2 Beth Myriams
Friday, April 20, 2001 4:52 PM
This mailing contains two reports on the activities of two of the Beth Myriams that have been formed since Vassula’s first inspiration in 1998.
The first is written by Catarina who used to help Vassula in Rome but who is now married to Duleep and lives in Bangladesh.
The second report is by Mary Trevino who writes about the Venezuelan Beth Myriam.
There is a fund for providing support for all the Beth Myriams, full details are available at: /bmdonations.html
[a prayer request is also attached to this mailing]
Bangladesh Beth Myriam.
The “guests” have increased in number (they are 41 today) since the opening back in ’99. Every month we used to add 5 more persons. For April we said not to increase because of the lack of funds. But Jesus brought to the Beth Myriam’s door-step (literally) an old lady dressed in rugs to which we couldn’t refuse a warm meal, so we increased by 1! So Jesus decided to continue what He has blessed already.
Every month Sr. Emilia chooses, from the two near-by slums, the people that will be eating at the Beth Myriam. The only condition: being poor! And because there are hundreds of them in the two slums, the group changes every month (the first months the group was changing every 2 weeks) so that the ones who don’t have even a cup of rice could eat at the Beth Myriam. By the end of the month, according to what donations we have received, we give them children’s clothes, sarees, men’s clothes, mosquito nets, soaps, shoes or sandals, etc.
Until now some hundreds of people have enjoyed the warm hospitality of the Beth Myriam. It is more than the food and the clothes that they receive: they take with them the warm smile of the people of TLIG working for them (the Christian couple that takes care of the place and cooks for them, but also other members of the TLIG family that come now and then) and the reassurance that they have someone to turn to when they have a problem. Actually, just today, a boy around 5 years old had come to eat with his mom’s card (I’ll explain to you what is the card system we use) and he was completely naked! Literally naked, wearing only a string around his waist with a talisman. I spotted him while he had finished and was going out. I asked Duleep if I can give him something to wear. The boy was surprised when I called him, holding the clothes but allowed Shamol (the cook) to help him wear them and left holding his banana as a trophy.
The poor people in Dhaka are millions. There is no way to feed everyone. At least we are trying our best to help the people in the area that Jesus spotted out to have the Beth Myriam. It is a protected area where all the military people have their apartments which closes after 11.00pm. There are guards that check the cars that go through and they all must have a special sticker on their wind-shield. During day-time they also check, that’s why when we first opened the Beth Myriam, we had provided the people with special pass-cards and we had informed the guards about the Beth Myriam. Today they don’t need to use them because everyone in the area knows the Beth Myriam and it’s function.
As you already know, the Beth Myriam is on the 4th floor of an apartment building of that area. To enter the building you must go through the guards at the parking lot. Just imagine what would have happened if the feeding was taking place in an open area, unprotected and exposed… We wouldn’t be able to help even one person! People can become really violent when the prime survival instinct is not satisfied… plus, in a Muslim country as Bangladesh, having a Christian charity place, without being an official organization (NGO) with all the documentary proof to justify the donations coming in, the authorities take it as proselytism! We know for a fact that the people that eat there, when they leave they are asked if we talk to them about any religious matters… But also let’s not forget how the governments use the poor people for their own election campaign: it’s convenient for them to have them in that state and they don’t look with a “good eye” those who intervene to help them…
So, there is the monthly rent that needs to be taken care of besides the water, gas and electricity. Not to mention, of course, the daily food for the people. Duleep has been one of the main supporters, but the people of Dhaka have also started responding more positive lately. If people could be more generous for the truly needy ones, the numbers could increase to a much higher level.
Feeding the poor was the reason the Beth Myriam started functioning. But since then, Jesus has inspired us to use it for other reasons also. Since last November it hosts also one of the 5 TLIG prayer meetings. Every week, on Wednesday evenings, a group of 10-12 and sometimes more people gather to pray the way Jesus taught us in the messages, share and talk about the subjects that are important to Jesus: unity, conversion, evangelizing, etc. This led to the first evangelizing ‘campaign’ to the South part of the country from which the fruit was 2 new TLIG prayer groups!
But this is not all: the latest Divine achievement of Jesus and Mary taking place in the Beth Miriam is the school class that is formed by children from the 2 slums who cannot even afford to follow the local public school. The lessons consist of learning to read and write in Bangla and all 23 of them come once a week -for the time being- filled with enthusiasm for learning! The teacher, Maria-Roma, is one of the girls of TLIG that attends 2 of the weekly prayer meetings. We provided them with all the schooling material they need and it was moving to see that some didn’t even know how to hold the pencil… The age group is between 4-10. It costs so little to invest in these children for their future but it needs so much love that only Jesus can provide! I believe I got very emotional, but a smile of thanksgiving on the faces of these people can be the best gift one will ever receive in his whole life-time.
United in the Two Most Loving Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Catarina
Venezuela Beth Myriam.
Our Beth Myriam in Caracas was opened a year ago and even though we don´t have our own place (we share a house with Father Mancini with Chapel and all) we are able to serve about 220 guests. Between 80 and 100 sitting down at our dinning room and 120 meals are sent out to the poor in the streets. This is how it works: When we faced the difficulties with the person who was giving us the money to run the BM Father Vicente Mancini offered his help so that we could keep the place running, however he did mention that it would be good to send food out to the homeless. We are unable to sit them down at the tables because some of them are sick, some are alcoholics or take drugs. This makes thing very difficult for us to handle, so what we are doing, for the time being, is we serve elderly people in need. The money comes from collections at Father Mancini´s Church (He has a very large community) and from posters that Father has put up at different places throughout the city, subway stations being some of them. The money goes to a bank account that we, the Beth Myriam, handle. Jorge, my husband is the administrator and keeps the books.
All the food is delivered to the Beth Myriam. We serve meat, chicken and fish Mond. Wed. and Fri. and beans and pasta with a vegetarian sauce Tuesdays and Thursdays; We serve side orders like rice or potatoes, vegetables, we serve bread and fresh fruit in season. We hired a cook and a helper and have a group of volunteers helping throughout the week, that is from Monday through Friday, always, even feastdays.
We have two freezers and a refrigerator and a good size room with a lock for dry good which last us for a whole month. We pay bills either once a month for some things or every fifteen days for others; vegetables are delivered to BM upon request weekly. We pay for those once a month. We have a inventory system so we know exactly how the goods are used and also to keep track of everything that is in store, we also keep track of the donations. At the moment I have in mind to write a small booklet on how to run a Beth Myriam, so that if anyone wishes to open one they will profit from our experience. I think it is a very valuable one since we have gone through some difficulties and have come out of them with flying colors. Thanks to God, this is really HIS work, can we ever tell!!!!
We serve our guests very lovingly, we say a small prayer to bless the food and we pray with each one in particular. For instance when they come to the counter where they are served we bless them and ask them to bless the food. Some of them have said: “I like this Church”, meaning the dinning room where we have The Icon of our Blessed Mother, (the one that Vassula gave us), a statue of The Virgin Mary Rosa Mystica, a Cross that lights up, and a bulletin board where we display either news or pictures.
This is a very rough description of our Beth Myriam and how it operates.
Mary
