“We were all safe and well,” writes Columban missionary Fr Eamon Sheridan from Myanmar where torrential rain resulted in the mighty Irrawaddy River breaking its banks and damaging the buildings at the Rebirth Rehabilitation Centre in Myitkyina.
‘Don’t you care, we are going to drown’ (Mt 8:25)
At 2am on Monday morning 1st July 2024, I was awakened in the Rebirth Rehabilitation Centre in Myitkyina in North Eastern Myanmar by one of our dogs who was sick and was whimpering outside my door.
I got up to see how he was and to comfort him. It was pitch dark as the electricity had been switched off early on Sunday morning and hadn’t returned. As I comforted the dog, I heard people shouting the other side of our fence. Trucks seemed to be taking people away. I wondered what was going on. Had the civil war that is all around us finally come to the city?
Then the four cows we have came galloping through the football field splashing water as they did so. The water was slowly rising in the field but had not reached any of the buildings. The mighty Irrawaddy River had broken its banks.
I woke some of the staff and volunteers to catch the cows. They assured me that the water would stop rising even as the torrential rain continued. I went to bed and tried to sleep; the dog had also settled down.
Fr Eamon Sheridan and members of the Rebirth Rehabilitation Centre team.
As daybreak broke across Myitkyina and the Rebirth Rehabilitation Centre it was clear the flooding was continuing and soon it would enter the buildings. The 90 people in the centre sprang into action.
The animals, pigs, cows, rabbits, turtle, chickens and dogs were brought to safety. Deep freezer, refrigerator, computers and electrical equipment was raised out of harm’s way. Motorbikes were moved into our office a place that would offer them some protection. Rice sacks were brought to the second floor.
At 10am on Monday the 90 of us retreated to the second floor of three buildings as the water level rose in the centre. The diocesan emergency response team brought us food and drinking water twice a day on Monday and Tuesday for which we were very grateful.
Monday night into Tuesday morning was a long night as the torrential rain poured down and the water continued to rise. At about 1.30am I read the Gospel for Mass on Tuesday 2nd July. It was the passage from Matthew 8:23-27 where Jesus was asleep in the back of the boat while the storm raged, and the disciples thought the boat was sinking. “Don’t you care we are going to drown,” they cried out to Jesus.
As the rain fell and the water continued to rise I found myself also crying out to Jesus “don’t you care the water is rising”. I felt a peace and calm at that moment and managed to get a few hours’ sleep.
When I awoke the rain had eased and the guys told me the water level was slowly going down. I felt a great sense of relief. This must have been how the disciples felt when Jesus calmed the storm. By late Tuesday evening the water had receded from most of the centre, what remained was a soggy mass of muck and debris.
The cleanup began and once again the resilience and effort of the people here was extraordinary. We began to survey the damage.
Our fence around the property was damaged and will probably need to be replaced. Our generator was also covered with water and may be beyond repair. The wooden wardrobes in our dormitories were basically destroyed and the some of the desks in our office will need to be replaced.
However, we were all safe and well. People brought us food and fresh water and in their kindness I could see that Jesus cared and had kept us calm and united in the face of a very difficult and frightening time.
That Tuesday night the heavy weapons started firing again and we prayed for peace and protection from the escalating war. Getting everything back to normal will take time but by Thursday our recovery programme was back in full swing offering a new life to those caught in the prison of addiction.
Please continue to keep us in your prayers.
If you would like to support Fr Eamon’s work at the Rebirth Rehabilitation Centre in Myitkyina in war-torn Myanmar, please donate online here:https://columbans.ie/donate/ Alternatively, you can send a cheque payable to ‘Columban Missionaries’ to the Far East Office, Dalgan Park, Navan, Co Meath C15 AY2Y.
