Trócaire Lenten campaign enters final week in support of Honduran communities affected by flooding

by | 7 Apr, 2017 | News

Trócaire is targeting humanitarian relief for up to one million people with the help of its 2017 Lenten campaign. Schools, communities and parishes across Ireland are involved with Trócaire in supporting the poorest people in the world. The Lenten campaign, which is in its 44th year, has transformed the lives of millions of people around the world.

The organisation is responding to humanitarian crises around the world, including in South Sudan where the UN recently declared a famine, and Honduras, which has been devastated by the effects of climate change.

As the Lenten campaign enters its final week, Trócaire Executive Director Éamonn Meehan said, “The scale of humanitarian need in the world is unprecedented. Over 70 million people will require emergency food aid this year, while the number of people displaced from their homes is at its highest level since World War II. Regardless of this challenge, Trócaire will deliver humanitarian aid to up to one million people in crisis this year. I ask that people be especially generous in this the final week of our campaign.’

The family pictured on this year’s Trócaire box is from a village in Honduras that faces regular flooding from storms and rising sea levels. Miriam Marivel Campos Perez, a thirty-year-old mother, and her six-year-old daughter Maria live in Cuyamel, a village in the north of Honduras. The small village used to be one hundred metres from the sea, but due to a recent earthquake combined with the ongoing effects of climate change, the village is now prone to devastating flooding.

‘I have maybe a few months left in my home,’ says Miriam. ‘We are hardly living there these days because every time there is bad weather we have to evacuate.

‘The last time we were flooded was in January. Just before the water came, I took Maria and we evacuated to another community. From the moment we know the storm is coming, we know we will lose something. We can’t eat. We can’t sleep. We’re so worried. I panic when I hear the water is coming. I feel fear for my daughter.’

Trócaire, through local partners, is supporting Miriam, Maria, and their community by supporting the emergency response teams. Part of their support is in creating safe routes for people to move quickly away when the flood is coming as well as providing food and water, shelter and sanitation, and medical care for those affected.

Trócaire boxes can be returned to local schools, parishes or Trócaire offices. For more information on the Trócaire Lenten Campaighn, please see www.trocaire.org.

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