In Proverbs 17:22 we are reminded that “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine…” Over the last several months we have been overwhelmed with images of sadness and despair from Haiti and, more recently, Chile. Sometimes it is nice to be reminded that the poor smile. Below are recent photos from the field of some of the individuals who we’ve helped through the generosity of American Catholics. Remember God’s promise from Psalm 30:5: “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”

Vietnam

Bolivia

Uganda

Nicaragua

Nguyen was dying. She had a congenital heart valve defect that was slowly getting worse. The 36-year-old widow could no longer work as a day laborer in the rice and coffee fields of southern Vietnam. Without a job she had no way to support herself and her 10-year-old daughter, so she moved back in with her elderly parents for help.

Nguyen with year 10-year-old daughter a few months after the Cross International Catholic Outreach-funded heart surgery that saved her life.

Nguyen was receiving medicine through a program for ethnic minorities we support in partnership with the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary (FMM), but it wasn’t doing much to help her heart problem. She desperately needed surgery but could not afford it.

The double-valve replacement that would save her life — a common procedure in the U.S. — was nearly impossible for Nguyen to get because of her poverty and the lack of specialized medical care available in most of Vietnam.

“One of the sisters with FMM told me the situation and asked if Cross Catholic could help. I immediately said yes,” recalls Mike Wilson, Cross International Catholic Outreach Projects Director. “Without the surgery she would have died.”

A few months later, Nguyen had her surgery. Cross Catholic paid for the procedure itself, pre- and post-operative care, and the eight-hour trip from Nguyen’s hometown in Southern Vietnam to the capital — the only place she could get the surgery.

On a recent trip to Vietnam, Mike had the pleasure of meeting Nguyen and her daughter. The woman he met hardly resembled the tired and frail one from the before photos he had seen — Nguyen had energy and life in her eyes.

“To see her up and walking was an incredible experience. There was a glow to her that you often don’t see in Vietnam,” Mike says. “She was so thankful to be alive and well for the first time in a long time.”

Just seven months after Cross Catholic said “yes” to funding her surgery, Nguyen was up and walking, something she hadn’t done in months.

“Now I can sit to the table and help my daughter with her homework,” Nguyen told Mike. “Before I was confined to bed. Praise God for this amazing miracle!”

Nguyen is excited that she will soon be able to go back to work and once again care for her daughter and help her elderly parents.

“You have given me more than just a surgery,” she said, a broad smile sweeping across her face. “You have given me a future and a life with my daughter.”

We are able to fund unplanned needs such as Nguyen’s surgery because of the generosity of our Catholic supporters. Click here too learn more about our work with the poor in Vietnam.

Still reeling from the damage and flooding caused by Tropical Storm Ketsana just days ago, our partners in the Philippines are bracing for another destructive storm. Super Typhoon Parma (called Pepeng locally) is expected to bring heavy rainfall and major property damage to the Philippines on Saturday, according to meteorologists.

A boy is lifted onto the roof of a building to escape the flooding in the Quezon City suburban of Manila.

At least 284 people in the Philippines were killed by the first storm, which strengthened into a typhoon and barreled into Vietnam Wednesday, killing at least 74 people. Both countries are struggling to recover with hundreds of thousands displaced by the floodwaters.

We are responding to this desperate situation by offering emergency funds to our mission partners in the field for disaster relief. Click here to see how you can help by donating to our Philippines/Vietnam disaster relief fund.

Over the last several days we have been in touch with some of our partners in the Philippines and Vietnam. Some of them have sustained heavy damage. (Click here to see some photos from one of our partners in the Philippines.) They say the people’s greatest needs right now are food and clean water. They are holding on, but they need our help — especially with the super typhoon closing in.

One of our partners in Manila emailed us today describing the need:

It is by God’s grace that we are spared and still able to minister to the people. Some of people were badly affected by the previous typhoon and there is still a lot of relief work that needs to be done. Please continue to pray for the Philippines as we are preparing for two more typhoons coming our way. Thanks.

Please continue to pray for the safety of those in the Philippines and Vietnam as Super Typhoon Parma approaches, and join us in providing emergency disaster relief to our partners there.

We reached out to several of our ministry partners in the Philippines and Vietnam over the last few days to see if they were OK after the devastating floods caused by Tropical Storm Ketsana. So far, we’ve only heard back from one of them — please continue to pray.

At least 400,000 people from Manila and the surrounding provinces have been displaced by Tropical Storm Ketsana’s flood waters.

On Saturday (Sept. 26), Tropical Storm Ketsana barreled into the Philippines, dropping the heaviest rain the country has seen in decades. Massive floods quickly engulfed the capital city of Manila and the surrounding areas, claiming the lives of at least 284 people and leaving nearly 400,000 displaced. (Click here to see photos.) Local officials say the death toll from flooding in the Philippines continues to rise as the strengthened storm, now Typhoon Ketsana, moved on to slam into central Vietnam today (Tuesday), killing at least 23 Vietnamese.

This morning we received an email from Sr. Irene, who runs the Marie Louis Trichet Learning Center, a school for handicapped children we support in Manila. Though she admits that the floods have been devastating, she offers words of hope for the school and her country’s recovery:

Sr. Irene runs the Marie Louis Trichet Learning Center, a school for handicapped children we support in Manila.

My dear brothers and sisters,
Thanks for your concern. This typhoon is really a tragedy. All schools are closed for the week. People still have water in their house waist deep. Many of our parents have nothing left. What they have salvaged they are trying to dry in the sun, but another typhoon is expected in the next few days. But you know the people here they are very resilient and say, “At least our kids are alive.”

The casualties are up to 150 dead but many are still missing, mostly children who could not fight the current when the rivers were overflowing and the dams opened. In Cainta Rizal, all six kids from the same family died in a landslide. The people from U.S. Embassy are really doing a lot and want to help our kids also with rice and especially bottled water. You can just try to imagine what the place looks like with the garbage everywhere, the rats and what not. Lucky the government is responding quite well, and Malacanan was turned into an emergency center.

Despite the devastation, we know God is in control and we will recover.

Take care,
Sr. Irene

Continue to pray for the people of the Philippines and Vietnam, and say special prayers for Sr. Irene and our other ministry partners working so diligently to help the storm-devastated people. Click here to learn more about what we are doing to help Sr. Irene and the poor her ministry serves.