Dear friends of La Cometa, thanks to those who participated with joy and enthusiasm to the numerous initiatives that took place during theChristmas time. Starting from the usual Christmas charitable dinner last December 13th we were able to collect thesum of 6,100 Euros . In addition we thank Don Fabio of the parish of St. Pio, Acilia (Rome), which for several yearshas allowed the ONLUS a space for the exhibition of La Cometa ‘mercatino’ . Last December 14th , 870 Euros werecollected.Also at the Mater Misericordiae Clinic and at Maria Marcella Residence held two Christmas ‘mercatino’ where wecould collect 287 and 3,070 Euros respectively. Thanks to these initiatives, we have achieved the necessary sum forsubsidizing a fish farm in the Philippines to ILOILO- Typhoon Iolanda affected area . Here 30 groups of families indifficulty, will be able to maintain themselves by this project. Heartfelt thanks to all those who participated in theseinitiatives because once again you have ensured that the light of La Cometa could illuminate the lives of those whoare in need.This year too the iniziatives we have taken up are many, we shall timely inform you of the outcome through thenewsletter, or the web at : www.lacometaonlus.eu or through the official page of Facebook.

Please continue to follow and sustain us!

Give your 5X1000 to La Cometa Association

Thanks to all who have chosen to devote its 5 X 1000 to La Cometa.In recent years, thanks to your contribution we made much... • In 2006 was allocated Euro 13,753 sent to Melfi to subsidize chil-

dren's Home • In 2007 was allocated Euro 11,744 sent to help Vijoy Health

Hospital Center (India)• In 2008 was allocated Euro 12,601 sent to a small clinic in

Nigeria • In 2009 were allocated Euro 14,778.82 send partially to to the lep-

rosy center of Dondapudi in India, then to ethnic war refugees inIndia and to an Italian family which is in serious difficulties

• In 2010 were allocated Euro 12,760, 41 sent to the new mission ofTimor-Leste (Indonesia)

• In 2011 were allocated 14,480.83 Euro sent to help the Mission in Nigeria ($ 11,280) and to support those adop-tions that adoptive parents have difficulty paying ($ 3200)

Also this year we ask your contribution to make happy those who have less than us. Joining is simple and has nocost. Put your signature and social security number of our Association-07191011001 in the space provided in thetax return for the support of non-profit organizations of social utility O.N.L.U.S. Transforms your tax return into a gesture of solidarity!

The President Sr. Adalgisa Mullano

... from India

Neethu writes to thank her benefactor. With a

small contribution of 25 € per month allows herto study. Study means to have a future. Do not goto school, it means staying on the street , literal-ly. You can support your child at a distance! Or you

can arrange an adoption group: 25 € per monthdivided between friends/relatives/colleagues, arethe equivalent of a breakfast bar each! Learn how to do it, follow us on theweb:www.lacometaonlus.eu

Here is the letter that Mary Janewrote recently to the mother whohas adopted her trough theAssociation. Mary Jane thanksbecause it can continue their stud-ies thanks to this little-great con-tribution. You too can support a child andallow him to go to school whileremoving him from the road!Learn how to do it:www.lacometaonlus.eu

Fanilo... from Africa A beam of light from Africa this is the Fanilo letter(its name means ' light '), a girl of 14 years fromMadagascar, which thanks to what she receivesfrom La Cometa can grow serene, despite the dif-ficulties that already at her age she has to undergoand has to overcome, such as the death of her moth-er

... from Philippines

Greetings from ‘Amici di Teresa Orsini’, a volunteerAssociation of Mothers who help the sisters in Manila with theactivities of La Cometa!

Children of Batang Kalinga (Philippines)

Many of our adoptive parents support andcare Batang Kalinga orphan girls or aban-doned by parents, without a roof to live northe possibility of studying to improve theirliving conditions. Unfortunately lately thereis an increase of these situations-limit and it ishere that La Cometa would bring its light.Thanks to the work of the Hospitaller Sistersof Mercy our ONLUS is active in the Missionof Victoria Homes-Muntinlupa City wherethe SOM brought together different projectsin order to be integrated with a more efficientorganization, called M.E.L.F.I. (MotherElisabeth Longhi Foundation Inc.)In addition to mission structure that housesthe teenagers Batang Kalinga, Teresa OrsiniHome (TOH) is also home to the elderly. TheSOM care for children from 6 to 13 years ofage, until the end of elementary school, pro-viding everything they need, including cloth-ing, residential care.The educational program that takes place in a school close to the Center aim not only to teenagers living in Batang Kalinga butalso provides education for children in who live with their parents.The latter, when necessary, are assured home-school accom-paniment, with the help of volunteers. Education includes: spiritual training, health and nutrition with regular check-ups, assign-ing an individual tutoring, recreation and sports programmes, psychological assistance and counseling and participation in com-munity life. At the end of elementary school, the teenage girls who can't count on families of origin continue to be followed atthe high school with the support of La Cometa.

