Brigade Hill

The diocese of Myitkyina, Myanmar, thanked the Columbans for their donation given to help complete St Michael’s Church, Brigade Hill in Kachyi Htu parish. Construction work was completed at the end of February 2016 and the new church was blessed by the diocesan chancellor, Fr Paul Lum Dau, on April 8, 2016.

Fr Bosco Ah Seng is a priest of the Myitkina Diocese, who works in the Diocesan Pastoral Projects Department. He was ordained on November 23, 2013, the Feast of St Columban. He shares with us the story of the construction of the church.

Old St Michael's Church, Brigade Hill.Background to the construction of the church

Brigade Hill takes its name from the headquarters of the Northern Command of the First Brigade of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), which is still technically at war with the Myanmar National Army. Catholics have been increasing in number in this area in recent years due to the influx of displaced people from the surrounding villages in the nearby mountain country. The majority of the soldiers in the KIA army camp are Catholic.

The people in the area still practice slash and burn methods of agriculture to produce rice and other food crops. Some work as hired labourers, while many others are self-employed, particularly in small scale gold mining.

There is one Public Health Dispensary, a high school and hostels for 300 boys and girls from other villages, all run by the KIA “government”. They also supervise a refugee camp which houses 40 students who have fled from the Myanmar Government controlled area. As a result, the whole region that is under the control of the First Brigade, is at present safe and peaceful. The civilian population is not directly affected by the current war between the KIA and the Myanmar Government.

It was the local Catholic community at Brigade Hill that wanted to rebuild their church. It was a part of their pastoral plan to better serve the local community’s liturgical needs. The church will also provide shelter in case of emergencies.

Each Catholic family was asked to collect around US$20 for the construction. Little progress was made during the first four years until the Columbans offered a donation to help complete the construction. The local community continued to support the project by producing cement bricks for the church at a reduced cost.

Difficulties that arose

Construction work had to pause during the monsoon season each year. On top of this, fighting broke out again in June 2015 between the KIA and the central government in the area. This forced the people to leave their villages. Also as a result of the renewed conflict, outboard motor boats on the nearby Irrawaddy River that collect construction materials like cement and lime, could not work for a period of almost two months. When allowed again, transport costs had greatly increased.

Getting to work

St Michael’s foundation was laid in 2010. On December 1, 2014, we received a grant from the Columbans to help complete the church. We could now collect some necessary construction materials such as hinges, bolts, nails, handles and window panes. We now finished one third of the walling and some of the flooring. The ceiling work was done with the kind donation from Catholic Kachin Community in Canada.

The local Catholics contributed their labour from time to time as well. The construction committee also asked help from the KIA. It went on a trip to the gold-mining town of Hpakant. Other parishes and the gold mines along the Irrawaddy River were asked for help for the construction of St Michael’s.

The lack of nearby water sources at Brigade Hill also hindered the construction works. Luckily students from the nearby boarding school offered to fetch water from a distant spring. This boarding school is subsidized by the Columbans.

Conclusion

With the help of all the donations and the sacrifice of the local faithful, Brigade Hill (Dap ba Kawng) now has a new church. The faithful are very proud of it because it is the biggest one in Kachyi Htu parish. A local woman told me that they have been having liturgical celebrations in the dilapidated wooden church for years. Now they have a new one and are very excited about that. She said that she cannot wait to see catechism classes for the children and other church activities to be conducted in this new church.

The chief catechist of St Michael’s Church also said that before they felt small for they did not have a decent church for Sunday Masses while the other Christian denominations had much better churches. He said that the local people are very proud of their sacrifice and labour and they are very grateful to the Columbans and all benefactors. He promised that the local faithful will never fail to remember their benefactors in their prayers.

Fr Bosco Ah Seng is a priest of the Myitkyina diocese, Myanmar.
The new, reconstructed St Michael's Church, Brigade Hill.

Read more from The Far East, July 2016