Editorial
Urgent SMS…
By Marie-Paule Sanfaçon, m.i.c.
Hurry, respond, I’m on the edge of an abyss… To receive a text like this would tear at the deepest parts of our hearts, wouldn’t it? Yet how many people, young and old, all helpless, commit suicide without ever receiving help? Whether in Korea, Japan or here in Quebec, statistics show that the suicide rate remains high. What is happening in our modern societies?
An obsessive search for well-being, the race to perform better, global superficiality and egocentrism to the extreme can discourage the most tenacious of people.
Recently, I met some young people who did not hesitate to contribute to a good cause. Engineer graduates from Quebec spent months in Madagascar, in a remote region, building a medical center and creating a climate of dignity and respect for the people there. High school students from the Sherbooke area went to Costa Rica, leaving behind the “known” for the “unknown” to become familiar with another culture and to get involved in their own communities when they returned. These important travels give people another view of the world and they become inspired to take part in its transformation.
These days, many people study psychology to better understand others and help them conquer the most difficult times in life. Sister Micheline did not hesitate to go back to school to help those in need, especially in Haiti. Sister Cecilia had sessions with young people so they can better understand each other and work toward an ideal life. In his article, Éric shows us the importance of sports in the lives of young people, activities still being introduced and used by missionaries.
During this summer season, seize the occasion and live life to the fullest by spending beautiful moments with your family, taking time to rest and search within to better understand yourself and look at life with enthusiasm. How is it that so many people despair of life? A question I ask myself… and are we not appalled by what we often hear and see?
Live life to the fullest for a more fraternal world, together where the joy of meeting each other in real life, not virtually, gives us hope for a better world, singing along with Jean Ferrat, Que c’est beau la vie or What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong…
In Focus - EMBRACE LIFE TO THE FULLEST
In collaboration with the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception (MIC), the Student Reunification Program for International Cooperation (PRECI) from École de Technologie Supérieure (ÉTS) in Montreal, constructed a medical center in the Ambatofotsy village, Madagascar.
It is with joy and pride that a team of five students from ÉTS (Janick
Lavoie, Pascal Pelletier-Dubé, Thomas Cardinal, Jean-Simon Forest and Annabelle Boinet) joined the large PRÉCI family, last fall 2016. Moved by the level of global inequality, these students decided to contribute, in their own way, to an engineering project which they translated in terms of sharing, cooperation, and humanitarianism.
Briefly, the project consisted in planning, seeking funds, designing and building a medical center for the Ambatofotsy local community. This
village is located 300 km from the Capital, Antananarivo; its approximate population of 4,000 has no access to electricity and drinking water. In the vicinity there was no establishment for health care services and villagers had to walk more than three hours to find one. With determination and perseverance the PRÉCI team completed the project thus allowing all the inhabitants of the area to receive essential medical services and for women to give birth in adequate sanitary conditions...
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