Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews) - During Holy Week a group of 50 young migrant workers in the parish of St. Paul's Ho Chi Minh City are rediscovering faith in God, through the symbol of the Cross and sharing their daily problems and hardships. The initiative is part of a project of the Pastoral Commission for Migrants in the diocese. It offers young people, stressed and tested by their work, the opportunity to carry out charitable activities for poor people and moments of prayer to give meaning to their lives.
"We started through small acts of charity for the poor - said one of the young people - and through meditations on the 14 Stations of the Cross we have come to understand the love God has for us." "The pressure at work is inevitable - says Tan, a boy of 16 from Quan Tri province – I often get homesick and when I am at mass I am always overwhelmed by my thoughts."
More than 2 million migrants from poorer provinces in the country live in Ho Chi Minh City (7 million inhabitants). Many of these are young Catholics between 16 and 25 drawn to the metropolis by the high demand for labour and the possibility of studying.
For years, the Pastoral Commission for migrants attempts to provide children not only economic aid, but also the opportunity to share their work experiences, difficulties and problems freeing them from loneliness. To date, the Commission has about 6 thousand young workers in the diocese of Saigon, 700 in the single parish of St. Paul.