Tag Archives: caritas

May 14, 2013 · 2:29 PM

Congo’s women dream of water

Musawu on her 2.5km trip from the water point home. Credit: Caritas Kinshasa

By Guy-Marin Kamandji, Caritas Congo

Musawu walks with a firm step, carrying 20 litres of water on her head with great agility. The water must be equivalent to about half the 10 year old girl’s weight.

It’s Monday morning in Bukwa Mulumba, a town in Kasai Central in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Musawu still has to make the 2.5 km trip from her home to the water point and back two more times today.  

“When there is enough water at home, then my mother lets me go to school.  Tomorrow I will be able to go to school,” she says.

She is not the only one making the walk on the slippery slope. Mrs Kanyeba, a young woman,  doesn’t have the 250 to 300 Congolese Francs (about 20 cents) to buy 20 litres of water in her village, so she must make the journey herself.

“After four trips with 20 litres of water on my head, I’m exhausted,” she said. “All I want to do is go to sleep to regain my strength, but I must stay awake to prepare food for my family.”

Once you arrive, then you must battle to get to the water point past the others all trying to get their water. The art of getting through the chaos is called “katshofa“.

We meet Francisca. She has just arrived home, breathless and exhausted. The 50 year old woman is on her third round of carting water back and forth and still has two more to go, all with 20 litres of water on her head.

Mrs. Mwa Mbuyi Kapinga, the eldest of the Congolese women we spoke to, said, “Having a pump in the town would relieve us of a daily chore. Some women must make the journey 10 times a day. It can really injure us.”

Water is the major problem for the thousands of residents of Bakwa Mulumba. There one source of water, a pump dating back to the colonial era, has stopped working for almost two decades.

Generations of Congolese women all share the same dream: repairing the main water pump. Caritas Congo is urging for funds to purchase a pump to supply water, for the replacement of piping and construction of tanks and water points.

Le rêve de mademoiselle Musawu et des mères de Bakwa Mulumba: une pompe d’eau !

 
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May 13, 2013 · 7:18 PM

Tropical storm threatening coastal areas in Bay of Bengal

Caritas helps comminuties in Bangldesh, India and Myanmar prepare for future disasters. Credit: Jennie Carmichael/CRS

Caritas helps communities in Bangladesh, India and Myanmar prepare for future disasters.
Credit: Jennie Carmichael/CRS

The tropical cyclone ‘Mahasen’ is heading towards coastal part of the Bay of Bengal and at any time it may cross any parts of Bangladesh or India or Myanmar on 15 – 17, May 2013.  

This cyclone is likely to intensify and move in a north to north-westerly direction. The maximum sustained wind speed is expected to rise up to 88 km per hour. The sea is expected to remain very rough within the region.

Caritas has been implementing disaster preparedness in seven districts that are now under the threat. In these areas Caritas has 45 field offices, 347 field staff (45% are women) and 5,344 Volunteers (40% are women) who are trained on cyclone preparedness works.

Caritas Bangladesh has organised an emergency meeting of the National Core Team for Disaster Management and formed four teams with specific emergency responsibilities.

At a regional level, Caritas has arranged an emergency fund, made sure rescue materials are ready for use, made staff ready, and coordinated with the government.

At the field level, Caritas organised communities into committees so everyone knows who will do what and kept them informed with regular weather updates, advised them on how to protect their household materials and helped them identify nearby safe places for shelter.

 

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· 5:31 PM

The tragedy of everyday life in Aleppo

Life in Aleppo is a daily struggle of insecurity, hunger, lack of electricity, water and education and health services. Credit: Creative Commons

Life in Aleppo is a daily struggle of insecurity, hunger, lack of electricity, water and education and health services. Credit: Creative Commons

By Bishop Audo of Aleppo, Caritas Syria President

For two years Syria has been pulled apart by conflict. Violence and anarchy have become widespread. We have become conditioned by tragedy.  Our minds and hearts have been constricted by fear and by caution. But I do my best to keep my heart and eyes open to what is happening.  And I’m pained by the terrible poverty I see.

A few days ago, I was walking in Souleimanié, a Christian quarter in Aleppo. People were surprised to see me walking alone. Immediately they feared that I might be kidnapped. The kidnappings of two priests and two bishops have traumatized many Christians in Syria.

As I walked, I saw four children in their early teens sitting around a table on the pavement playing cards. They were the children of merchants. They no longer go to school but just send their time playing cards. A few metres on, I see another young teenager collecting money from passengers for a trip in a minibus.

