HANOI (UCAN): A food supply initiative undertaken by Caritas workers in Hanoi is expected to ease the suffering of poor patients and people in need.
On July 26, Father Joseph Nguyen Van Hai, deputy chief of Caritas in Hanoi, along with agency workers and 24 religious held a brief ceremony to launch Bua com yeu thuong [meal of love] at a convent in Phung Khoan parish on the outskirts of the capital.
The Caritas office said that the programme will provide food for poor patients in at least two local public hospitals and manual workers in difficult circumstances as a way to ease their pain and suffering.
Caritas workers plan to prepare and offer a total of 400 servings and drinking water to patients and their relatives on Tuesday and Saturday mornings. They will deliver food to the venues by motorbike.
Many patients undergo medical treatment at the National Cancer Hospital while others are on renal dialysis at Bach Mai Hospital.
It said servings are sold for 5,000 dong [$1.60] each, a very low price to pay, so that beneficiaries feel respected and not as if they are begging for help. The money will be used to sustain the programme.
In June, the food supply programme was put to the test when 100 servings were given to patients and manual workers from the National Cancer Hospital and Ha Dong parish. Local people made donations and prepared the food
Those who cannot afford to pay will be given the food free of charge.
Caritas in Hanoi also called on people to work with them to help poor patients by making generous donations to the food programme.
In June, the food supply programme was put to the test when 100 servings were given to patients and manual workers from the National Cancer Hospital and Ha Dong parish. Local people made donations and prepared the food.
Father John Baptist Nguyen Van Quang, head of Caritas in Hanoi, celebrated Pentecost at Ba Sao leprosarium in Ha Nam province while Caritas workers also treated 51 lepers to a special meal and offered them money and gifts.
On July 27, Father Nguyen said that the organisation would pay the cost of cataract surgery for 40 poor people regardless of their faith.
Some 2,000 people from three parishes have joined the charity organisation over the past two months. They were encouraged to live out Christian charity by attending regular services and providing material and emotional support for patients and disadvantaged people around them.
Caritas Vietnam, is led by Bishop Thomas Vu Dinh Hieu, and encompasses a national network of offices in the country’s 27 dioceses.
The organisation, was established in what was South Vietnam in 1965 to meet the pressing needs of war victims, but was disbanded in 1976 by the government and only resumed its activities in 2008. It joined Caritas Asia and Caritas Internationalis in 2011.
