Wewala parish gifts Christmas food bags to 139 poor families

The packages were handed out on 24 December. The parish, which is part of the Archdiocese of Colombo, is home to 2,500 families. Parishioners chose the beneficiaries, people who find it hard to hide their poverty.

Colombo (AsiaNews) – Saint Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Wewala, in Sri Lanka’s Western Province, donated Christmas hampers to the parish’s poor and needy families in order to share the joy of Jesus’s birth because "only when we share can we be happy and fully Catholic."

"How could we celebrate Christmas, knowing that in our community there are many needy? We could not close our eyes to their call for help,” Fr Sumith Kumara told AsiaNews.

The bags contained different kinds of food: rice, coconut, dhal (red lentils), powdered milk, tea, coffee, spices, soups, salmon, onions and toothpaste worth 2,000 rupees (about US$ 14). In addition, the parish donated 500 rupees (US$ 3.50) to each family to buy fresh meat.

The Wewala Parish, which belongs to Archdiocese of Colombo, includes 2,500 families, 139 of whom live in extreme poverty.

Many of them "are struggling to put together two meals a day,” Fr Kumara said. “Some are totally dependent on rations the church hands out once in a while."

The beneficiaries were chosen by parishioners, like the Nihal, Concy, Nirmalee and Costa, who noted no outsider knows "their real economic difficulties. We know about it only because we are always and constantly close" to them.

The packages were handed out on 24 December, after the morning prayer.

"For us, it is an immense gift,” said a Catholic mother who received a hamper. “We are really grateful to Fr. Kumara and to those who made us happy."

• sri lanka
• wewala
• christmas
• baskets
• poor families