(Vatican Radio) Hunger, homelessness and the threat of a new cholera epidemic. These are just some of the most critical needs facing the people of Haiti in areas devastated by Hurricane Matthew at the end of September.More than 900 people died as a result of the storm, which also passed over Cuba, the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas and St Vincent and the Grenadines, before heading to the U.S. Florida coast.Michel Roy, secretary general of Caritas Internationalis will be in Haiti from October 21st to 25th, visiting the worst affected areas of Les Cayes, Jérémie and Nippes in the west of the country.The global Catholic aid and development confederation is launching an international appeal for €250.000 for Haiti, where the local Caritas director, Fr Jean Hervé François, describes the situation as “catastrophic”.The Caritas appeal will provide 13.500 people with food, blankets and hygiene kits. Priority will be given to people in shelters,...
(Vatican Radio) Hunger, homelessness and the threat of a new cholera epidemic. These are just some of the most critical needs facing the people of Haiti in areas devastated by Hurricane Matthew at the end of September.
More than 900 people died as a result of the storm, which also passed over Cuba, the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas and St Vincent and the Grenadines, before heading to the U.S. Florida coast.
Michel Roy, secretary general of Caritas Internationalis will be in Haiti from October 21st to 25th, visiting the worst affected areas of Les Cayes, Jérémie and Nippes in the west of the country.
The global Catholic aid and development confederation is launching an international appeal for €250.000 for Haiti, where the local Caritas director, Fr Jean Hervé François, describes the situation as “catastrophic”.
The Caritas appeal will provide 13.500 people with food, blankets and hygiene kits. Priority will be given to people in shelters, pregnant women, children and adults with physical disabilities.
Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere where many people are still trying to recover from the 2010 earthquake in which hundreds of thousands of people died.
Philippa Hitchen spoke to Caritas secretary general Michel Roy to find out more about the most urgent needs of the people there.
Listen:
Roy says people in the hurricane devastated areas are struggling to survive, adding that cholera will spread if people can’t eat proper food. He says the situation is dire and the first supplies which reached the region have now been used up.
While Caritas is doing a lot to support hurricane victims, Roy says the government of Haiti has not received the necessary support from the international community, leading UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon to visit the country to appeal for urgently needed help.
Long term reconstruction
Asked about the prospects of long term development to help the country combat the problems of natural disasters, Roy says Haitians themselves must be involved in the reconstruction work. He cites the experience of Bangladesh where a 1991 cyclone killed some 142.000 people. When the same cyclone hit the country again, just a few years ago, it claimed only a few dozen victims, he says, because people are organised and know how to deal with cyclones in the Bay of Bengal.
In Haiti, by contrast, he says, “there is a lack of capacity at all levels” and people are left by themselves to survive, so anything that goes wrong will bring disaster.
Appeal to international community
Speaking of the threat of violence in the worst hit areas, Roy says it is “an obvious consequence” that people who are victims of the hurricane and see that nothing is done to help can become angry “and that anger will translate into violence”.
One of the goals of his visit, beyond showing solidarity with the victims, is to be able to report back first hand to the Caritas family about the need for a strong response to the current crisis. Caritas Haiti is better prepared than it was in 2011 to respond “in a more structured way”, Roy says, so he hopes the trip can be “an opportunity to raise consciousness again” that “something important has to be done”. That’s a message he’ll be sharing, not only with the Caritas family but also with the whole international community.
null / Credit: Jill Sauve/UnsplashWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 17, 2024 / 17:00 pm (CNA).Arizona House Republicans blocked two attempts on Wednesday to repeal an 1864 law protecting life at conception.In a near party-line 30-30 vote on Wednesday, House Democrats failed to gain a majority of votes to suspend the Legislature's rules to fast-track a so-called "abortion ban repeal" bill that would have overturned the 1864 pro-life law. Dormant since being invalidated by Roe v. Wade in 1973, the 1864 law protects all unborn life from conception and imposes prison time for those who "provide, supply, or administer" an abortion. This temporarily stalls ongoing efforts to repeal the law, which is set to go into effect in the next 37 days.Debate on the House floor was tense just before the vote as Democrats called the pro-life law "abhorrent" and "archaic." Democratic Rep. Alma Hernandez bashed Republicans, saying that "the fact that we will not even entertain a motion ...
Pope Francis addresses pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square for his Wednesday general audience on April 17, 2024, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican MediaRome Newsroom, Apr 17, 2024 / 09:14 am (CNA).Pope Francis on Wednesday presented the fourth and final cardinal virtue of temperance in his ongoing catechetical series of vices and virtues by noting that temperance itself is crucial for living a happy, balanced life."The gift of the temperate person is therefore balance, a quality as precious as it is rare. Indeed, everything in our world pushes to excess. Instead, temperance combines well with Gospel values such as smallness, discretion, modesty, meekness," the pope said to the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square on Wednesday. "In a world where many people boast about saying what they think, the temperate person instead prefers to think about what he says," the pope said. "He does not make empty promises but makes commitments to the extent that he can fulfill them."...
null / Credit: Elisa Finocchiaro via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)ACI Africa, Apr 17, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).Members of the Africa Christian Professionals Forum (ACPF) have expressed their solidarity with the people of Rwanda as the landlocked central African country marks 30 years since the Rwandan genocide in which an estimated 800,000 people were murdered."The Africa Christian Professionals Forum (ACPF), dedicated to promoting and protecting the sanctity of Life, Family Values, and good governance, extends its solidarity to Rwanda as we commemorate the 30th anniversary of the genocide," officials of the organization said in their Sunday, April 7, statement.ACPF members join "Rwanda's government, her citizens, African Union member states, and the global community in remembering the tragic loss of innocent lives," the statement continued.Recalling the events of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, which lasted approximately 100 days, ACPF officials said: "Thirty years ago, humanity witnessed uns...