Earthquakes have become the daily lot of El Salvadorians, and also of our little Sisters Marie Martine and Marie Bénédicte, who left for several weeks, to relieve moral and physical suffering there, in the heart of Central America.
Bishop Jean Marie had emergency relief be sent there, with hundreds of pounds of food products, personal hygiene items and over 2 tons of medicine, from the USA and France, to nurse these poor people, tried by sickness, lameness, homelessness, living in makeshift refugee camps. Up to 5,000 persons are together, experiencing this plight in Santa Tecla, and many, many more are also affected by distress.
Touched by such distress, Bishop Jean Marie also sent Bishop Marie Bernard and Father Marie Michael to help with visits, food products and medicine distributions. The sight of these completely destroyed houses, these orphans terrorized, these sick, homeless or idle persons: such a scene is overwhelming, knowing that hundreds of bodies are still buried under tons of earth from landslides, near fissured roads, or under deserted, ruined dwellings…
This is where our Nuns, united with the rest of Fraternite Notre Dame, bring hope, love of God and the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom these good people give special love and render unlimited thanksgiving for their very significant protection during these tragic events.
After almost two months of dedicated care with the injured, the sick, those in a state of shock, or populations affected by poverty - which, unfortunately, has been severely aggravated by the many earthquakes - our little Sisters had to say farewell to their dear new friends and acquaintances, for Fraternite Notre Dame's needs of personnel are important and they must now go to another Mission…
Please join your prayers to ours, for beyond the media
coverage of the first days, remains the suffering and distress of thousands
and thousands of homeless people, refugees, persons traumatized by these
catastrophes.
