We like to quote Blessed Gérard, who is said to have said: “Our brotherhood will be immortal because the soil on which this plant is rooted is the misery of the world – and because, God willing, there will always be people, who want to work to make this suffering less, this misery more bearable. “
To reduce the suffering of those entrusted to us and to bear them in their misery are the works through which we not only maintain or even defend our faith, but want to live it as credibly as possible day after day.
October is World Mission Month and next Sunday is World Mission Sunday. Missionary service unfolds where we make the love of God tangible for people and in this way let them experience God Himself, who is love.
October 10th was World Hospice and Palliative Medicine and Care Day. That is our main task here at Blessed Gérard’s Care Centre. The big difference in hospice care in this country is that we almost exclusively care for and treat people without health insurance and therefore have to finance all of our services through donations.
Covid-19 hit us hard. Not only because of the curfews and the inevitable hygiene measures, which are expensive and the necessity of which is difficult to convey, but because ten of our employees have so far infected themselves. Thank God, they have all recovered and are back at work, but the disinfection measures, series examinations and the loss of work that were necessary for this made life difficult.
Another tragic coronavirus consequence is that my two trips to Europe, which I had planned for fundraising this year, had to be cancelled because the flights were cancelled and I cannot run away from this precarious situation anyway. Therefore, I depend on soliciting donations electronically, but that only reaches people who have not escaped the computer age. That is why I ask you to forward this letter to good people who could also support us.
Unfortunately, Corona and the associated disabilities have also meant that our newsletter, which is usually sent by post, has not yet been completed. If Father Christmas cannot bring it still this year, we will ask the Easter Bunny to put it in the mailboxes as a double number next year.
Alternatively we have published
• Our annual report for 2019 here: http://bbg.org.za/activity-report.pdf
• a very detailed chronicle of our situation and relief measures during the corona pandemic in our “Corona Chronicles”. We update these daily and they can be downloaded here: http://bbg.org.za/corona.htm
Our calendar for 2021 has already been completed. It can be downloaded here: http://bbg.org.za/kalender.pdf
Please allow me to include our current information on our corona situation and our current appeal for donations:
HELP US DURING THE CORONA PANDEMIC!
On 13 October 2020, South Africa had (according to worldometers.info)
• 888 new infections since the day before.
• 693 359 Covid-19 cases.
• the 11th highest rate of Covid-19 infections worldwide ≙ 12 ‰ of the total population.
• 50 837 active cases.
• the 19th highest rate of active Covid-19 patients worldwide.
• 546 critical cases.
“The second wave of COVID-19 will arrive soon if we are complacent and forget about masks and social distancing. That is the warning from the South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize.
Over 600,000 positive cases and over 17,000 deaths have been recorded.
Mkhize said the number of infections has been around 10,000 per week for about five weeks and there has been a increase in cases in the past two weeks. “
What we do
The Corona Pandemic confronted us with extraordinary challenges over and above our usual routine services:
• We faithfully take care of the high-risk group of our immune deficient and geriatric hospice patients and the children of our children’s home where some are particularly at risk from previous illnesses.
• We continue to ensure that the 691 patients we treat for life in our AIDS treatment program, despite the restricted freedom of movement due to Covid-19, reliably receive their life-sustaining, highly effective antiretroviral drugs and take them daily.
• We also take care of our needy home care and AIDS patients at home. Many of these patients and their families have lost their sources of income and are starving. We have already distributed hundreds of food parcels to them and there is still a need for hundreds more. A grocery package costs R300.00 ($17.00 | £14.00).
• Our Clinic for malnourished infants continues to prevent starvation, examines the children, advices and counsels their caregivers, and provides an average of 6636 baby food meals in a four-weeks-cycle.
Please support us with UNRESTRICTED donations so that we can use the money where it is most needed.
You can donate here:
• https://www.bsg.org.za/en/you-may-help/donations.html
• https://www.facebook.com/BBG.ORG.ZA
• https://www.paypal.me/SMOMRSA
With kind regards,
I remain, yours,
Father Gérard
P O Box 440 | Mandeni 4490 | South Africa
http://bbg.org.za/ | father@bbg.org.za
Phone +27 82 4924043 | Fax +27 86 693 8940
WhatsApp: https://wa.me/27824924043
The Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard is a Public Benefit Organisation (PBO No. 18/11/13/2769), an Association of the Roman Catholic Church and the Relief Organisation of the Order of Malta in South Africa.
