There are many women who are very active in the work of charity. Nant Magdalena Chit is one of them.
She is a woman with great love for the elderly in Myanmar’s Ayeyarwaddy Region where she founded the St. Mother Teresa’s Poor Home for the Elderly.
Nant Chit lives in the village of Kanazogone, which is located in the Wakema Township, Ayeyarwaddy Region.
The village is one of the biggest parishes in the Catholic Diocese of Pathein.
Nant Chit established the St. Mother Teresa’s Poor Home for the Elderly in the village on July 29, 2002, while the parish was celebrating Parents’ Day.
“In the beginning, the building was made of bamboos with thatch roof,” said Nant Chit. “It has been for 18 years now,” she said.
She wanted to provide physical and spiritual care for the elderly in the village who have been abandoned or those who do not want to stay at home with their children and grandchildren.
The center has only five workers, including Nant Chit, who take care of 16 elderly — 10 women and six men — from the different parts of Pathein and Yangon.
The center accepts elderly with ages 65 and above regardless of economic, political, or religious background.
“Although this home is intended for the elderly, we may call it home for the disable as well because most of them are paralyzed and disable,” said Nant Chit.
“When someone sick comes here, I believe that God sends him or her to me,” said Nant Chit. “If the hour of death comes, I would assist physically and spiritually as much as I could,” she said.
In 2008, cyclone Nargis hit the Ayeyarwaddy Region and damaged Nant Chit’s home for the poor.
“I am very grateful to God because no one staying at this home died during the cyclone. They all survived, although there was lack of food immediately after,” recalled Nant Chit.
After the cyclone, she got some support from the Regional Government, although it was not enough.
In the succeeding days, whenever she would run out of rice, she would request support from the villagers.
Later, with the donations from benefactors Nant Chit was able to build a home made of bricks.
Nant Chit’s only concern these days is who will continue her work at the St. Mother Teresa’s Poor Home for the Elderly when she passes away. - Jimmy Mahn
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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