In May of last year, 2014, Bridges of Saint Mark successfully delivered one hundred Hydraid Biosand Water Filters to the Rach Suc community in Can Tho, Vietnam. Adding that to the number that was delivered the year before, there are now one hundred and thirty one total. It is our understanding that approximately ten of those are yet to be implemented. We are now working with Rach Suc to establish a small team from their community to implement and maintain the current water filters, teach the families how to properly use and maintain them, stress the need to practice good health habits, and prepare and distribute water filters in the future.
Also, in August of 2014, funds were sent to the Rach Suc Mission Church to do three things. First, to purchase benches that will be used throughout the year to accommodate the many people who travel from miles around for events such as the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima and the Mid-Autumn Festival. Secondly, to make some repairs to restroom facilities and fix a leaky water-tower.
Last October we received our first images from the Rach Suc Church to let us know what the funds were accomplishing. We saw the 3000 benches set up in preparation for the annual Pilgrimage to Our Lady.
We also received other pictures that, to be quite honest, even though
they were trying to explain it to us, it was just not sinking in. The images looked as though there had been quite an area bulldozed and being prepared for what? We were not sure. Father Minh tried to explain that it was a yard – but we weren’t sure if he really meant driveway or playground or what.
After a Skype meeting we had with them last Tuesday evening, the vale was finally lifted and it dawned on us what the priests at Rach Suc were trying to accomplish. They constructed two concrete areas; one beside the church and the other beside their garden to increase the yard for the poor farmer to spread his rice so that it might dry completely in the sun. They were constructed in such a way that the rice would not wash away when it rained and the water wouldn’t collect in pools.
It was our first trip to Rach Suc in 2012 that we saw first-hand how the farmers would use the church yard to spread their rice to dry in the sun. It was on one such day that, after the farmers worked so hard to spread the golden rice in the church yard that, out of nowhere, a torrential down-pour washed most of the rice away filling the yard with puddles of water.
During our trip in 2013, Father Francis Xavier (Dinh Trong Tu) expressed his desire to help the poor farmer with this problem. He explained that the rice needs to dry in the hot sun to prevent it from sprouting which would ruin the rice. It is the dry rice that earns the farmer more money for the crop.
Father Francis Xavier (Dinh Trong Tu) and Father Michael (Nguy?n Kh?c Minh) labor at the Rach Suc Mission Church in Can Tho, Vietnam to improve the lives of those in their community. They have expressed their heartfelt thankfulness and sincere gratitude for all those who hold them in their prayers and have supported their efforts through Bridges of Saint Mark.
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