www.cafod.org.uk
www.cafod.org.uk
CAFOD works with local
organisations on the
ground, or ‘partners’, who
can respond to
emergencies immediately
and are used to working
with local people.
•
When a country is at
war people are often
forced to leave their
homes.
•
CAFOD’s partners
provide emergency
relief such as shelter,
food, water and
health care.
•
Duván (right), 13,
and his family were
driven from their
farmhouse by
fighting between
the army and
guerrilla forces.
•
They are now living
in a shanty town on
the outskirts of
Neiva and are trying
to rebuild their
lives.
• CAFOD partner, Pastoral Social,
trained and supported Duván’s
mother, Luz Mila, to set up a
metal furniture business.
• Now the family has become
more secure and Luz Mila can
support her children at school,
buying equipment like books and
pens.
• Veronica Gita, 56, and her
family were displaced along
with thousands of others
when an armed rebel
group, the Lord’s Resistance
Army, carried out attacks in
2008-9.
• The local Catholic diocese, a
CAFOD partner, provided
household kits and clothes.
• The kits included mosquito
nets, blankets and cooking
and shelter materials.
“When the attack started there
was a lot of noise. I didn’t see
them, I just ran. I collected the
children and ran.”
• The diocese gave Veronica a
household kit: “Before
receiving help it was difficult
even to cook, but after
receiving it helped us up to
now to survive.”
• She would like to return home:
“I would like to go back, but
the LRA are still in the bush.
I can’t go back.”
Veronica Gita,
South Sudan
• CAFOD helps partners
respond to disasters
such as earthquakes and
floods and to give people
what they need to
survive.
• CAFOD also helps people
affected by drought,
another type of natural
disaster, where people
do not have enough food
to survive because
harvests have failed or
livestock have died.
• After the Pakistan floods in
2010, CAFOD partner CRS
provided emergency kits,
including kitchen utensils and
plastic sheeting.
“When it rained yesterday we
had to use the plastic sheet to
take cover and the cooler helps
us store and keep our water
clean.”
Sher Ali, 14.
• When Hadjo noticed that her son
Adamou had stopped eating the
tiny portions she could feed him,
she knew he was very sick.
• Niger has suffered continued food
shortages due to drought for
many years.
• In 2010, it was estimated that
800,000 young Nigerians were at
risk of acute malnutrition.
• Adamou was taken to
hospital and treated
for the effects of
malnutrition.
• Now our partner, the
Saga Centre, enables
Hadjo to care for him
at home.
• The centre monitor’s
Adamou’s progress
and gives Hadjo five
days’ food for her
family.
• Natural disasters and
conflicts can have a
devastating effect on
people’s lives.
• Homes, schools, health
centres and livelihoods
can all be destroyed.
• CAFOD helps by building
new homes, providing
training and replacing
vital equipment so
people can get back to
work.
• CAFOD partners talk to
communities about
what they want, and
help them to prioritise
their needs, find new
ways to support their
families and improve
their general standard
of living.
• Where possible, CAFOD
remains in communities
for the long term after
an emergency has
happened.
• Celina Traesil lost her home in
the Haiti 2010 earthquake.
• CAFOD partners first built
some temporary houses, then
began to build permanent
houses, working alongside the
local community.
“In the community
meetings we have
agreed a plan, we will
work together to build
each other’s homes.”
“We have a saying, ‘You
don’t have to eat for
yourself, you have to think
of others’.”
Celina Traesil
• Kabery, 12, wants to be a
nurse – but her parents
have to pay for her
education.
• Kabery’s family lives in a
village which is often hit
by cyclones and floods.
These destroy houses and
ruin farmland.
• This makes it hard for
Kabery’s parents to earn a
living, as each time there
is a natural disaster, they
have to pay to fix the
damage.
CAFOD is helping Kabery’s
mother, Bijoli, to earn a
better living. She now grows
and sells fruit and
vegetables, and rears ducks.
The family can now afford to
send Kabery to school.
“Before the training the land wasn’t
used for anything. Now the crop is
always successful. The income I
get from the garden means that I
can spend extra money on my
children.”
Bijoli, 31
•
•
•
Darling, 21, takes part in
a simulated flood
response run by a
CAFOD partner
to help her community
respond to future natural
disasters.
This area is prone to
hurricanes and floods
and people can be
completely cut off.
Learning how to scale
ropes helps people like
Darling to reach safety
and assist others.
“We’re not doing this just
for fun. Every time it rains
here the road and river
floods and people can’t
cross. Now when it rains
they can cross with ropes.”
Darling, 21
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Picture credits
Amelia Bookstein, Laura Donkin, Noel Gavin, Marcella Haddad, Patrick Nicholson, Mike Noyes, Nana AntoAwuakye, Noel Gavin / Allpix / Trocaire, Philippe Mougin, Caritas Internationalis, Bridget Burrows, Paul Smith,
N Fischer/ Caritas Switzerland.
www.cafod.org.uk