YANGON (UCAN) -- Compassion should extend beyond one's own community, says a Catholic nun who has been working with one of Myanmar's best-known Buddhist monks to bring relief to survivors of the devastating May 2 cyclone.

"We must join hand-in-hand with our brother Christians, Buddhists or Muslims to help those who are in need," according to Sister Flora of the Yangon-based Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition.

The nun recently accompanied Venerable Ashin Nanissara of Thitagu Missionary Association in Yangon on a June 9-11 relief mission to bring rice and roofing materials to the heavily damaged Irrawaddy River delta. The 71-year-old monk, a well-known religious figure in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, has a cordial relationship with the government.

"Our compassion must not be limited," Sister Flora told UCA News on June 16, back in Yangon. "We want to help all those who are in trouble, regardless of religion, and we want them to be released from their pain or sorrow wherever we go."

Sister Flora's sentiments echoed those expressed by Archbishop Charles Bo of Yangon in a June 13 statement. "Compassion is the common religion" in the wake of the cyclone tragedy, which "taught people that human tears have no color, no religion and no tribe," the Salesian archbishop wrote.

Cyclone Nargis ripped through the delta and up to Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, killing 135,000 people and leaving another 2.4 million homeless, according to the United Nations.

As the monsoon rains worsen the misery, many people live in tents, makeshift shelters or stay in monasteries, churches and other public buildings.

Sister Flora, who is in her 30s and prefers not to use her surname, said her mission with Venerable Ashin Nanissara brought 2,000 sheets of corrugated iron roofing and 250 bags of rice to four delta villages.

First they went to Bogalay, 150 kilometers southwest of Yangon, where the monk donated rice to villagers and corrugated iron sheets and robes to monks of monasteries that had lost their roofs.

After Bogolay, they went by motor boat on a 15-minute ride to the village of Sar Byu Su, where all houses had been destroyed and the only Buddhist monastery was left without a roof. Two of the 700 villagers had died.

As the primary school had been flattened, Sister Flora arranged with the monk in charge of the monastery to use his premises as a school for 95 children for the time being. She said that when she returned to Yangon, she arranged to send another 250 iron sheets to help repair the monastery roof.

Sister Flora was impressed by Venerable Ashin Nanissara's approach as he gave out relief aid in the villages, after years of aid work in the region. He was careful to arrange village committees to take charge and made the people's health one of his first priorities, she said, adding that he acknowledged "our contribution is too small" compared to the size of the disaster.

The nun also pointed out that the monk always prayed for those who died in the cyclone as they went from village to village. When they visited Meinmala Kyun, a small island, they gagged on the terrible stench of rotting corpses, she recalled.

Sister Flora is glad that people of various religions have been working "shoulder-to-shoulder" to bring relief.

Father Benedict Htay Lwin told UCA News June 18 in Yangon that such cooperation is ongoing.

The director of the social communications office of the bishops' conference said Church volunteers and Buddhist monks are working together to help the cyclone survivors in villages around Dedaye town, about 70 kilometers south of Yangon. They have been offering food, medical care, and collecting data to continue the relief effort.

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