Your generous gifts to the poor

Strange thing happened .... wrote the blog and published it but it later became blank. Someone must have hacked into my blog and removed the updates. This is dangerous. Be careful everyone!

Anyway thanks to the St Margaret's group for their generous donation. It came just in time because yesterday morning the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Theresa) came knocking at my door asking for help. They needed lots of medicines for the sick people they care for, so I used most of the donation to buy the medicines from our Christian pharmacy yesterday afternoon. The sisters also need some books on the Bible but I don't have them. I'll buy them through the Internet somehow.

Thanks also to the Holy Spirit College group. Your generous donation is divided to help the poor communities in Bethlehem, Nablus and Amman; namely to buy medicines and pay school fees. All this is done through the Missionaries of Charity. Regarding Benoit, the boy who wants to study italian: he cannot go to Bethlehem to study because of checkpoint and security problems. Let's see how to resolve this problem. And thanks to Bruno and Conrad and all of you for the wonderful stuff (and repairing the camera!!!).

Thanks to the Rosary Church catechists group. Your generous donation will partly go to help the Silent Workers of the Cross to buy their much needed refrigerator specially made for the handicap - the sisters and priests of this community are physically ill or handicapped and need special facilities. The other part of the cost is covered by the St Joseph's ladies' Guild donation. Another part of the donation goes to help the poor families and children in Musky (Cairo) - to feed them and pay for their school fees.

And thanks for the wind-up torches that can charge cellphones as well. The Missionaries of Charity were very very happy as the people they serve urgently need them as winter approaches. The constant blackouts will be less of a problem and they can use their cellphones for emergencies.

As for those of you who specifically requested that I use some donations for my own use: I've bought an ink cartridge for my printer, paper for printing my drafts, medicine that i need and eventually a trip to Nazareth to the hospital. But please be understanding ... if a needy case comes knocking at my door, I can't say "no".

Another earthquake

Earthquake in Iran. Not a good time as muslims they observe the Ramadan fast and are too weak to escape.  Yesterday I bought a bottle of water and two Mars bars for a muslim friend who had just broken the fast. Poor chap was so hungry and thirsty.

Last night was a little scary as I walked home at about 9.30pm. Met Fr Massimo along the road and as we walked home together, there was a silhouette of many persons coming towards us. Alot of shouting and cursing in arabic and hebrew. As the figures emerged from the unlit road in front of our house, we saw soldiers handlocking two or three arabs. Don't know why they were arrested. But it was a pretty fierce scene. Massimo and I moved out of the way. Pretty scary because the muslim crowds were just coming out of the mosque from prayers and if the crowd was large enough, it might have led to violence.

My knees and left ankle are killing me. Too much climbing stairs up and down. Flat ground is alot better for me. Will have to rest a couple of days before I can actually resume some walking again.

More thanks

Solemn moment at the memorial service of the HK victims. Tragic, sad, anger ... some emotions expressed in the media. But also heart-warming moments - public and private support for the victims' families. It shows that HK still has a heart. And to those who think that Israel is a dangerous place to visit .... well, this tragedy only proves that every place at any time can be dangerous. So no need to exaggerate.

Friday night at Ramadan is quite an event. The crowds are immense. And the carnival atmosphere is overwhelming - much more this year than last year. And add Jews going to pray at the Wailing Wall ... all using the same road down Damascus Gate ... well, you have the whole of the Middle East in one street. But with all this religiosity - how about this for God and youth? - "Teenagers becoming fake christians" http://edition.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/08/27/almost.christian/index.html?iref=NS1#fbid=VOdRnPhVsKO&wom=false 

Thanks to the Holy Spirit College group for their kind donation. Medications like Rispon, insulin, valium and other emergency stuff will be bought next week for the needy.

And thanks for all the stuff ... the books, the clothes, the shoes (luv them!), the repaired camera, phone (don't know how to use it yet). Thanks for all your kindness.

Tragedy

Terrible tragedy at Manila. Let's pray for the victims and their families.

The fires in Spain are terrible - BBC showed a tornado of fire ... the first I've ever seen. Our heatwave is still on. But floods and rains are growing in Pakistan and China.

So many awful things are happening around ... it's mind-bloggling. What is God saying to us? Are we listening?

Thanks

Thanks to the following:
Holy Spirit group, Anna Ling, Agnes Leung, Auntie Yvonne, Paulette, Rise Group, Conrad Wong, Theresa Ng and Winnie Loke.
Your kind offerings will go to help the poor and needy here in the Holyland.

Earthquakes

Wow .... earthquake in Indonesia yesterday then 6 earthquakes in Taiwan this morning. What's up?

Last night the heatwave cooled off by a couple of degrees. But it's still hot and stiffling. The thing is there's a cool breeze of about 28 degrees every night but it never blows through the house, even with windows and doors opened. http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/year-s-worst-heat-wave-expected-to-let-up-at-least-until-tuesday-1.309414 

Anyway it's so hot the canaries have stopped nesting so I put them all back into the big cage. It's a big family now - 20 of them. Prof. Giuseppe Ligato helps me take care of them.

Anyway my right eye has gone again ... the vision that is. It's all gone blur ... which happens when my sugar level gets too high. I haven't been taking ice-cream at all, but there's coke on the table for lunch. And maybe the almond/carob syrup that I bought. Boy, its pretty nasty this vision thing as I cannot read properly now.

And the right knee is a killer. The pain has not subsided since last week. Now I have to hobble up and down the stairs.

And yesterday was an end to one chapter of my life here. Ended my job, gave in my keys. No more overtime work, no more lunchless/dinnerless days, no more datelines, no more 1am walking home in the dark for 2km. I can finally rest in peace. To celebrate, I wanted to buy some sushi for dinner but being Sabbath and Ramadan, all the shops were closed. Had to settle for a baked salmon. Can't win all the time.

Ultra hot

Unbelievable heat  - 43 degrees in Jerusalem at 3pm yesterday. In the night it was 34 degrees. It was so hot no one could sleep. How long more shall this continue? The forecast is a cooler weekend - cooler meaning 2 or 3 degrees less. Not much comfort.

The streets were all blocked yesterday at Friday muslim prayers. Soldiers and police everywhere. Crowds pushing to enter the mosque but restrictions were raised to 50 yrs. More tensions as a result.