Mauritius

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Address: Caritas Mauritius, 1, Rue d’Estaing, Port-Louis, Mauritius
Telephone: +230 212 3405 / +230 212 3910 Fax: +230 212 3405
Email: caritas@intnet.mu/sgcaritas@gmail.com
Facebook: CaritasMaurice

Founded in May 1965, Caritas Mauritius was then defined by its founders as “an initiative in which Charity would at the same time be devotion and expertise”. Caritas Mauritius was initially geared towards emergency relief as, during the period following independence in 1968, many families were experiencing difficulties while the country went through a severe unemployment crisis and had to face all kinds of disasters.

In 2001, after the diocesan synod, the preferential option for the poor became the priority for the diocese of Port Louis. So today, thanks to support on the ground from the diocese and 47 parishes, Caritas Mauritius works to rehabilitate the poor, the excluded and the oppressed through an action of love and proximity by welcoming and listening to them, visiting and accompanying them, so that they may rediscover their dignity and build together a fair and united community.

With over 50 years’ experience of serving the needy, Caritas Mauritius is now a united network bringing together more than 1,000 volunteers in the service of 50,000 beneficiaries via its counselling centres located throughout the island.

Caritas Mauritius breaks down its actions into three services:

Accompaniment and development service

  • Emergency relief, in the event of natural disasters, enables providing for the needs of victims in terms of food, transport, medical expenses and educational assistance.
  • 46 counselling and development service centres, which welcome, counsel, accompany and support the poorest.
  • 15 Pre-school centres for infants, which focus on raising the sensory and motor awareness of vulnerable children in nursery school.
  • 1 community farm that offers training courses to improve life quality and food for the community.

Training service

  • 64 functional literacy centres which offer a speaking, reading, writing and arithmetic learning method.
  • The Life Skills Management Programme, a personal development training course with psycho-social counselling that aims to enhance trainees’ skills.
  • The Centre of Learning, a community development service to combat poverty and exclusion through training and accompaniment of local residents.
  • 2 Domestic science schools to train beneficiaries in housekeeping in a professional context.
  • 1 cake and pastry making school which offers professional courses in cake making and baking with internships.

Accommodation service

  • The accommodation assistance fund enables low-income families to have decent accommodation, to become homeowners and to avoid seizure of their home thanks to non-interest-bearing loans.
  • 2 night shelters to welcome and accompany homeless people in their social reintegration.
  • The Hope Inn, an Abbé Pierre house, which makes a temporary apartment available to families to help them save up to fulfil their housing plans.

In implementing its many actions, Caritas Mauritius works actively in partnership with state institutions, the private sector, UN organisations and foreign embassies.

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