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WA's only Catholic weekly newspaper Perth: October 10 2002 Price: Si
The gift of miracles Poorest of the poor in Thailand benefit from the weeping statue in Rockingham By Bronwen Clune
Visitors to the weeping statue of Mary at Our lady of Lourdes Church in Rockingham have spontaneously left donations totalling $18,000 which have been passed on to Perth Sister Joan Evans to help her in her missionary work in the slums of Bangkok The money was donated by people visiting the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes, which had been crying tears of oil continuously for 58 days at the time The Record went to print. Sister Joan, a Presentation nun, has made it her life's work to help the poor in the port slum area of Bangkok known as Klong "Most of the people I encounter every day are extremely poor," Sr Joan said. "There are times when some of the people are too poor to even have rice to eat. This is extremely distressing to me because Thailand grows more than enough rice to feed its population." Sister Joan was introduced to Patty Powell, the owner of the statue, when Patty visited Thailand eight years ago. It was also on that trip that Patty bought the statue of Our
Rockingham priest Fr Finbarr Walsh presents Sister Joan with a cheque.
Lady of Lourdes. Sr Joan's work impressed Patty so much that she decided that any donations made to herself or the Parish would be sent on to Sr Joan. While donations were never asked for or even expected people left money at the parish. The money was presented to Sr Joan when she made a return trip tp Perth last week. Sr Joan arrived in Thailand from Perth in 1991 and spent her first year in Bangkok learning the Thai language. It was in 1992 she began walking into the slums around the port area of Bangkok in order to help the large number of destitute there. She said there would be around 150,000 to 250.000 people living in the area - most of whom did not have permanent employment, had little education and at times no food. She works with the Human Development Foundation. based in Thailand and run by Father Joseph Maier. Sister Joan is primarily involved in the education of people in the slums, where she works with two other nuns from Australia. But as the sisters have become known to the slum community they have also come to be relied on for other things. Sr Joan said abandonment of children is a big problem In the slums and people often turned to them for help. "Most of the time the children are taken in by local families. but they come to us when things get tough, when they are struggling and have extra mouths to feed." There is no particular project yet that Sr Joan will be spending the money on. am really going to pray a lot about this one." she said. "I feel the money should be spent on a project that helps women and children in particular. but as yet I am not sure what that will be." She would also be praying to Our Lady and reflecting on the reasons why the statue of Our Lady might be weeping. "I think we have to all ask ourselves what we might he doing to make Our Lady weep." she said. *Maybe it is something in our lives we are not doing." It seems to be something a few people are reflecting on. says Rockingham parish priest Fr Finbarr Walsh. "We are receiving letters every week from people around the world who are moved by what is happening here in Rocldngham. " he said. "I know in my own parish there seems to be more people coming to Mass than before.
Sister Joan Evans in Perth last week
"It would be hard to estimate, but I would say numbers are up by 50 or even 100." After a retreat in Perth Sr Joan returns to Bangkok to her home in the slaughterhouse area in the slums. It is known as the "slaughter house slum" because pigs are continually heard sqealing out at night when they are being killed. Sister Joan's work relies entirely on donations, which can be sent to Sister Joan Evans. PO Box 28. Kluai Nam Thai PO, Bangkok Thailand 10115.
Those in need ...
Sister Joan and a volunteer with a little boy, who as a consequence of being fed condensed milk by impoverished parents suffers from kidney and liver failure. He is cared for by the sisters
A family whose house was washed away in the floods. The little girls sat on their haunches all night. The sisters donated 5000 Bahl to restump their house
An eight-year-old Thai girl who is deaf and partially blind, has had two heart operations and is cared for by the Sisters. She is pictured with an Australian volunteer.
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