A quarterly newsletter on missionary efforts from around the world.
October 2024
A New Hospital For Healing and Hope
With deep gratitude to our Heavenly Father, I am pleased to share that on September 22, 2024, the Hospital Betania officially opened its doors.
The Desperate Need For Medical Care
For 12 years, Centro Betania has brought hope to the Cobán region in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, by providing food, education, and healthcare resources. The Hospital Betania is an extension of this support network, designed to offer quality medical care at low cost to low-income people in Cobán and the surrounding rural areas.
Alta Verapaz, the 16th province of the Republic of Guatemala, has one of the highest poverty rates in the country, with 90.3% of its population living in poverty in 2023, according to the National Statistics Institute. The overwhelming hardships in the area highlight the urgent need for a hospital.
Challenges like poor infrastructure, socioeconomic issues, limited access to education, high illiteracy rates, food insecurity, and chronic malnutrition prompted the community to take action. This need for change inspired the development of programs, including the establishment of the Hospital Betania.
New Vision Comes to Life
Originally a children’s dining room, the facility has transformed into a hospital that brings healing and hope to the region’s most vulnerable. This hospital serves as a refuge for those needing medical care, offering affordable, high-quality health services.
Hospital Betania was blessed and inaugurated by the Most Reverend Rodolfo Valenzuela, Bishop of Verapaz, who presided over the Sunday Mass with the CICM Missionaries at the Parish of El Calvario, Cobán. Following the Eucharistic celebration, he also blessed the hospital’s administrative and medical personnel and the facility itself.
The hospital's inauguration was a day filled with joy and celebration. Many families from El Calvario Parish and neighboring communities attended, recognizing the importance and gift of having a hospital nearby.
A Place of Hope For Those Most in Need
The Hospital Betania is more than just a medical facility; it is a symbol of hope. Over time, it is expected to become a critical provider of low-cost healthcare in Cobán, serving those most in need and easing the health challenges faced by low-income families.
- Fr. Charitable Derisseau, CICM
A Thirst For Change
For many of us, clean drinking water is as easy as turning on a faucet or purchasing a bottle at the store. But in parts of the world like Yaoundé, Cameroon, the reality is far more challenging.
In the small community of Eloumden, home to about 100 families, access to safe drinking water is a daily struggle.
Behind the Scarcity
Eloumden relies on a five-month rainy season to meet its water needs, but with worsening climate change, the region now faces prolonged, severe droughts. The local municipality provides water only twice a week, forcing residents to collect rainwater from rusted rooftops or travel miles on foot to find clean water — with no guarantee it will be available.
Those unable to make the journey often resort to using water from unsanitary wells, often leading to serious diseases like typhoid fever and kidney failure.
A Community’s Response
At MercyWorks, we strive to tend to the spiritual and physical needs of the communities we serve. In response to this dire situation, Father Pamphile CICM and his pastoral council are working to build two boreholes and water towers for year-round access. With geophysicists already confirming a safe underground water supply, the community is rallying together to fundraise and bring this life-saving project to fruition.
The second school year at St. Charles Primary School in Chisankhwa, Malawi is well underway. The students here recently started a unique initiative to help support their education.
To contribute to their tuition and the school's expansion, students started a garden in the schoolyard, growing crops to raise funds for essential supplies to build additional classrooms. The proceeds were used to purchase much-needed materials like cement and classroom supplies, further inspiring the community to invest in the school’s future.
Reenergizing a Community
This project not only helped meet immediate needs but also cultivated a sense of responsibility and empowerment among the students.
In addition to the physical development of the school, self-help groups were established to equip young leaders with the tools and skills for future success. These groups aim to strengthen the local community by giving students opportunities to grow in leadership and service to their neighbors.
The garden initiative, in particular, has become a powerful example of how small, locally-driven efforts can make a big impact, both in providing practical resources and in uniting the community around the school’s mission.
St. Charles Primary School students returned for their second school year, and with growing demand, the school plans to welcome 45 more students next year!
Prayer Request: Remember the Faithhul Departed
With All Souls Day quickly approaching, let us remember to pray for all the faithful departed, especially for the holy souls in purgatory. 🙏🏽
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Having a mass celebrated for our deceased loved ones especially on All Souls Day and the month of November is a wonderful part of our Catholic Tradition. I am writing to let you know that our Missionaries around the world are honored to pray with you for your intentions. Please consider sending your Mass Intention request to Missionhurst (of course, you can send your intentions at any time of the year).
A Mass offering for your intentions will be greatly appreciated and please make check payable to Missionhurst, Inc. You can also email us your intentions at promotion@missionhurst.org or you can call the office to submit your mass intentions at 703-528-3804.
Your donation for the Holy Mass will be used to support our Missionhurst missionaries and the people they are serving in their missions around the world.
This year we think of our sisters and brothers who are affected in their faith journey by the lack of a place of worship e.g. a church, a chapel or even a hangar to protect them from heat and rain.
On behalf of all our Missionhurst missionaries and the people they serve in difficult areas, please accept my heartfelt gratitude for all your prayers and generous support. You are a true blessing to us.
May God bless you abundantly.
- Fr. Pascal Kumanda, CICM
Novenas, Prayer Resources, and Stories from MercyWorks
Around the world, the MercyWorks community is praying and sharing stories to support our missionaries. Click below to read & pray with us 🙏🏽
