Chanthagon Orphanage and Shrine

Kitchen and dining area for Chanthagon Orphange















Pilgrims at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary















Sisters and the driver at the Shrine

The bathing and washing place for the boys.

Chanthagon is a Catholic village on the outskirts of Mandalay. There is a big Catholic Shrine there where many of the Burmese Catholics go especially on the feast of the Holy Rosary October the 7th. It has become a shrine to Our Lady because of an unusual incident that occurred. During one of the many religious persecutions against the Catholics some of the villagers buried a statue of Our Lady to try and protect it against vandalism. The villagers were driven away to another area and for many years the statue was forgotten about, until a Buddhist Lady had a dream about it. She went and told the local Catholic priest about this dream and where the statue was. So they went to Chanthagon to try to find it but they could not. They told the woman that there was nothing there but she insisted that she had been told where it was. They went back again with the woman and she told them exactly where to dig and lo and behold, that is where they found the statue standing upright, unmarked and in a niche. It has now become a Marian Shrine attracting thousands of pilgrims. The La Salette fathers Fr Jerome Fr David and Fr Philip look after the Shrine. They were very busy with the preparation for the festival but Father Jerome gave up some of his time to show us the newly built orphanage which was run by some of the brothers.

The orphanage was formally St Peter’s for boys age two to eighteen the one in Anamapura which we had previously sponsored. The Mandalay diocese had asked for it to be moved from there to Chanthagon for logistic reasons (i.e. to keep the boys away from the girls). The diocese paid for the ground and the building and staffed it with a couple of religious brothers but could not afford to fully maintain it. I had gone there with the intention of giving them some money so that they could buy some bikes so that some of the older children could get to the local school which was some four miles away. However somebody had already donated four bikes and Father Jerome asked Br Augustine what was really needed. He said that first and foremost they needed mosquito nets as they only had one between thirty six boys. They also needed blankets as they only had a couple, but what they needed most was electricity. They had a small generator but it was only enough for a couple of lights and a television. Fr Jerome said what was needed was electric cable, wire, lights, plugs, poles for the wire and connector meter and someone to connect it all. The Marian shrine had a big government generator just outside its walls and they could make a connection there. I agreed to that but I wanted the sisters to control the money so that it would be spent on what we specified. We all went to measure the distance from the shrine to the orphanage. Fr Jerome thought it would be less than a hundred meters which I thought was way off the mark. It turned out to be two hundred and fifty which had to be double there and back. We then had to work out how much this would all work out to. The final figure was 15 lacs of chats 1,500,000 I think. I gave them the go-ahead and I asked one of the sisters and the driver to organise the purchase of the items.

After this we started to go back to the convent in Mandalay. Another hour of torture not only to my body but also to my senses. We stopped after a few miles to meet one of sister Geraldine's favourite orphans who had left the orphanage and was now a cook in one of the local restaurants. The story about Yang is one of those that pull at your heart strings. One day in the market a young girl who was not a catholic but had been taught by the sisters was working on a stall when there was a big commotion by the drains near her. She went over to see what all the fuss was about, and there she saw a newly born baby that had been abandoned. She ran to the convent and told the sisters that they had to come because no one would take responsibility for the baby’s plight. The sisters came, took the baby in and nutured it and the baby has grown to be a young man who is very thankful to the sisters and now is engaged to be married. And he looks on Sr Geraldine as his mother and she as one of her favourite sons. In this restaurant which is owned by a local Catholic man there are four workers who all originated from St Peter’s orphanage.

Fly to Mandalay then off to Chanthagon

This is one of the local buses which is quite empty. It is also the type of car/van the sister possessed though theirs was a smaller version.















This is the boys Orphanage at Chanthagon. After the rains where the boys are standing it is a quagmire.

The flight to Mandalay was short. I was quite shocked by the terminal. It was called Mandalay International Airport and it actually looked like one. It had escalators, a proper baggage belt and even a real immigration booth. The only trouble was that there were no international flights. Five western people got off the plane. No airline beside their own would go there as the road to Mandalay was supposed to be a nightmare. Sister Geraldine and Bernadette met me there. Then Peter our driver took us to Mandalay in an even older car/van than the one in Yangon. I couldn't understand why the airlines wouldn't fly to Mandalay as the road leading out of the airport was the best I had been on in Myanmar. But after a few miles the road suddenly stopped at a bridge as our side of the road didn't have a bridge but only a huge gaping hole. We had to cross to the other side of the road to use the oncoming traffic's part of the bridge. Once we were out of the airport perimeter it was chaos. Like the side roads in Yangon the tarmac was joined together by not only potholes but also deep crevices. Peter our driver was swerving from side to side not only trying to miss the potholes but also the oncoming traffic. Every time anyone wanted to overtake a bike, scooter, car or truck the horn would be blasted.

The noise was incredible and the smell of diesel was overpowering. The buses, I use the word very lightly, were trucks, some of them old American trucks from the 50s that had been converted into buses. They were packed to the gunnels with people, bags and anything you could think of. People were on the top, some were hanging on for dear life on the back, even the Bhuddist monks were hanging in there. No car went in a staight line. The nearer we got to Mandalay city centre the more chaotic the roads got. They call Mandalay bycicle city. It was murder, there were thousands and there were no road rules, the only one being, everyone for themselves. The ladies who are being ridden around sit side saddle and look quite serene as chaos goes on all around them. On one motor bike there was a whole family of two parents and four children all clinging on to the father who was driving. After an hour and a half of this bedlam I quite understood why the international airlines would not fly into Mandalay.

