> About Oblates
PARTNERS IN MISSION IN BEIJING
24th of August Petrina Rinkin and Georgina Ahern, the new participants in Partners in Mission Program arrived in Beijing. They will work with China Little Flower taking care of handicapped children as well as teaching English in the local primary school.
They want to share with us why they are in Beijing and why they want to make a difference, no matter how small, to another persons life.
At 26 years of age, and an only child this will be my first time away from home (Sydney, Australia) where I have been a part of the Oblate Youth Group in my local parish for 6 years as both a leader and participant. Saying goodbye to my family, friends and job for something completely new and challenging has been quite daunting however from my experience with the Oblates, I don’t see it as leaving behind family and friends but merely extending on those I already have.
Petrina Rinkin
I feel like in today’s society it is difficult to find the opportunity to put the words we are taught at mass each week into action, while being at youth group we are continuously challenged to ‘leave nothing undared’ and to be a ‘witness to the world’.
Petrina Rinkin
I am a 22 year old graduate nurse who has never wanted for anything. Growing up in a loving family who have helped me and supported me through everything I did during my life, reading me a bedtime story, putting a bandied on my knee when I fell over, these simple things that we in the “lucky country” take for granted.
Georgina Ahern
I have always been raised a catholic but until this experience have never felt as if I have demonstrated this faith. I studied nursing at University of Notre Dame and there learnt of the China Little Flower mission. This seemed to me the perfect way to demonstrate the catholic faith and to help pass on all the gifts that my family have given to me. It may seem like a small thing to sit and read a book, or give a hug to a child crying but these are the fondest memories I have of childhood and to think of children going without these basic necessities breaks my heart.
Because of this we are here in China, doing what we have always been taught “to love one another” and hopefully making a difference, no matter how small, to another persons life. We hope to continue in the footsteps of other Christians, like Mother Teresa, who spend their lives serving the poorest of the poor.
Georgina Ahern
Petrina and Georgina in the front of their school
