25 Years of Witnessing to the Word in Thailand 215 educating the local community about HIV spread and prevention. On top of that SVD confreres are serving the poor and marginalised in rural parish ministry, supporting Vietnamese migrants in Bangkok in a series of ministries described by the Provincial, Fr Asaeli Rass SVD, on a recent visitation as “truly missionary and truly inspiring.” One of the outreach projects of the Mother of Perpetual Help Centre is helping local families to improve their homes – especially important if one of the family members is ill with AIDS or another condition. Director of the Mother of Perpetual Help Centre, Br Damien Lunders SVD, says that over the last two years the Centre has received grants via the SVD in Germany to help both poor and HIV-affected families to improve their living conditions. “So many are literally living in shacks made of used corrugated iron sheets as walls and dirt floors. It’s a very unhealthy living situation,” he says. “These grants have made it possible to help the worst situations, at least by providing a cement floor, cement block walls and fixing leaking roofs and in many cases providing a new roof. “About 20 families have participated in the project so far and where possible, the father of the house is doing the labour, along with help from others. A new project now underway will help another 20 families.”
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