A person is of more value than a world

30 years of mission in Nongkhai Thailand BY SR JOAN GORMLEY

Places change over time…..

Landscapes are altered….

empty land is cultivated…

Wasteland is utilized…

Progress is made…

And people’s lives are transformed.

In 1980, Fr Thiele, the Redemptorist parish priest of Nongkhai, invited us to begin

Good Shepherd work in Nongkhai.

The sisters had been considering Nongkhai, after their work in Bangkok since 1965 revealed that most of the young women ending up in the cities, were leaving their rural communities due to poverty.

The sisters visited Nongkhai and they saw the town, saw the poverty of the villages and the poverty of the huge 30,000 populated refugee camp. They felt this is indeed, an ideal location where there is a crying need for the work of the Good Shepherd.

-- “ I am very happy to welcome you sisters to the Diocese, wrote Bishop George.Phimphisan, We have work for you, we have a warm welcome for you.”

And so the sisters went and the ministry began.

The first dwelling place was on the banks of the Mekong river and when that slipped into the water after a month of habitation, we – Sr Margaret, Sr Mary, Sr.Joan and Sr Pranee – moved into a rented house where we lived for two years.

Working with Catholic Relief Services, who funded almost all our initial work in the region, we were befriended by the Director Mr Suvan Boonthae, who was a true friend to all who needed his services. His whole family soon became part of the Good Shepherd family. Mr Suvan remained our faithful friend and problem solver, until his untimely death in 2006.

The foundation stone for our convent in Prajak Rd, Nongkhai was laid in 1981 and the blessing took place in October 1983 – two years after our arrival in Nongkhai.

Sr Mary, working as Mr Suvan’s secretary in Catholic Relief Services, ( or CRS) could access village information and was able to identify the needs. Lack of water, proper nutrition, education and employment opportunities as well as, isolation, early marriage, migration in search of work and restricted access to services, were some of the problems facing villagers.

With many organizations already active in the refugee camp, our attention turned to the remote Isan Villages.- Isan meaning the North East and the poorest part of the country.

Sr Joan accompanied the Medical Mobile Team from CRS who were working in the refugee camp and visiting and treating people in the villages who otherwise could not access medical services, Malnutrition was rampant as well as eye infections leading to blindness in young children. NEXT PAGE>>