This past September our Regional Superior, Fr. George Palliparambil, took a fifteen-day trip to Myanmar to assess the US Region’s mission endeavors in the recently tumultuous country. Since the dissolve of the country’s military dictatorship in 2010 the government-institutionalized persecution of Christian organizations has become more lenient, but in a country that banished all of its missionaries over fifty years ago, leniency is relative.

Understanding the electricity and gravity of a decision to take this year’s mission insight trip to Myanmar, after 2016’s successful journey to the leper colonies and orphanages of India, requires a lesson in PIME’s long history with a country intrinsic to PIME’s DNA. The evangelizing work of PIME in Myanmar dates back to 1867 and the journeys of some of the first PIME Priests; over the span of about a hundred years in the country, PIME established an archdiocese, five dioceses, many schools, and many more Catholic communities. This work included teaching many of the tribes in the more isolated areas how to read and write as well as how to engineer sanitation and bricks. After Burma gained its independence in 1948, General Ne Win sought to establish a socialist government with its roots in Buddhism, and in 1964-1965 he began the process of seizing all schools and buildings built by Christian missions. Finally, in 1966, he banished all foreign missionaries who were not present before the country’s independence. 

Fr. George meets another little friend supported through our Sponsorships program in Namekon, Myanmar. Although they met many children on their journey through these missions, the impact that the children had on the priests was new every time.

Today, PIME’s presence in the country is as advantageous as it is allowed to be, but as is the case for so many PIME Missions: what they lack in numbers, they make up for in ingenuity and passion. Despite the rich history of buildings and communities that PIME built from the ground up, the PIME House in Yangon is a rented one: three stories tall and about the width of a single car garage. These modest accommodations house Fr. Barnabas Arockiasamy, Fr. Enrico Fidanza, Fr. Robert Ngairi, and Fr. Maggi Livio. Fr. George’s traveling companion for most of his excursion into the country, Fr. Livio is one of three foreign PIME priests who are allowed to be in the country because of his charitable work. Fr. Livio serves as Director of New Humanity, a social and educational development organization designed to promote development and international cooperation for the betterment of the Burmese people. Although Fr. Livio is allowed in the country because of this work, still he is only allowed to visit Yangon, Kengtung, and Taunggyi: cities where New Humanity operates. Fr. Livio is not even allowed in the areas surrounding these cities, due to the threat of drawing the wrath of the government. 

After visiting the PIME House in Yangon, Fr. George sets out with Fr. Livio bound for the city of Kengtung (Kyaing Tong). The plane lands amidst the imposing ridges of this mountainous region on the only flat parcel of land: the airstrip. The two men of PIME must first meet with Fr. Stephen Ano and Fr. Martino Ai Han, two men who facilitate the distribution of funding to the missons our Sponsorships at a Distance program supports. They meet in Diocesan buildings that were once built by PIME decades ago. The group begins its trip to the humanitarian aid centers of the region at a place that was once hailed as “The Happy City”.

A man suffering from Hansen’s Disease (Leprosy) receives treatment. New cases of the disease are caught early in “The Happy City” preventing the further spread of the disease..

A Leper Colony established by Fr. Cesare Colombo, PIME, “The Happy City” was his home and his passion before his expulsion at the hands of the government in 1966. Many of the implements and facilities that Fr. Colombo utilized in the treatment of the extreme cases of Hansen’s Disease featured in the documentary highlighting the titular city that inspired the vocations of so many American PIME Priests in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s are kept in cases, preserved as a museum, a monument to one missionary’s historical kindness. “The Happy City” is much happier place now: few Leprosy cases remain, many of them caught and treated early. Several people come here for their treatment, no longer limited by the once debilitating disease. The joy of the children here is also not in question; however the story of how they came to this mission is seldom a joyous one. The Maria Bambina Sisters who run the mission explain that many of the children, especially the girls, are $20 dollars away from a life of servitude or sex slavery. Hunger and poverty are so ravenous in this area of the country that parents will put their children out on the street for a price of $20, the Sisters do their best to save as many of them as they can.

Traveling outside the city of Kengtung, Fr. Livio must stay behind or risk jeopardizing his humanitarian work within the country. Fr. George journeys 17 miles southeast of Kengtung (about an hour through the steep, and mountainous terrain) to get to the small village of Loi Mwe. Here he visits another orphanage supported by our US Sponsors: the Sisters here are so elated with the prospect of Fr. George’s visitation, that one of the Sisters brings her children 35 miles to introduce them to the missionary, creating name tags with their Sponsorship number on them. Following their visit to Loi Mwe, the Priests find themselves at Divine Redeemer’s Convent, St. Joseph’s Boarding School, and eventually a mission run by Sr. Lydia. The last of her congregation, Sr. Lydia runs this mission alone, with the assistance of some of the girls in her charge.  The mission is made up of tribal Kayah’s, hill people native to this mountainous region. At the end of this rigorous schedule of visits, the Diocese hosts a party for the PIME Priests. Here they meet Vicar General Fr. Paul who had quite a unique connection to PIME. Fr. Paul came from a poor family who could not pay for his education, so his family turned to the only resource that they had: the PIME Foster Parents program. Through the program Fr. Paul received funding for his boarding and education. As he stood at the podium, in front of the PIME Priests, he expressed just how much this kindness meant to him and how grateful he was to these people whom he had never met.

