Every day seems to throw up a new problem, another family, so sad sometimes. 

The other day we had a very touching case.

A fairly young man came asking for money for transport because he wanted to go home to die.  It seems he was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago but now he had no more resources to buy medicine or go for treatment and his doctor had told him when he began to swell then the end would not be far.

The Sister who follows up the craft project with our mamas asked one of them to go to talk to him to see if the case was genuine (sadly people invent  all kinds of stories in order to get money and many are not true so we're a bit 'canny' before handing out money) while she came to talk to me.  When she came out, she found the mamas themselves had seen his case to be so sad that they had made a collection among themselves and put together about four pounds, which was about half of what the young man needed.  Given that these mamas are themselves in such need, we found the whole scene to be very touching and just pray that this kind of attitude can take hold - as we are helped we also help.  Anyway, we added the remaining money and sent the young man back to his grandmother in the rural area where he could die in peace.

He had been an orphan since childhood and had struggled hard to make a living. 

We just pray he will not have to endure too much pain at the end.

This is an extract from a letter Sister Eleanor, sent to our Third World Group.

The economic “plight” of the world makes headlines

almost daily. The need to support the work of societies and trusts such as Mary’s Meals, The Society of St Vincent de Paul and The Marie Trust has seldom been more pressing.

We continue to give thanks for the work and contributions to such charities given by people of our parish, individually and in groups, such as the Third World Group.