It’s a shock to think that millions of Syrian young people now do not go to school anymore.  I’d estimate that in Aleppo, four out of five children have given up going to school. Parents are too exhausted that they no longer can properly lookout for their children.

Education has become a luxury. A life of petty crime often the only option for the poor.  It’s a huge waste. It’s a huge mess. Chaos and poverty surround us everywhere.

In the heavily populated residential area of al Miassar, there has been no water or electricity for three months.  What can one do during the winter evenings? People resort to candles, but they cost money that we can ill afford.

One man I know in Aleppo bought a small second-hand generator so he’d have electricity. He runs it at night, but can only afford to keep it going for a couple of hours every other day. He and his neighbours must also find enough money to pay for another generator to pump water from a nearby well. They fill cans and carry 25 litres of water back to their apartments. People usually live on the uppers floors.

I know a young couple with three children, aged three to ten, who live like this. Their children no longer go to school but roam the streets in winter rain or summer sun. Such poverty isn’t unusual, its common place, affecting 80 percent of people in the city.

For Caritas, there is no question of giving up. We must stand up together, organise ourselves, train, meet and agree a way forward. Our plans to help the poor will always find the proper response. Our work must be inventive. Charity will always find a way.

Tragique vie quotidienne à Alep
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May 6, 2013 · 9:58 AM

Five years on from Cyclone Nargis

Children learn there roles in emergency response and preparation. During the event, the children’s groups shared their newly gained understanding of emergency preparedness. They spoke about monitoring the emergency kits in their homes to ensure the proper items are in each kit, planting trees around the emergency centrw, and cleaning around the rice storage facility which was set up after Cyclone Nargis.

Children learn what to do if disaster strikes as part of Caritas efforts to prepare communities for future emergencies.  

In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis struck Burma/Myanmar. The category 4 cyclone devastated communities, killed more than 138,000 people and left over two million people homeless. International and local organisations, including Caritas, provided assistance to the emergency response.

The vast majority of people who engaged in the response were local survivors of Cyclone Nargis; demonstrating the resilience of the human spirit and the solidarity of communities in the face of adversity.

Rosemary is the Emergency Coordinator of Karuna Myanmar Social Services (KMSS), the Church body organisation Caritas works through in Burma/Myanmar.  Rosemary talks about some of the Disaster Risk Reduction activities the communities have participated in since Cyclone Nargis, and their preparation for any future disasters.

To commemorate

As part of the five year anniversary of Cyclone Nargis, 600 people from 10 villages came together on the 28th and 29th of April, 2013. The two-day event led by KMSS was held in Tayoke Kone village, in Labutta township, a fishing village on the coast in Irrawaddy Delta, and one of the hardest hit areas of the disaster. The event included a review of the progress of the Village Disaster Management Committees and Emergency Response Task Force Groups.

The event provided opportunities for coordination and networking among local authorities and NGOs for early warning and Disaster Risk Reduction activities. To emphasise the planning already done, a mock drill was also practiced. The event was capped-off with an inter-faith Memorial Service.

Reflecting on key learnings

One common theme shared by the various groups assembled was that Cyclone Nargis caught everyone unprepared. But today all feel that their communities are more aware of the need for Disaster Risk Reduction and believe that their communities are better prepared compared to pre-Cyclone Nargis times.

The Task Force Groups have many functions, including early warning systems, first aid, rescue and evacuation, water and sanitation, and distribution of supplies. The groups said their key learning has been on how to mobilize people for evacuation. They also recognised the difficulty of this task, and identified the need for further training and practice.

Preparing families and children

As individual families now practice for emergencies in their daily routine, many said that they feel better prepared.

Through the KMSS Child-Focused Disaster Risk Reduction program, children have also learned that they have a role in emergency response and preparation. During the event, the children’s groups shared their newly gained understanding of emergency preparedness. They spoke about monitoring the emergency kits in their homes to ensure the proper items are in each kit, planting trees around the emergency centrw, and cleaning around the rice storage facility which was set up after Cyclone Nargis.

Drawing on experience and training

At the event, KMSS also reported on the establishment of Emergency Response and Support Teams at diocesan and national levels. These rapid response teams were developed after Cyclone Nargis, and have received training in rapid assessment, logistics, first aid, emergency distribution, finance management, and other related early response skills.

