each and every message of support from Australia, from Ireland, from wherever you are dear friends.
Be inspired. ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of my brethren, you did it to me’ Matthew 25:40
Thank you. May God bless you.
Much love,
Ora
P.S. I am doing my best to fund my travel expenses myself, so 100% of your donations (minus the GoFundMe 5% fee,) will go directly to SOS Chrétien’s d’Orient and to the Horn of Africa Elementary School in Catholic Diocese of Djibouti.
Organizer
Ora Mary
Organizer
Petrie Terrace QLD
