Tag Archives: caritas

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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April 16, 2013 · 6:04 PM

Earthquake in Iran Pakistan

By Amjad Gulzar, Executive Director Caritas Pakistan

A strong earthquake of 7.8 magnitude hit Pakistan at 15.44 hours (10.44 GMT ) today. The tremors were felt in Islamabad, Lahore, Abbottabad, Peshawar, Hyderabad, Quetta, Multan, Kohat, Hangu, Bannu, Dir and many other areas across Pakistan.

According to Pakistan Meteorological Department the latitude of earthquake was 26.65 North and longitude was 61.60 East with its epicenter in Southern Iran near the Pakistan Iran Boarder.

The tremors spreading panic among the people who came out of their houses for safety. The epicenter is said to be in Iran The worst affected areas in Pakistan is Mashki some 580 Km from Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan in the south west of Pakistan. Travel time from Quetta to Mashaki is around 15-16 hours by road.

Till about an hour back 21 deaths had been reported and over 100 injured in the city of about 30000-35000 population. There is a fear of more causalities as around 70% of the houses have been collapsed and undeveloped area with mostly mud houses.

Being a bordering area of Iran and Pakistan and having Frontier Constabulary (FC) check post there, immediate relief work is being carried out by FC. A camp has been set up and the doctors from FC are providing medical assistance. There are also reports of shortage of medicines.

Caritas Pakistan is getting more information and in coordination with Provincial Disaster Managment Authority – Baluchistan.

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April 12, 2013 · 12:11 PM

Caritas Lebanon comes to aid of Syrian refugees

By Soraya Naufal, Caritas Lebanon – Information and Communication Department

The number of Syrian refugees who have fled to Lebanon since the beginning of the Syrian crisis in March 2011 has officially reached the alarming figure of one million individuals (mostly women and children). This, in a country of approximately four million inhabitants, already shaken by numerous conflicts over the past five decades, could lead to a disastrous humanitarian situation.

In order to reduce and prevent, from the start, social and humanitarian complications, Caritas Lebanon was among the first NGOs to rapidly deploy in the Bekaa valley and in the border regions, thus relieving both Christian and Muslim Syrian refugees and providing them with basic humanitarian needs: clothes, food, blankets… Its intervention is set up in collaboration with the UNHCR and the UNICEF, and according to the SPHERE standards.

Medical assistance targets mainly women and children in Caritas Lebanon’s Health Care Centers located in Zahleh (Bekaa), Tripoli (North), Deir el Kamar (Chouf) and Rayfoun (Kesrwan). Two of its nine Mobile Clinics drive around the tented settlement in the Bekaa valley, providing medical care to refugees. Children benefit from pediatric consultations as well as vaccinations. Pregnant women are given special attention and referred to Caritas Health Centers for free ultrasounds. Free medicine for acute diseases is offered directly to patients and upon doctors’ prescriptions. Continue reading →

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· 11:51 AM

From child soldier to top student in Congo

Eight year old Germain Muhindo, third from left, sits with two other ex child soldiers at the Caritas centre. Photo Taylor Toeka

Eight year old Germain Muhindo, third from left, sits with two other ex child soldiers at the Caritas centre. Photo Taylor Toeka

By Taylor Toeka, Caritas Goma

Francais

Germain Muhindo comes top of his class almost always, yet a few months ago the eight year old first grader had never even seen a chalkboard. But he had seen war. He was forced into being a child soldier for three months in September 2012 by fighters in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s ravaged east.

“We were working to the fields when we met the rebels,” said Germain. “They ordered my older brother, who is thirteen, to carry their bags. He refused so they hit him and made him do it. As there were only two of us, they made me come along too.”

Half a million people were driven from their homes in North Kivu last year and thousands of children were taken to be used as soldiers, cooks, messengers, porters or the girls as sex slaves by government and rebel forces.

“Every day I thought of my mother,” he said. “I didn’t know how to feed myself. I was very ill.”
Germain was released from his captors to Caritas Goma and is now one of the 32 boys and 6 girls at a centre for former child soldiers run by Caritas in Kanyabayonga. Caritas provides the children with medical and care and counselling, safe place, helps them restart their schooling or gives those beyond school age the skills to find work.

“After reunification with their families, we get them back into school,” said Leontine Munganga, head of Caritas centre. Germaine is special as he is so young and had never been to school before. The Caritas staff are enormously proud of his achievement in doing so well.

It’s takes the children about three months before they can return home. Germain is staying longer because his village is unsafe.

The process is slow as Caritas must prepare the child and the community they are returning to accept them back. Tackling discrimination against the children for the crimes they were forced to commit is important.

The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in armed conflict forbade the recruitment of children by either governments or rebels. Until now the Congolese army and militias are on a ‘list of shame’ for their use of children in armed conflict.