Since Cyclone Nargis, they have combined their efforts to assist in the Giri Cylone (2010), the Kengtung Earthquake (2011), and Mandalay Floods (2012), and the Mandalay Earthquake (2012).

This blog first appeared on Caritas Australia’s website

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May 2, 2013 · 4:21 PM

‘Everything has been destroyed and nearly everyone has been robbed’ – Central Africa Republic

Woman and child displaced by fighting in Central Africa Republic. They now receive aid from the church. Credit : Caritas

Woman and child displaced by fighting in Central Africa Republic. They now receive aid from the church. Credit : Caritas

Pictures are said to speak a thousand words, but sometimes a paragraph works just as well. This is the picture that Bishop Juan José Aguirre of Bangassou recently painted of the Central African Republic in an email to Cordaid (Caritas Netherlands).

“Roads are closed and officials cannot get to their places of work. People in Bangui are isolated and institutions in the rest of the country remain unmanned,” wrote Bishop Bangassou towards the end of April.

”Salaries are no longer being paid, families have become even poorer, people have less to eat, and school contributions can no longer be paid. Gasoline supplies have also dried up. This means that traffic will come to a standstill and generators will no longer work. As a knock-on effect there will be no electricity to charge mobile phones, no power to operate oxygen and other equipment in hospitals. There will also be no transport for medication, so no ARVs (anti-retrovirals) for AIDS patients and no medication for patients in a terminal phase. And in all municipal town halls birth certificates have been systematically destroyed.”

Since the Seleka rebels seized power in the Central African Republic the country has spiralled downwards into chaos and lawlessness. The capital, Bangui, fell on 24 March and since then the international community has called for a stronger peacekeeping force.

People have been seeking refuge where they can. This week the United Nations refugee agency urged countries to refrain from repatriating refugees to CAR, amid worsening violence and human rights abuses.

Working in CAR has been a risky business for Caritas ever since armed groups started to advance from the north last year.

The violence and looting makes delivering aid extremely difficult and also dangerous. This leaves communities cut off and without help. But two weeks ago Caritas went to offer support to the injured and distressed in Bangui, taking them food which included rice, sardines, milk and beans.

The mission was led by Archbishop Dieudonné Nzapalainga of Bangui and he was accompanied by the secretary general of Caritas CAR, Abby Elysée Guédjandé, and the head of Caritas Bangui, Sr. Flora Guerekopialo. Those who received help sang hymns in thanks and but also to keep their spirits up.

But other Caritas member organisations have had to stop programmes and/or evacuate staff when the situation has been too unstable.

“There were moments throughout the day when we were not sure we would survive,” said Maribeth Black, a Catholic Relief Services (a US member of Caritas)  staff member of her last day in Bangui. “Grenades and bullets were whizzing by outside the gate and angry looters were banging.”

Around the same time, Cordaid colleagues had to be evacuated from Bangui too as there were fears for their safety.

Speaking from Cameroon, to where she and other CRS staff were evacuated, Maribeth said, “All petrol stations (in Bangui) have been destroyed. All main stores looted. Vehicles have been stolen. The local economy has certainly taken a huge hit and it will be weeks, perhaps even months, until it functions again as normal.”

Reports coming out of Bangui paint a brutal picture of fear and violence with no end in sight. No one feels safe and help and comfort are hard to come by as the violence persists.

“It will be difficult to get this country back on its feet,” says Bishop Bangassou, “Everything has been destroyed and nearly everyone has been robbed.”

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April 30, 2013 · 4:29 PM

Mayday

A mother who is still looking for her missing daughter after the Savar tragedy. Credit: creative commons

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.

In a private mass on 1st May Pope Francis expressed his shock at the low wages of those who worked in the Bangladeshi factory. At his weekly audience later that day he used the feast of St Joseph the Worker to condemn slave labour.

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April 28, 2013 · 2:49 PM

Sichuan earthquake

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.

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April 24, 2013 · 6:21 PM

Out of control Syrian crisis threatening region

Storm clouds gather over a Syrian refugee camp in Lebanon. Credit: Andreas Zinggl/Caritas Austria

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 →

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April 22, 2013 · 11:39 AM

Landslides complicating Sichuan quake relief efforts

The relief team on their way back with a injured solider

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.

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April 18, 2013 · 9:01 AM

Catholic Peacebuilding conference

Christine Tucker (right) is chief of staff at Catholic Relief Services, a Caritas member, here at a 50th anniversary event for Pacem in Terris.

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 →

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