SHOP
Dear friends and supporters of Mercy Works
I am writing out of my very real concern for our Sisters, staff, friends and the whole people of Papua New Guinea with this Delta COVID surge. I also feel incredibly helpless! Less than 2% of the total population have been vaccinated and of course there is much misinformation on social media.
Last Thursday morning Fran Kelly on ABC Radio National Breakfast radio spoke with the Head of the Obstetrics Unit at the Port Moresby Hospital. The Professor shared a poignant story of a young pregnant woman with COVID who had arrived on Wednesday from a village 120km away. The unborn baby had already died, and the young mother would probably die that evening. The Professor said that in his 53 years working in Papua New Guinea this is the most awful disease he has ever seen. This story stayed on my heart all day. There have also been stories on the ABC News on television this week highlighting the stress on the hospitals in Port Moresby and Mt Hagen. You may have also heard these reports too.
On Thursday at Mercy Works we had a Zoom meeting with Maryanne Kolkia RSM. If the Zoom connections work, we try to do this every fortnight at present mainly to offer pastoral support. Life with the surge of COVID in Papua New Guinea as you are aware is very troubling and so vulnerable. Maryanne looked very strained and worried, whereas normally she is so hopeful and enthusiastic. I have also spoken with some other Sisters in Papua New Guinea this last week and they too sound very frightened. Many people they know are dying, including some of the Sisters from other Congregations and the priests. I asked Maryanne – how can Mercy Works best support you at this time? She asked for 1,000 masks for the Simbu Province where together with Janet Andrew RSM and a local staff man we have just began our new work. Due to COVID it is not safe for the women there to gather to sew them like they did in Mt Hagen last year. We will organise some to be sent next week.
So, while we all feel helpless, I invite you to join in this Prayer Novena, as we stand in solidarity with our Sisters, staff and friends and the whole people of Papua New Guinea. We ask the special intercession of Catherine McAuley and remember her words to us –
‘We have ever confided largely in Divine Providence and shall continue to do
With gratitude for taking time to hear my concerns for Papua New Guinea. With blessings
Sally Bradley RSM
Executive Director – Mercy Works