The Saint Vincent de Paul Society in Mongolia

Only recently has the Saint Vincent de Paul Society been established in Mongolia. In 2005 it was establiished in Oulan-Bator by a group of lay Catholics who came there from neighboring Korea.

According to Mr. In-Chul, President of the Diocesan Council of Suwom of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, Helena Kwon, a Korean resident in Mongolia and some members of the Saint Vincent de Paul Scoeity in Korea (among whom were Mr. Anthony and Ms. Maria) met together in order to create the first Conference.

Since that time, Mr. Anthony, a professor at the National University of Mongolia and Ms. Helena Kowon have translated the prayers and the manual of the Society from Korean into the language of the people in Mongolia. Numerous people from Korea have offered counsel and helped the group organize local meetings and their ministry of home visitation.

In April, 2011, when her term of office came to an end, Helena Kwon encouraged the people to elect a new president. On that occasion a new leadership team, all from Mongolia, were elected and those members from Korea who had held leadership position, then became associates in the Society.

At the present time there are eleven (11) members in the society, all from Mongolia. The members meet together each Friday.

The primary activities of this group include:

• Providing meals for a group of students: they are given enough food to eat for a week and it should be noted that most of the students come from poor families. Every day after school these students come to the center of the Society day and there the volunteers help them with their studies.
• Food service at a dump/landfill: even though Mongolia is a developed country many people have no housing and are living in the midst of a public dump/landfill. Every Saturday the members of the Society offer food to these people. At the same time they are able to pray together with the people there and enter into dialogue with them.
• Home visits: the volunteers visit poor families once or twice a month and the majority of these families are single-parent households. The volunteers offer food to these families and pray together with them.
• Prison visits: once a month the volunteers visit the local prison.
• English and Korean classes: every Saturday these classes are offered
• Transportation to school: many children are unable to go to school because the cost of transportation is very high … the Society provides money to these children each week so that they can attend classes.

Reported by Nuntia MAY 2014 ENG. of the Congregation of the Mission and based on an article in International site of the Vincent dePaul Society