Fr Liam Dunne
Divine Word Missionaries
Thailand
Fr
Liam Dunne, Divine Word Missionaries - reports
on Livelihood Occupations for Men and Women
living with HIV in Nong Bua Lamphu, Thailand.
A new initiative in 1999 resulted in the opening
of a Divine Word Missionaries community in
Thailand by the Australian Province. It was a
unique development as it was undertaken by SVD
Brothers, rather than priests, the only one of
its kind in the Society. Bro. Damien Lunders SVD
accepted the invitation of the bishop of Udon
Thani to go and care for people living with a
HIV related disease.
With the assistance of various agencies, SVD
brothers built an attractive and modern centre,
the Mother of Perpetual Help Centre, for the
care of the people. Having established this
infrastructure, Damien and his companions then
determined to find practical ways which would
enable their clients to fend for themselves with
pride rather than hopelessness.
Numerous meetings were held with the people.
Since the place was a rural area it was decided
to work in farming. During discussions in the
areas and groups concerned, the details were
worked out. Eventually, it was decided that
there would be a diversity of farming. It was
arranged that some would farm cattle, while
others would farm fish, jingleet (crickets) and
pigs. Care went into choosing who would take on
which creatures. Eventually, 5 men and women
living with HIV from each of the six different
areas were chosen to farm one of the animals.
Throughout this project the importance of
groupwork was seen. Meeting together, talking
and making decisions empowered the people. The
participants took on the projects and felt
responsible for them. It became apparent that a
project like this takes a lot of time to
implement, a lot of discussion between the
participants and the Centre staff. They learnt
the importance of making contracts and of
holding to them. Finally, the variety of
creatures chosen for the farming projects was
wise. Instead of everybody having the same
thing, there was variety. This created interest.
There was a variety for diet, variety of things
for marketing and a variety of size which
allowed people in different circumstances to
undertake the project according to their means.