English/Irish Region SSpS

Sr. Sujata Sawarimuthu, SSpS

Report 8

The Sisters in England and Ireland are very much involved in justice and peace issues in and outside of their communities

WOMEN'S PEACE GROUP: We have joined the Birmingham Women's peace group. It is a group of women from all faith backgrounds, who have been meeting regularly for the past 15 years, listening to one another's stories, sharing common concerns and discussing issues of peace and justice in our world. They represent all faiths, races and ethnic backgrounds, all age groups and come from a wide variety of social positions. We try to put aside our differences in the common quest for peace and explore practical ways of giving expression to our feelings of compassion for those in need.

Few examples will be given

DROP-THE -DEBT-FAST: A 36 day rolling fast will demand debt cancellation for 36 poor countries. The fast will begin as the World bank and International Monetary Fund hold their Spring meeting from 12th April and end on Sunday, 18th May when we mark the 10th anniversary of the Birmingham G8 Human Chain. Each day we will focus on one country that urgently needs the chains of unpayable and unjust debts to be broken.

We will join the fast for a day or more in our areas and the rest of the actions will be explained.

IMMIGRANTS AND ASYLUM SEEKERS: Some of us are involved working with Asylum seekers and of their concerns. We had few failed Asylum seekers living under our roof until their cases were heard once again and have become the part of UK refugee status. Our main work with refugees is to teach them English, help them with their paper work and to be a moral support whenever and wherever is possible.

Few examples will be given.

MEDAILLE TRUST: It is a charity founded by Catholic nuns, brothers and priests with the aim of helping women, young men and children who have been freed from sex-trafficking and their empowerment, enabling them to regain their sense of dignity and self worth. This is done by providing safe housing and offering opportunities for physical and psychological healing and rehabilitation.

Please read "my story" from this magazine. More explanations will be given later.

Sr. Sujata Sawarimuthu