A Catholic charity helps provide physical and spiritual support to a troubled region of Mozambique, which has been stricken by Islamist violence and hit late last 12 months by a deadly cyclone.
An Islamist insurgency in Cabo Delgado Province has claimed the lives of over 5,000 people, with many more forced to flee from their homes.
Sister Aparecida Queiroz of the Daughters of Jesus and who also works with Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), told the organization about conditions on the bottom.
“Imagine that you just are in your own home after a day’s work and suddenly a gaggle of armed men breaks in, kills your kids and kidnaps members of your loved ones, forcing you to flee through the bush for days, scared, hungry, thirsty, and in terrible anguish,” she said.
“Well, that’s the pain that 1000’s of our brothers and sisters in Cabo Delgado are experiencing, individuals who have lost all the pieces: their homes, members of the family, places of worship, their identity, and who’ve needed to flee not once, but over and over.”
As much as 80 percent of Cabo Delgado’s population consists of subsistence farmers, meaning that the insurgents’ raids are also having an impact on the already precarious levels of food production in the world.
Compounding the difficulties faced by the locals, much of southeast Africa was devastated last December when it was hit by Cyclone Chido.
Winds reached highs of 130 mph and while records are sketchy, it seems that a whole bunch and possibly 1000’s of individuals were killed by the cyclone, with similar numbers also going missing.
Sister Queiroz said of the general situation, “The constant mobility, the approaching and going of people who find themselves just attempting to survive, is at the basis of this cycle of poverty.
“Children are unable to go to high school, there is no such thing as a access to health, families can’t farm, and there’s terrible hunger.”
However, the sister praised the work of ACN, which she said had been like “the hand of God”.
ACN has been providing food and hygiene products in addition to ensuring local Christians are in a position to receive pastoral visits and counselling.
“Through ACN, the hand of God is returning life to those people, and that’s the reason we cannot stop, we must proceed to be the face of Christ on this context of despair,” she added.