Cristina Allodi

Health Care in Maucatar (Timor Leste)

A The Hospitaller Sisters of Mercy at Maucatar every dayare trying to counter the severe bacterial infections suchas typhoid, diarrhea, amoebic dysentery and malaria.Food and water are easily contaminated. contagious infec-tions like measles, rabies and tuberculosis, not to mentionskin rashes and itching are widely spread. Severe are theconditions of mothers and children: babies are notweighed regularly, there is a calendar of immunizations,health problems of pregnant women and mothers are notclosely monitored. The subdistrict of Maucatar's inCovalima district has about 10,611 inhabitants distributedamong hills and mountains. The main villages are calledHolpilat, Belacasac, Matai, Ogues and linked to thesethere are 22 sub-villages. The people who live in themountains or in the hills have not easy access to healthcare centers because of poor roads and lack of means ortransport.The SOM go to visit families in various villages on a

weekly basis and provide them with basic health care, treating wounds and monitoring the situation. As they identify what arethe problems they take care to shift the patients to the hospital of Suai. Have a mobile service for the poor and sick. Now theyare developing the "maternity Clinic” in Maucatar ; the structure will be finished within this year 2015 to assist mothers withchildren in all kinds of needs and to ensure their good health and better living conditions.

4 - Accoglienza che cresce

La Cometa Argentina

Many projects for 2015

We interviewed Dolly Arancibia, our contact person in Argentina for La Cometa which told usabout the initiatives that will be held in San Juan,

not just for this year.

What are Dolly the projects for 2015 that La CometaArgentina intends to continue? For this new year many are the projects that we wantto continue and others who would like to achieve.Among those that we care and that we will continueeven in 2015, there is the "Distant Adoption” programwhere there are educational scolarships to ensure andeducation to those who can’t afford it. Provide help tothe sick children where their own families fail toensure their necessary care.

Scholarship to patients

Braian Andrés Marinero Abigail Sánchez

Paula Gramajo Aixa Torres David Guzmán Ricardo Uriel Reinoso

di Federica Martufi

There are also projects in support of literacy?

Of course, even literacy is one of the major problems among the younger ones and that is why we believeit is important to help children to improve the quality of education, provide them with the means to reduceabsences and drop-out rates of students, giving pedagogical help; last but not least, disseminate, throughreading, christian values in the family. And these are precisely the goals that La Cometa Argentina is try-ing to reach, continuing the project of ' literacy support with initiatives enriched also with the profession-al guidance from Raffaella Cimatti Study Center.

La Cometa Argentina

Accoglienza che cresce - 21

And what specifically are the projects to support literacy '?There are two, the first is ‘read to grow’ where preparation meet-ings are held with school teachers Juan Gregorio de las Heras andaccompanying meetings in reading with children, young peopleand adults of the Tierritas community. To take forward such initia-tive we need books, magazines, newspapers, furniture for thelibrary, puppets, masks, tape recorder, small compensation for vol-unteers and teachers at rural schools and the professional orienta-tion from Raffaella Cimatti Studies Centre to manage the entireproject. The second project is to 'small journalists' in which youngstudents Juan Gregorio las Heras will be responsible for writingthe community news in the school newspaper "Tierritas es Noticia".The necessary resources to ensure that this project can go aheadare: computers, a printer, paper and vocational guidance fromRaffaella Cimatti Studies Centre.

Finally for the year 2015 we'd like to publish a book in Spanish onBlessed Raffaella Cimatti and the work of the Hospitaller Sisters ofMercy in San Juan and in the world with the aim to spread the lifeand work of the blessed Sister and the mission work of theCongregation. We already have a Publisher (Dunken). I would takecare of the texts.

How are the activities of the newly formed center for StudiesRaffaella Cimatti? Very well. We are pleased by this new Center. There are two taskslinked to it that we would like to take care. The first is the researchproject on educational innovation based on transcendentalanthropology of Leonardo Polo on how to improve the educationof girls and women in thecommunity of Tierritas,General San Martín andSan Juan. The second isthe International Confe-rence "Freedom, religionand secularism in thetwenty-first century" tobe held in August in SanJuan with the participa-tion of prestigious schol-ars from foreign universi-ties, from Rome and fromChile.

School receives Literacy support: Juan Gregorio de lasHeras, Tierritas,

Albardón, San Juan, Argentina (Elementary School in rural area with 38 students and 4 teachers)