Sister Patricia and the Bridge to Rwanda Project

In April Sister Patricia and the Bridge to Rwanda Project came to Holy Trinity Parish in Gainesville to tell parishioners about her work with orphaned children as a result of the 1994 genocide.  To see the archived story click on the following link:  http://bristowenews.com/news/article/2008/apr/23/bridge-rwanda-update   

BristowEnews.com received the following update from Sister Patricia, proposed projects and ways people may provide assistance.

Sister Patricia is now safe in Rwanda with her beloved handicapped and orphaned children. She is grateful that she hand-carried a tabernacle and monstrance, donated by Bishop O’Connell High School and Holy Family Academy. They are in use at the chapel of the handicapped orphanage.

Many people ask me what more they can do to assist. Primarily, we should pray for her just as she, the other sisters and children, pray for us. Sister has a strong faith that God will provide. She is extremely thankful for her visit to Virginia, and is especially touched by the outpouring of kindness and support, which she received from a number of schools and parishes in the diocese. Bridge to Rwanda is blessed to have received contributions from people in Ashburn, Warrenton, Manassas, Bristow, Gainesville, Annandale, Woodbridge, Burke, Fairfax, Arlington, Nokesville, Alexandria, and Springfield!  With the help of Catholics in Northern Virginia, the orphanages should be funded through the end of 2008.

If you are thinking about continued assistance, I can provide a couple of specific ideas;

One idea is to get a number of people to rally around a project for funding. There are two engineers from Ohio, Tim McGarity and Joe Lawrence, traveling to Rwanda in the next month. They will specifically work with Sister to help her prioritize buildings, electricity, water, and other infrastructure projects.  When they return, there will be a master list of projects with very accurate cost estimates, time tables, and plans for completion.  Tim and Joe will work with Sister Patricia and local Rwandan experts to oversee all of these ventures, which have the added benefit of providing much needed jobs to the locals so they can afford to purchase food. After the master list is prepared, I’ll let you know which project(s) we can help provide funds to complete.

For information, some of the planned projects are:  

The fixing of terrible sanitation at the remote orphanage

Completion of an addition to the handicap orphanage

Protection against an imminent threat of erosion at the handicapped orphanage

The building of a security fence around the handicapped orphanage compound

A permanent roof for the carpentry shop

A medical clinic

A sewing school

A Healing Ministry

A secondary school

Sister dreams of building her own secondary school near the handicapped orphanage so that her children are not sent away to the government secondary schools. She has the land and the blueprints already prepared.  This does not mean that people who wish to sponsor and child for secondary school should not do so until her school is built. Without the generosity of secondary school sponsors, these kids could not attend high school at all because they have no other means to pay tuition.                                                                                                      
 

Sister Patricia also has land purchased to construct a Healing Ministry, which will have a chapel, a Catholic library for villagers to learn and discuss the Faith, and obtain counseling. She also wishes for the two young priests of her parish, who have no families and need support, to have a place of security to stay, rest and study.

I also took Sister to Medical Missionaries in Manassas while she was here. Sister and Dr. Irwin are quite anxious to get medical supplies and equipment to Rwanda. However, this too needs to be prioritized due to the expense and logistics of trucking the goods through either Kenya or Tanzania. Hopefully the shipment will occur sometime this year.

A second way to assist is through sacrificial monthly donations which would offset operating costs, including food.  If in all of Virginia, 100 people make a monthly donation of $50, it would greatly assist the sisters. You could consider mentioning Bridge to Rwanda to those looking for this type of contribution to benefit the care of the orphans, and also mention that employers often make donations as well. Bridge to Rwanda accepts automatic contributions after a completed electronic funds transfer (EFT) form is sent to them from the contributor’s bank.

The forms should be sent to:

George Reiss

Treasurer

Bridge to Rwanda, Inc.
4709 Briar Knoll Dr.
Kettering, OH 45429

God bless you for your interest in helping Sister Patricia and her orphans. She will have a steady stream of visitors through the summer and fall, and so we will know how she, the sisters, and the children are faring.
 

In Christ’s Love,

Elizabeth Block

blockclan6@verizon.net

703-369-2145

 

 

Date Published: 2008-06-11 04:45:43

Section: Local News,