A flight west, towards the center of the country, the group lands at Heho Airport: another hour and a half drive through steep terrain from their true destination of Taunggyi, Myanmar. One of the three Archdioceses that make up the country, there’s no mystery as to why Tanuggyi translates to “huge mountain” as the area is bordered with more hills and steep terrain than the place of their departure. The Priest’s journey around Taunggyi begins with a visit to Sacred Heart Convent in Loilem, 59 miles from the city of Taunggyi; the group received a hearty welcome from the Sisters and children of the convent. Founded in 1937, directly before the beginning of World War II, the Sisters here began working with orphans shortly after arriving in the country. Over the course of many years our supporters have aided in the lives of dozens of children who found their way through the mission here. Proceeding on from Loilem, the group made their way to Payaphyu, a place touched by the work of one of the greatest PIME Missionaries: Servant of God Brother Felice Tantardini. Serving as his final resting place, his transcendent kindness has found a home with people truly worthy of it here. The Sisters who run the mission here primarily help children who are disabled or who have otherwise been abandoned by their family. Following their inspiring trip to this powerful mission, the group made their way to St. Anne’s Boarding: a mission that has a long history of cooperation with PIME’s Sponsorship Program.  Finding extra time in their busy schedule, the Priests decided to separate, in order to travel outside the city limits almost two hours through the mountains to reach their final stop in the area of Tanuggyi: the isolated mission of Kalaw. 

Fr. George comforts a shy girl overcome by the excitement of meeting the missionaries. Many of the missions that Father visited on his trip receive funding through PIME in the US, but have never actually met a US PIME Missionary.

The third leg found Fr. Livio returning to Yangon and Fr. Robert taking his place, as he could not travel to their next desitnation a hundred miles south from Taunggyi: the capital of the Kayah State, Loikaw.  They visited Sponsorships at a Distance supported boarding schools in the small towns of Demoso and Dorokhu, receiving songs from the smiling faces of girls at both homes. The common thread between them, similar to that of the missions they visited in Yangon and Taunggyi: although the children did not have a lot, they were so happy and so grateful for that which they did have. They were not received in the typical fashion at their next stop in the small, poor village of Dotada, however. Here the children lined up in an entrance procession similar to villages that they had previously visited, but the gifts that they gave to Fr. George carried with them a special meaning all their own. After being given flowers and garb similar to other villages, Father is treated to a meal with three parts, mostly food and drink served in cups or on plates made out of leaves. The three items, once eaten, bonded the consumer to the tribe forever: accepting them into their village, their homes, and their families as one of them. In a manner typical to the missions, this was the greatest gift that Fr. George received given by the poorest mission that Father saw during his time in the country. The Sisters here and at St. Gerosa’s Convent nearby, another Sponsorship supported institution, help to witness the faith to the people here both through their teaching and actions like running a boarding school and dispensing medical aid. Yet still the Catholic Faith is not very widely accepted in this area and the village inhabitants are mostly desperately poor farmers. The priests meet many more grateful children sponsored through our programs nearby in the small village of Namekon at Mary Help of Christians Convent, a mission founded in 1966. When missionaries were expelled from the country, many of the Sisters in this Congregation fled to the jungle here to hide from the government and help the people in secret. 

The three-part meal that Fr. George ate to bond him to the people of the tribe in Dotada.

Finally, the group’s journey came to an end 131 miles to the south in the Diocese of Taungoo (Taungngu), Myanmar. Here the roads are unpaved and treacherous, most notably at the entrance to the Sisters of Reparation Orphanage for young girls, where the group has to get out and traverse the road on foot so that the car does not get stuck in the cavernous grooves in the dust-like dirt. The Sisters who mange the mission here, whose congregation was founded by Fr. Carlo Salerio, PIME Missionary now in the process of Canonization, foster some 240 girls in the dilapidated building. The Sisters number less than ten, with one Sister from another mission bringing the girls in her care from a great distance simply to introduce them to Fr. George on his visit.

Here in Taungoo, the first Diocese that PIME founded in the country and also the most neglected area that he saw those fifteen days, Fr. George ended his trip. Commencing his two-day journey home to the Mission Center here in Detroit, Fr. George took away much from his trip. Although military dictatorship had ceased in the country back in 2010, the damage done throughout nearly fifty years of rule will take many more to be undone. Many schools are left without books as they were confiscated or destroyed; education is outsourced to other countries, an option solely enjoyed by the wealthy. Many Catholic schools have been seized for decades, most of them now too run-down to ever be utilized. The Missionaries, Sisters, and faithful of the country struggle daily simply to visit mercy upon the men, women, and children caught up in the ramifications of nearly half a century of military rule. Among all this uncertainty, one thing is clear: your support has made the difference in the lives of these people and continues to do so to this day.

If you would like to become the Sponsor of a needy child from Myanmar please contact:
Stacey Bentley at [email protected] or call (313) 342-4066 ext 123 or visit www. pimeusa.reachapp.co/sponsorships