Widespread hunger in rural Zimbabwe means that Kembo Ndlovu, head of Lupaka primary school, doesn’t just have to worry about nourishing his pupils’ minds, but also their bodies. Children who don’t get enough food at home, won’t have the energy to go to school and if they do, nagging hunger pangs will make it harder ...
Once the war was over, Caritas started giving out food, hygiene kits and offering access to health care and counselling to help people deal with the trauma what they had gone through. This went on through the winter months and right up until May 2009.
While Elvis Presley was famous for his fried peanut butter sandwiches and his voracious appetite, Elvis Ncube in Zimbabwe is lucky if he gets a daily meal of porridge and beans. Elvis’ mother left for Botswana for a short period to find work in 2005, but she never returned. Life in Madabe village, southern Zimbabwe, ...
In the gentle warmth of a mid-winter African sun, Moffat Mpofu seeks shade beside his small thatched hut. Beside him his wife Sarah stretches out on a thin grass mat, their youngest daughter resting quietly across her knees. But the peaceful scene hides a distressing story. Mr Mpofu, 49, tested positive for HIV in December ...
Many people are leaving Zimbabwe for a better life elsewhere rather than go hungry and not have a job at home. But some people leave the country because of intimidation resulting from their political beliefs. Gloria* is one such person. When she lived in Zimbabwe, she supported the opposition and attended rallies. By doing so, ...
I was visiting parts of my diocese the day before the earthquake. To get to one place I had to cross a lot of rivers. As we crossed one the water was “bubbling” and there were waves. We decided to stay that night at the diocesan training centre in Matean which is near the sea. ...
Christian Churches from all over the world are working together to save the lives of people affected by conflict in Darfur. A joint programme involving ACT (Action by Churches Together), a global alliance of churches and related agencies working in the field of humanitarian relief, and Caritas Internationalis has been providing essential life-saving services such ...
Life since the 2007 Mexico floods has been a learning curve for Hugo Gutierrez. He said Caritas Tabasco’s small team was almost overwhelmed when the disaster happened. After the floods Mr Gutierrez did emergency response training to ensure that if the floods ever came again, people would be better protected. “We learned about how to ...
Soft spoken and demure, Junor Hesgazons leans intently into his schoolwork, his eyes casting constantly to the chalkboard as the day’s lesson takes shape. His white collared shirt neatly creased despite the humidity of southern Haiti, Hesgazons looks every bit the engineer he hopes one day to be. “I like to study engineering. I like ...
2008 saw tragic scenes in Myanmar, India, Nepal, the Caribbean and Honduras as storms killed thousands. Caritas relief efforts provided food, shelter, medicine and compassion as it appealed for US $77 million worldwide in 2008 in 40 separate appeals. In May, Cyclone Nargis hit the Irrawaddy Delta in Myanmar (also known as Burma), leaving 134,000 ...