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April 4, 2013 · 1:52 PM

Eye witness accounts of the war in Syria

Children wait to collect water in Aleppo April 2, 2013. Around Syria, water shortages are worsening and supplies are sometimes contaminated, putting children at increased risk of diseases. REUTERS/Giath Taha

Children wait to collect water in Aleppo April 2, 2013. Around Syria, water shortages are worsening and supplies are sometimes contaminated, putting children at increased risk of diseases. REUTERS/Giath Taha

By Caritas staff

These last three days have been particularly difficult and deadly in Aleppo.

Caritas works in the Jabal Es Saydeh quarter with families who have been forced from their homes. But it is now empty of all its residents, driven from their homes by heavy fighting.  The local sheikh was murdered. He had opposed the armed groups. He was beheaded and his severed head displayed for passersby to see.

Homes have been occupied by fighters and used as advanced firing positions. Bullets and bombs rain down ceaselessly on Jabal Es Saydeh and adjacent neighbourhoods.  Snipers dominate the city. They’ve moved into areas previously thought safe before.

Christian parts of the city which were thought safe have become the front line.  Families have had to flee from place to place looking for safety.  Aleppo has witnessed a major wave of people, both Christian and Muslim, leaving because they no longer feel safe or protected.

There is no electricity for hours even days. No water or telephone. We don’t even know where to bury the dead as to go to the cemetery is too dangerous.

Easter saw a huge number of people coming to the churches. There was no place to sit for many, so they stood. Many feared that the large crowds or the churches would be targeted, but a special protection enveloped us all.

Paques à Alep

Ces trois derniers jours ont particulièrement été difficiles et meurtriers. Continue reading →

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· 1:11 PM

Tragic death of Syrian baby in Lebanon

Caritas Lebanon provides healthcare to Syrian refugees through mobile clinics. Credit: Evert-Jan Daniels/CORDAID

Caritas Lebanon provides healthcare to Syrian refugees through mobile clinics. Credit: Evert-Jan Daniels/CORDAID

By Caritas Lebanon Migrants Centre

The parents of 8-month old Amjad Aalawayn came to the Caritas Lebanon Migrant Centre in Zahle in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon on Wednesday 3 April looking for help for their sick baby. The family were Syrian refugees, fleeing the fighting in their country. The baby was pale, listless and had no appetite.

They came to Caritas after one hospital had refused to admit Amjad because of money issues. A Caritas social worker contacted a paediatrician to transfer him to a hospital, but sadly he passed away while waiting for medical assistance.

Our social worker contacted the hospital where he was transferred, whereby they confirmed the death of 8-month old Amjad. No cause of death was declared as was dead on arrival. May this angel’s soul rest in peace, a peace he certainly didn’t find in here.

Many sick children have been referred to Caritas from the same camp with similar symptoms.  Syrian refugees don’t get enough medical assistance.

Najla Chahda, Director of Caritas Lebanon Migrant Centre, said, “There is an urgent need to provide medical assistance for these children quickly. We hope that a solution would be found soon to all Syrian refugees and put an end to their suffering.

UPDATE

Today, the Caritas team went on-site to check the situation in the settlement where Amjad’s family is living. It seems that one child was diagnosed with tuberculosis and discharged from hospital where he stayed for two days, due to lack of money. There are lots of children and adults showing mild similar symptoms, but at least six children and two to three adults are sick.

We immediately notified the IMC team who promised to go on field immediately. We fear an outbreak of this highly contagious disease, especially when considering the deplorable sanitary conditions experienced by the refugees living in this location.

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March 27, 2013 · 4:39 PM

L’Archevêque de Bangui et Président de Caritas en Centrafrique lance un appel au calme

Credit: REUTERS/Alain Amontchi c/o Alertnet

Credit: REUTERS/Alain Amontchi c/o Alertnet

« La situation à Bangui reste précaire» déclare Mgr Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Président de Caritas Centrafrique lors d’un appel à Caritas Internationalis,«les pillages, les vols et la destruction d’habitations est importante . Notre soucis principal est l’accès à nos diocèses afin de pouvoir évaluer la situation sur place et de maintenir un dialogue pour la paix .» dit-il.

Une cellule de crise formée des membres de Caritas dans le pays est en place, mais le vol des véhicules de la Caritas et la volatilité de la situation rend le travail difficile pour les membres de la Caritas.

La coalition Seleka a pris le contrôle de Bangui, ce dimanche 24 mars, de la capitale Centrafricaine. Ce groupe de rebelles, encore inconnu il y quelques mois, dérive son nom du mot « alliance » en sango, la langue usuelle en Centrafrique.

Le pape François s’est joint ce matin, lors de sa première audience générale a un appel pour «un arrêt immédiat des violences et des pillages en Centrafrique, » trois jours après le renversement du président François Bozizé. «Je suis avec attention la situation en Centrafrique. Je lance un appel pour que cessent immédiatement les violences et les pillages, et que soit trouvée au plus tôt une solution politique à la crise qui puisse redonner la paix » annonce-il devant des milliers de personnes rassemblées place Saint-Pierre ce mercredi.

Lire un entretien avec Mgr Dieudonné Nzapalainga

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