The taxi driver huffs and puffs, saying: “CAFOD, you are the last one to come out of the airport!” We both laugh out loud and greet each other with a warm, friendly handshake.
As we drive out of the airport and head towards Harare city centre, we go under a ceremonial concrete arch that has “Zimbabwe 1980 Independence” etched into its stone work in black lettering.
Filed under Caritas news
A mother who is still looking for her missing daughter after the Savar tragedy. Credit: creative commons
By Michelle Hough, Caritas Internationalis communications officer
Many workers around the world are having a welcomed day off tomorrow to mark “International Workers Day”. But in Bangladesh rescuers will continue to sift through the rubble of the clothing factory which collapsed in Savar last week.
Collapsed buildings for Caritas usually means earthquakes, such as the ones in Haiti and Japan. They are disasters which are terrible and unforeseen. The disaster in Savar was foretold by a big crack in the building. Despite an initial evacuation, people were forced to go back to work. Almost 400 people were crushed in the building collapse, many were injured and others are still missing.
Caritas Bangladesh has been giving out thousands of bottles of water and packets of saline to keep people hydrated, as well as nutritional biscuits. They are continuing in relief work in the area.
A message from colleagues at Caritas Bangladesh reads, “In solidarity with the local Church and with our colleagues of Caritas Bangladesh, we mourn for the dead and share the sorrow of their relatives for a tragedy that shouldn’t have happened. We pray for the lives of the injured and remain close to our friends in Bangladesh who continue to assist them and their families as best as they can.”
As the rubble is slowly cleared, families face coming to terms with their losses. Many of the people killed were women. Many of them had children who will grow up without a mother.
Those of us in richer countries also have to face something: the fact that those killed were producing cheap clothes for our shops.
This isn’t the first time that poorly paid workers have died in making our clothes. In November last year over 100 workers were burned alive in a factory in Bangladesh with no fire exits. In 2010, 27 people died and more than 100 were injured in a fire in a factory that made clothes for another Western retailer.
As we enjoy our May Day holiday tomorrow, we can be thankful for the workers’ rights of limited working hours, good pay and safe workplaces which we’ve gained over the years.
But at the same time, don’t forget to give a thought and a prayer for those lost in the Bangladesh disaster, for those who are injured and for those left behind.
Filed under Caritas news, Economic Justice
According to Caritas Hong Kong, the earthquake that shook the Sichuan Province in Southwest China a week ago has claimed the lives of 200 people and wounded 12,000 affecting over 1.5 million inhabitant living in the province. “In the villages I visited the most urgently needed supplies are tents, plastic sheeting and blankets as well as drugs, analgesics, anti-inflammatory soap, food, oil” says Br. Yi , a Caritas volunteers.
The Chinese government has been quick to respond and dispatch teams and troops as it is the second disaster hitting that the region in the past five years. Search and rescue teams are operating around the clock and desperately fighting against time to save as many lives as possible whilst the continuing aftershocks are impeding with their rescue efforts. The pressure is mounting as most of the relief materials can only be transported to the affected areas after the completion of the rescue team work.
Thank signs from children in Sichuan
Over 26,000 houses have been destroyed according to Caritas Hong Kong reports, but despite the familiarity with this type of disaster, the branch office of the Wanzhou Catholic Social Service Centre in Chongqing were not allowed to enter the quake hit area. The Emergency Command Centre has announced that only medical professionals and rescue teams are allowed to operate in the affected areas. According to an update by the Mianyang Ivy Social Service Center (MISC) tents, food and water are being provided by the government.
Filed under Emergencies
Storm clouds gather over a Syrian refugee camp in Lebanon. Credit: Andreas Zinggl/Caritas Austria
The humanitarian situation in Lebanon is desperate as over a million Syrian refugees seek safety in their tiny neighbour. “What we have been seeing is unbelievable, says President of Caritas Lebanon, Fr. Simon Faddoul. “The numbers are growing in an incredible way. The situation is getting worse. It’s becoming disastrous.”
Caritas Lebanon reports that there is a shortage of shelter to house the refugees, that diseases are spreading due to the unhygienic situation of the makeshift camps and that Lebanon’s delicate political balance is at risk.
Fr. Simon says, “To all those good hearted people, please listen to the suffering of the Syrian people inside Syria and in the neighbouring countries. Lebanon has four million inhabitants – we are hosting 1.2 million Syrian people. That means more than 25 percent of the population has become Syrian. From the humanitarian side, it is becoming uncontrollable.” Continue reading
Filed under Emergencies, Middle East Conflict
By Ferruccio Ferrante, communications officer with Caritas Italy
“Wherever you go, you’ll find Caritas” was the name of Caritas Italy’s conference which looked at issues surrounding migrants, young people, families, people facing life alone and those suffering from addictions.
Over 600 people from 161 diocesan Caritas brought with them their own experiences of working with Caritas in Italy and went away having shared and gained greater knowledge and hope.
In this time of difficulty when the crisis increases its grip, Caritas is by people’s side all over Italy. In the first six months of 2012, requests for help from Caritas increased by 44.5% compared to the previous year. Caritas finds itself with a great responsibility: how to continue to accompany people in their difficulties. It’s a responsibility that can’t be passed over to someone else because each of us must be a champion of change for the common good.
But how can we do this? Some ideas to come out of Caritas Italy’s conference were: organising flash mobs, responsible consumption and saving and ethical buying. Continue reading
Filed under Migration and Trafficking
The relief team on their way back with a injured solider
Caritas partners are struggling to reach Taiping, a remote township near the epicentre of Saturday’s deadly earthquake.
The earthquake of 6.6 magnitudes struck the province of Sichuan in Southwest China on 20 April, killing nearly 200 people, leaving thousands of people injured and causing significant damages.
Staff members from a local Caritas partner organisation, Jinde Charities, flew immediately to the disaster zone where they have been able to provide some aid through church networks.
Mary Wu of the relief team said they learned that the situation in Taiping is very serious so they took an ambulance from a church-run hospital there.
But landslides caused by aftershocks prevented them reaching the town. More than 1,000 aftershocks have been reported after earthquake.The government stopped ngos from proceeding, fearing accidents. However, the Jinde team were able to take an injured soldier back for treatment.
Filed under Emergencies
Joan Rosenhauer of Catholic Relief Services, a Caritas member, here at a 50th anniversary event for Pacem in Terris.
Catholic leaders, academics, and U.S. government officials addressed Catholic peacebuilding and U.S. foreign policy at a major conference, Peacebuilding 2013: Pacem in Terris at 50, April 9-10, at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Fifty years ago, Pacem in terris broke new ground by elaborating an approach to peace and engagement in the world that went beyond merely avoiding violence. Using human rights as a foundation for a vision of peace that involves authentic development and a just world order, Pacem in terris catalyzed what has become a vibrant and broad engagement in peacebuilding by Catholic actors around the world and at all levels.
In his keynote address, Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, issued a call to those present: “The pressing question now is the manner in which everyone of good will may make peacebuilding their own personal practice, rather than leaving it to a few in high office.” He continued, “Proper arrangements between nations and careful observance of others’ rights are essential in this globalized era, but they are not enough. We must also build bridges of true dialogue and true fraternity if we are to build peace.”
Maryann Cusimano Love of Catholic University’s Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies and the Catholic Peacebuilding Network noted that “the purpose of the conference was to bring together a wide variety of Catholic institutions to commemorate Pacem in terris as a living document that reminds us of the special responsibility we have as Catholics in the United States to ensure that our nation uses its enormous power and influence to be a force for peace around the world.” Continue reading
Filed under Peace and Reconciliation
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