Rev. U. A. Saik

Work

Rev. U Aung Saik is the parish priest for St. Michael’s Church in the village of Sami, but also serves 14 adjoining villages. He rotates his schedule to visit each parish at least three times a year to perform baptisms, marriages, and to celebrate the Eucharist. Rev. U Aung Saik grows a variety of crops and vegetables to feed his family and is often required to help educate his congregations in health issues, education, agriculture and animal husbandry. His childhood experiences on his family farm continue to influence his life as he seeks to spread the Gospel through both worship and service.

In addition to his duties as a parish priest, Rev. U Aung Saik hosts interfaith dialogues with other denominations and religions in the area. Together they hold a unity service that allows all faiths to worship together in peace. Furthermore, Rev. U Aung Saik performs counseling for families with problems, widows and orphans.

Rev. U Aung Saik is very conscientious about the need for sustainable farming in his congregation and would like to be able to contribute more to rural community development in his villages. He hopes to build a training farm for his congregation in Myanmar to learn more advanced agricultural techniques and animal husbandry, helping to eradicate hunger and poverty in his region.

Sending

Organization

The Province of Myanmar was formed in 1970, nine years after the declaration of Buddhism as the state religion and four years after all foreign missionaries were forced to leave. The Diocese of Sittwe is located in the very remote Chin State bordering with Bangladesh and India. While the state religion of Myanmar is Buddhism there is also a large population of Christians in the country. However, the Diocese of Sittwe has a large number of Muslims and Christians are a minority. The Diocese of Sittwe seeks to engage people in the Gospel through evangelism, service projects and community development.