Collaboration with NGOs and Relief Services
Sr Aine Hughes, a Holy Cross Sister, Menzingen from the Southern African Province shares her experience in her social work in collaboration with other Non-Governmental Organizations and Relief Services to tackle the problem of starvation, poverty and marginalization on the Continent of Africa.
She writes; “I have just returned from Zimbabwe where I had meetings with all the aid agencies and the Caritas Partners to develop a plan of action to get food aid into the 5,1 million people who are on the brink of starvation. I heard some very harrowing and equally disturbing stories, for example of people mixing cow-dung with mealie-meal and feeding this to children in order to keep them alive. People are fighting with baboons for the last few berries that are available and where possible they also kill and eat the baboons. It is a major disaster. We have however, managed to secure 40,000mt of maize and this has arrived in Durban and is being trucked to the different areas. It is simply not enough but we have developed another Emergency Appeal and through that we should be able to get enough food to see the people through to the next harvest. The Caritas Teams in all the dioceses are doing a tremendous job in the face of great risks to themselves and they are a credible witness of the Church in action and a sign of hope for the people.
On Wednesday 19th November, I leave for Rome for the Caritas International’s Executive Committee Meeting where we will have to deal with all the issues confronting the 162 countries in the confederation worldwide. From Rome I proceed to London for a meeting with Caritas England & Wales on Climate Change since I am the focal person for Climate Change for Caritas Africa.
I do it in the name of the congregation and try to give my 100% to whatever I do so that the poor and the marginalized can have quality of life. Hopefully, our efforts of sowing seeds will be watered by some others and that God gives the abundance. Africa is sinking deeper and deeper into poverty and conflict and the impact of climate change is being felt most acutely by the poor. As a Focal Person for Climate Change for Africa, I am conscious of the enormous task that has to be undertaken to ensure that the spiral downwards is mitigated and that the issue is kept on the world’s agenda, so that those responsible take their fair share of the responsibility for the burden they have created for others. This is the reason I am going to London after the Caritas International Executive Meeting in Rome”.
This experience resonates with many similar untold stories of the Sisters working in different types of apostolate in the whole province. The General Chapter Message 2007 continues to encourage a concerted effort in tackling the socio-economic, environmental, health and political problems glaring into our faces every morning. Mother Bernarda and Fr Theodosius, pray for us!