29th September 2012

Orthodox Mission in Haiti

ROCOR (Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia) has 7 Orthodox parishes across Haiti. The website for Orthodox Mission in Haiti is: http://www.orthodoxhaiti.org/

The Haiti Orthodox Family Relief (HOFR) program enables Orthodox parishes from around the world to provide direct financial support to Haitian Orthodox families.  

General expenses of the HOFR program are paid by the ROCOR Mission in Haiti and the Fund for Assistance (FFA).  This means the HOFR program delivers 100% of the money raised by Parishes and individuals directly and securely to recipients.  Every dollar of Parish support raised through HOFR translates into a dollar of life-saving food, water, shelter or medical care placed directly into the hands of a Haitian Orthodox family.

You can read the September edition of the Haiti Mission Booklet at the following link: http://haitiorthodoxfamilyrelief.com/docs/HOFRNewsletter.pdf 

FFA (Fund for Assistance) has been operated by ROCOR since 1959, and is or has been operational in Chile, Costa-Rica, Haiti, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Uganda, Ukraine and the USA.

FFA’s activities in Haiti began in 2008 in response to three devastating hurricanes that left hundreds of people dead, most of the harvest destroyed and many cities uninhabitable.

Most recently FFA activities have been focused on responding to the needs of the ROCOR mission in Haiti after the earthquake in January 2010, that devastated the country and threw back the mission to its starting point, destroying cities, homes, the mission’s churches, parishioners’ homes, a school in Port-au-Prince and the priests’ only vehicle that allowed them to visit the faithful all over the country.  

Currently the mission is suffering from

  • lack of food, water and shelter
  • lack of church books, vestments and holy vessels
  • absence of church buildings

This ongoing effort has enabled the Fund for Assistance to raise around $160,000 for Haiti.  They are continuing their efforts in order to enable the mission to survive; the goal is to raise $2000 a month for our Haitian brothers and sisters.


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9th September 2012

Eight Treasures Vegetarian

282A South Bridge Rd, Singapore

An elegant restaurant specializing in traditional Chinese food seems a good idea for a light meal. The ginko and bean curd soup comes with mushrooms and plenty of pepper that lies in wait at the bottom of the pot in which it is served, while a dish of beautifully fresh steamed broccoli, asparagus, carrot and mushrooms works well, although right in the middle is something reconstituted to resemble meat, which I could have done without. Both dishes make liberal use of big slices of fresh ginger, which is believed to help in overcoming wind, and there is plenty of brown rice. A tall glass of lime juice strikes just the right balance between sweet and sour.

The nearest MRT station is Chinatown, but despite its address you enter the restaurant from Sago St, opposite the temple. The little streets running between South Bridge Rd and Eu Tong St contain many shops selling the traditional herbal ingredients so adeptly used in this restaurant.

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