Eventually we made it to St Joseph's Convent. It was so peaceful and quiet in the convent's compound. It was just another world. The sisters were there to greet me and take me to my room where I washed and got ready for lunch. After lunch Sr Geraldine said as my time was short there it would be better if that afternoon I went to Chanthagon to see the new orphanage. What I didn't realise was that it was very close to the airport so we had to do the nightmare journey again.

Mowbi School for the poor and future orphanage

The wall that we have donated money towards. It was only half finished because of spiraling cost I gave the sisters on your behalf another $1500 towards the completion of the wall.














The younger children sing and dance for me. One of them said to her friend isn't he very white.

The Children and the sisters

After lunch Sr Marie the Provincial, Sr Ann took me to see Mowbi where the sisters are trying to build a new school for the very poor villagers' children who cannot afford to send the children to pre-school. Last year we collected money for the wall that eventually will surround it and give the sister who is on her own at the present time some peace of mind. The village itself is very poor and life is a struggle for the majority of its inhabitants. The pictures always seem to nulify the poverty that these poor people have to put up with. The clothes they wear are very shabby indeed, especially the young boys. There is no running water in the village, all water comes from the village pump. Most of the families live in woven bamboo huts, usually just one large room. The whole thing does not look stable at all. Yet despite this the Children were very happy and lively. They were all there to meet me with their parents. I was very flattered and somewhat embarrassed when they started to clap and cheer when I got out of the car-van. I knew however it was not me they were clapping and cheering but the effort that the parishioners of Crowthorne and Sandhurst had put in to raise money and presents for them.

The sisters would eventually like to start an orphanage in Mowbi as there is a great need as the mortality rate among young parents is very high, and also many cannot afford to feed another mouth. Very few westerners venture into the out of the way villages, so do not see the poverty that is prelevant in most of Burma's countryside. Many villages that I travelled through were very very poor. The sisters like myself know that for a lot of these children the only way out of this poverty trap is through education. This is why the sisters have started a school here, and in our small way we are helping them in their mission of bringing the gospel of love to those who need it most. The sisters are very grateful for our contributions to their cause. I also think we should be thankful to them for giving us the oportunity to help them. They are working in a hostile climate and we should do everything we can to help them in their mission which is our mission also as we all belong to the one Body of Christ.

We left Mowbi after having a drink with a local Catholic who was preparing to move from that district as it was too unsafe. The long bumpy journey back tired out the sisters and we had our evening meal and I prepared for the early flight to Mandalay.

Entry in to Myanmar Burma

The Prepostulants of

St Joseph's Convent

in Yangon

come out to meet me



On the second of October I flew into Yangon International airport. The airport had not changed a bit. The last time I was here, October 2005, there were notices up apologising for the inconvenience of the work being done to up grade the airport. They were the same notices in 2006 and nothing had been done. At the immigration desk there was a very old computer that I suspect wasn't working. I was looked at and was let through with no trouble and went through the customs with a sigh of relief. Sister Ann and sister Anne Marie were waiting at the other side and they whisked me off to the car park to travel to the convent in downtown yangon. We travelled in an old toyota half truck half bus, that had seen better days but was one of the good ones on the road. And I mention the word road lightly, very lightly, indeed. One could say that the majority of roads are really a lot of potholes joined together loosely by bits of tarmac. The main road from the Airport toYangon isn't that bad but just go off it to one of the side roads. Nightmare! I arrived at St Josephs covent in the morning met the other sisters, washed and then had lunch

Overview of Myanmar and Thailand

Myanmar was very interesting but quite upsetting when you saw so many people suffering because of an inept and corrupt government. There was an article in the Times early this year about Myanmar, called 'Travels with my Aunt' which really was aimed at the rich of our society and went no way towards telling the world what is really happening there. I have a good mind to actually write an article myself to give the reality of the situation rather than the glossed up version from that article.Went to all the orphages that our parish are sponsoring and delivered the money and the presents for the children they had collected and donated. The children and the sisters were over joyed at the gifts. We actually went and bought electric cables, lights and meters which were needed to give one of the orphanages electricity. When we delivered them Br Agustine who is in charge could not take the grin off his face he was so happy. It's at moments like that one understands the beauty of not only God but in actually helping those who are in need. More about that though on the blog.

Thailand was also interesting though very hectic. The traffic is so bad there that I am sure that I spent half the time I was there in a car, cab or train. Stayed with the sisters who run two drug rehabilitation centres one for males and the other for females ages ranging from 14-40 193 males and 94 females. I also on behalf of the parish gave them a donation towards their good work. There are some other sisters who try to help those poor girls who are being used for the sex slave industry. Sister Roselyn took me to one area on the coast to see one of these sex towns. It was amazing to see so many young girls. Most of the clients were of a certain age of western men who were well past their sell by date, yet trying to look young. The sisters do very good work trying to get the people back on an even keel especially those suffering from AIDS. Sister and I must have looked quite odd as I was in civvies and she was in her habit. After a time I became a bit self concious.

I think at times we forget when we go to these out of the way places that there is an under-life that we never see yet there are people working to ease and relieve peoples' suffering without much help from their respective governments.