Divine Word Missionaries

Editor's Note: Divine Word Missionaries work in over 65 countries around the world. They are engaged in a wide variety of ministries. The following is a collection of three short articles that describe the ministry that some Divine Word Missionaries perform with children in China, Botswana and India.

Defending the Defenseless
By Bro. Dennis Newton, SVD

A Divine Word Missionary (who wishes to remain anonymous) did not set out to start an orphanage. But somebody had to do something.

As pastor of a large parish in China, he became aware of the many rejected children. Some were sick with serious diseases, some had lost both parents and some had simply been unwanted

The Parish had many plans and priorities, but all were set aside to build an orphanage. Over two hundred rejected
children have been saved from their desperate situation. Fifty children have been placed in foster care with families, but the parish continues to support them financially.

Many children are too profoundly handicapped to be placed in private homes and the parish provides a fulltime staff to care for them.

Let the Children Come
By Fr. Gabriel Faimau, SVD

Our children's center in Metsimothabe is called Lesang Bana Care Center, which means "Let the Children." We were inspired by the passage from Mark 10, 14: "Let the children come to me for the Kingdom of God is theirs."

In Botswana many children have been orphaned because of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa. Lesang Bana provides day care for pre-school children who are being raised primarily by grandparents or other relatives. On Saturdays, we run a program for older children that provides a nutritious meal, education and recreational activities.

Our Divine Mercy Catholic parish began this outreach ministry in 2004 when we recognized the dire needs of children in the area. Parish leaders and I established a number of goals for the center:

To help orphans and vulnerable children get a good start in life.
To provide children with a solid, basic pre-school education.
To provide spiritual and emotional support for the children.
To organize the wider community to help and assist orphans and children at risk
To provide HIV/AIDS education for older children and adults.

During our planning meetings and now through our daily experience, we have identified many needs. Day care is provided in the church building and we use one of the smaller rooms for the kitchen. We need basic supplies, such as tables, chairs, educational materials, sports equipment and food. Our real dream is to build a complete facility with a classroom, hall, restrooms and library. Since some of the children come from a greater distance, we would one day like to purchase a minibus.

Each day as my staff and I welcome the children who come to Lesang Bana, we remember Jesus' welcome to the children who came to him.

Dreaming Dreams
By Fr. John Maleikal, SVD

Ten years ago we had only the dream-a dream that handicapped children would receive love, care, acceptance and respect through physical, mental and psychological rehabilitation.

In 1995, I met a small boy, John Barla, who was physically handicapped by the ravages of leprosy. We found a way to help John, but I knew first hand that there were hundreds of other "Johns" who needed help with artificial limbs, care and love. Vika Bhavan was founded.

Today, ten years later, we have done over one hundred surgeries for children afflicted with polio and leprosies. Over two hundred children have been given artificial limbs, splints and braces.

ISujata Tigga, a thirteen-year-old girl from a remote village in the Sundargarh District came to Vikas Bhavan crawling. She never thought she would walk again. But with the care she received at Vikas Bhavan, Sujata is not only walking but dancing. Vikas Bhavan was a pioneer in designing and building tricycles and wheelchairs for handicapped children.

At the 10th anniversary celebration of our home for the physically handicapped, Bishop Lucas Kerketta of Sambalpur, said: "The service that Vikas Bhavan offers is a special kind of service for physically challenged children who are neglected by their own families and by society. I am very happy to be a part of this institution."

For the children who live at Vikas Bhavan, we emphasize education. At our school, physically challenged children and children with leprosy interact with other children from the nearby village. In this way our children get a chance to compete with other children and to demonstrate their gifts and talents.

We cannot accommodate all the physically handicapped children in our area, so we also provide an outreach program for non-residents. Children who are deaf, mentally challenged, and those afflicted with cerebral palsy, leprosy, or polio are brought to our center for treatment.

Vikas Bhavan also works to provide assistance to three local leper colonies which have more than six hundred residents.

Our center has been blessed with friends who have been very supportive, but we ourselves have continued to try to help ourselves and help our children in many ways. The children tend our vegetable garden which provides all the vegetables for our kitchen. For the grown up disabled teens, we have begun programs for the older children to become financially independent. Some are now raising goats. Some we have provided with sewing machines or welding equipment.

Last year with a gift of $14,000 from friends of the Divine Word Mission Center, we were able to build ten homes for residents in the leper colony. From all of us at Vikas Bhavan, "Thank you. May God Bless you."

Bro. Dennis Newton, SVD originally from Waterloo, Iowa, entered the high school seminary run by the Divine Word Missionaries in East Troy, Wisconsin, in 1966. After high school, and graduation from Divine Word College in Epworth, Iowa in 1974, Bro. Dennis worked two years in Japan. He entered the novitiate and professed first vows in 1977. He worked at the Holy Rosary Institute in Lafayette, Louisiana, for six years before professing perpetual vows as a Divine Word Missionary. Bro. Dennis served for five years as Treasurer for St. Augustine Seminary in Mississippi and eleven years at Divine Word College in Iowa as Business Manager and National Vocation Director. He is currently Director of the Mission Office and Vice-Provincial of the U.S. Chicago Province headquartered in Techny, Illinois

Fr. Gabriel Faimau, SVD was born in Timor, Indonesia. He entered the Divine Word Missionaries in 1992 and was ordained a priest in 1999. Since then he has been working as a missionary in Botswana, Africa

Fr. John Maliekal, SVD was born in Trichur, India and entered Divine Word Missionaries in 1962. He professed his perpetual vows and was ordained to the priesthood in 1968. He is currently the director of the Home for the Physically Handicapped in Bargarh, India.

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