In 2021, a military junta seized power in Myanmar, plunging the country into a state of civil conflict, substantially worsening what was already a difficult humanitarian situation. For several decades, the Canossian Daughters of Charity, a religious congregation with a strong presence in Singapore, have been at work in the country, aiming to build a brighter future for Myanmar’s youth.
Canossian Sisters from Singapore first began making trips to Myanmar in 1996 – a journey of around 2,000 kilometres. They went, says Sr. Wang, in response to a request for help from the late Burmese Archbishop Matthias U Shwe, then Bishop of Taunggyi.
The Archbishop had invited them to educate the country’s young, and to help with the formation of groups of young evangelizers. Volunteers travelled regularly from Singapore to Myanmar on mission outreach trips for more than a decade, organising everything from leadership camps and English lessons to Bible courses.
Then, in 2008, the Canossians set up their first centre in the country, which became home to a small group of Sisters and lay partners. That community began a programme aimed at the integral formation of educators, with the motto: “Serve With Love.”
In 2012, they opened Canossa Home, which housed residential facilities for the formation of educators, as well as a boarding house for children from poor families living in villages with no schools.
These educators are trained to give quality care to children and teenagers staying in boarding houses run by the local Church – who otherwise would have no access to professional training – by educating them to one day become teachers themselves.
Since the centre was opened in 2008, the Sisters have trained about 350 young women, most of whom have now returned to serve in communities throughout Myanmar.
In 2017, meanwhile, the Sisters opened a preschool for children in the area.
Since the COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 and the military coup in 2021, volunteers from Singapore have not been able to travel to Myanmar. The Sisters and volunteers in Singapore keep in touch by sending parcels with food and other necessities. The communities in Myanmar, meanwhile, are kept running by six local Canossian Sisters and trained local lay staff, mentored by an experienced Sister from Singapore.
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