A Look at the PIME Impact Across Bangladesh

Throughout the month of February, PIME US Mission Center Director, Fr. Daniele Criscione, and PIME US Mission Center Administrator, Michelle Regner, embarked upon a trip across PIME’s Mission in Bangladesh. Get a glimpse of the many places they visited, where they witnessed how our missionaries are bringing great, positive changes to the people around them – and how PIME US Supporters LIKE YOU have impacted our PIME Mission in Bangladesh.

Ongoing PIME Mission Development Projects

Fr. Daniele & Michelle visit the PIME Sick Assistance Center - PIME Mission Project #10151 

An ongoing project, the PIME Sick Assistance Center provides aid in an area of the world where healthcare is becoming more of a privilege of the upper class. The group, alongside Fr. Francesco Rapacioli, PIME, meets with cancer survivor, 12 year-old Asrita, as well as many others who are alive today thanks to the help of the Center - and your support.

Help this ongoing project

Medication for Leprosy & Tuberculosis Patients of Sr. Roberta in Bangladesh (10127-R)

Sr. Roberta Pignone is a Missionary Sister of the Immaculate (PIME Sister) and medical doctor. who works amid the poor in the slums of the Diocese of Khulna in Bangladesh. In addition to a small 33-bed hospital, 3 clinics, and 15 TB control centers, the work of Sr. Roberta involves intensive outreach efforts crisscrossing the streets of Khulna. Thanks to your support, Sr. Roberta has been able to stock desperately needed medication for her patients over the past few years, but their needs are still ongoing and great.

Provide Needed Medication

Assist Cathechists in Dinajpur, Bangladesh, to Bring Youth a Brighter Future (10206)

Fr. Paolo Ballan is a PIME Missionary working in the Suihari Mission in Dinajpur, Bangladesh. The Christian community here consists mostly of the Santal ethnic or other ethnic tribes that live in a predominantly Muslim area. As his rural mission consists of 48 villages spread out across a large area, he relies heavily on village leaders and catechists for day-to-day matters of faith. Fr. Paolo saw a great need to strengthen these individuals through training to properly lead the youth of the mission in Suihari. Fr. Daniele celebrated Ash Wednesday Mass (with Michelle attending) with Fr. Paolo at his mission, and witnessed the great faith of these people and their youth.

Share the faith with these youth

Impact the Future of Youth in Dinajpur, Bangladesh (10179)

PIME Missionary, Fr. Fabrizio Calegari has served in Bangladesh for 28 years; two years ago he started working with the Diocesan Youth Commission of Dinajpur. The Christian community of this area of Bangladesh is scattered across several villages, and consists of poor, tribal people who are often discriminated against.

Fr. Fabrizio recognized a need to strengthen the identity of this community, especially among the youth, so he started a three-year program to do so with the help of PIME US Supporters. A team helps Fr. Fabrizio with outreach programs to accomplish this, including the bi-monthly magazine “We Together,” which features gospel passages, comics, and other materials to help strengthen the faith of youth in the diocese.

Support the Faithful of Dinajpur

COMPLETED PIME Mission Development Projects

Visiting the renovated kitchen of the Kewachala Boarding School - PIME Mission Project #10176

Completed in 2023, PIME US Supporters helped helped Sr. Silvia Leoni, MDI-PIME, to finish the renovations of the kitchen for the Mother Igilda Boarding School - a girls hostel that is home to many throughout the school year. Sr. Silvia gives us a tour of the renovated areas, and a glimpse at life in the boarding school.

Addiction Recovery Club in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Fr. Francesco Rapacioli, PIME, collaborated with Simon, a recovering addict who founded the first Alcoholics Anonymous program in Bangladesh, to establish a 12 Step recovery program in Dhaka. Addiction is heavily stigmatized in Bangladesh, the Recovery Club helps addicts to recovery spiritually and mentally from a place of care and understanding. Attendees of the 2021 PIME Serata Dinner Benefit helped to support this important project and provide a light in the darkness of countless addicts’ lives.

Support projects like these ones

The Bangladesh Trip At a Glance

Dhaka, Bangladesh

The first stop on Fr. Daniele Criscione and Michelle Regner's trip through Bangladesh - the pair visited several places impacted by the PIME presence in this bustling metropolis. They met with PIME Seminarians; heard the stories of those who have had their lives changed by the the PIME Sick Assistance Center; and met with those who help others to find a new start through the 12 Steps Program.

Mymensingh

In Mymensingh, Fr. Daniele & Michelle visited a girls' hostel where PIME US Supporters provided aid to build out their computer room. This project was especially significant because girls are not allowed the same education as boys in Bangladeshi society. Now they are able to have the same digital education as their male peers.

Kewochala

Fr. Daniele & Michelle next went to Kewachala: visiting a boarding school. While there, they saw the impact of PIME US Supporters first hand - Missionary Sister of the Immaculate - PIME Sister, Sr. Silvia, showed them around the kitchen area that was renovated by supporters like you. From this boarding school, the pair went on to a warm welcome at St. Monica's School.

Rajshahi

In Rajshahi, the group traveled to the Snehanir “Nest of Love” Center for Disabled Children and then to the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralyzed (CRP), founded by Valarie Taylor—dubbed “Mother Theresa of Bangladesh.” From there, it was on to the village of Gulta to the mission of Fr. Carlo Buzzi, PIME, who manages a boarding school for boys and girls and a medical dispensary in the area.

Zirani

Our PIME US Mission Center traveled to Zirani for a visit to the Jesus the Worker Center - which also featured a day care for the families of the local factory workers! Together with Fr. Gianpaolo Gualzetti, PIME, they visited the Centre for the Rehabilitation for the Paralyzed and a textile mill.

Nobai Bottola

In the Rajshahi area, the group made it to Nobai Bottola Village and the mission of Fr. Arturo Speziale, PIME, who came to Bangladesh in 1973 - only two years after the independence of the country. Fr. Arturo is currently building a new chapel, Our Lady of Protection, for the faithful of this impoverished area. Many families live in close proximity in this impoverished area where they waste nothing - even the cow manure is used for heating fuel for their domiciles.

Dinajpur

Fr. Daniele & Michelle continued their travel to Dinajpur in the north of the country, where they met with Fr. Farbizio Calegari, PIME, and the team that assists him in his outreach work with the Diocesan Youth Commission. They also visited a PIME supported hostel in Chandpukur, which educates some 400 kids - 250 of which stay in the hostel full time. There is also a medical dispensary for the surrounding villages and they manage catechism for the area here.

Suihari

The group stayed at the PIME House in the Suihari Mission, while still in the Dinajpur area, where Fr. Paolo Ballan, PIME, serves among a mostly Tribal and Christian populous. Here, they visited a mission primary school and attended Ash Wednesday Mass at Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish.

Khulna

From Dinajpur, Fr. Daniele & Michelle took a 10-hour car ride to visit the mission of Sr. Roberta Pignone, MDI-PIME, in Khulna. Among the many things that Sr. Roberta commits herself to in her mission, managing the Damian Hospital - and the many interconnected lives that find their way there - is her biggest undertaking. Here, the group sees the impact of PIME US Supporters in the form of medication for those who need it and witness the special, healing care that Sr. Roberta has for her patients and their families.

Khulna Slums

Sr. Roberta’s work in Khulna encompasses three clinics and five times as many tuberculosis control centers throughout the slums of this city. As such, the missionary sister and medical doctor travels around between the clinics, house visits, and educational TB talks in a place of extreme hardship and poverty.