Catholics in England and Wales have donated more than half a million pounds to CAFOD’s Ebola crisis appeal, helping the agency to deliver life-saving aid across West Africa.

Parishes, schools and individuals have responded with huge compassion to CAFOD’s crisis appeal, donating more than £500,000 to help stop the spread of Ebola across Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

Their support is helping CAFOD’s Church partners to educate people about the risks, to provide essential hygiene kits and washing-stations, and to ensure that burials are carried out safely. In total, CAFOD and its partners will reach more than 200,000 people over the coming weeks.

Christian Modino, CAFOD’s Head of Emergency Programmes for Africa, commented: “It’s important to keep repeating messages about how to prevent the spread of Ebola, and it’s important to do it sensitively. Some customs that people in West Africa consider normal – like shaking hands when you greet a friend or touching the body as part of funeral services – can greatly increase the risk of the virus being transmitted.

“One legacy of civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone is that people do not always trust information provided by governments. That means that faith leaders have an absolutely crucial role to play in explaining how to control the disease.

“Our partners are spreading accurate information through Sunday sermons in churches, through Friday prayers in mosques, through Church radio stations, through posters, through public theatre, and by going door to door. The messages are getting through, but there’s still a huge amount of work to do.”

In Sierra Leone, CAFOD has already trained 400 priests and catechists about Ebola prevention and each one is going door to door to discuss the disease with at least 40 families. In Guinea, the agency has provided health education and hygiene kits to 28,000 people. In Liberia, CAFOD is providing emergency supplies of rice to more than 17,000 people in areas that have been quarantined or where farming has been restricted.

However, with the virus still spreading, there is an urgent need for aid agencies to scale up their work. There have been more than 13,000 reported cases of Ebola in total, but the World Health Organisation has warned that the number could reach up to 10,000 a week in December if more isn’t done to stop the spread.

Catherine Mahony, CAFOD’s Regional Emergency Coordinator, who is based in Sierra Leone, added: “People’s lives are being changed by the Ebola outbreak, in many different and challenging ways. Communities are accepting these difficult changes, making great sacrifices so that they, and everyone they know, will be safer sooner.

“While this is an extremely sad and traumatic time, it is inspiring to see such strength, and to witness the goodness that people act upon freely. Sierra Leone is a land of the living, its people are brave and positive. We’re focusing on the end of the dark time, and the light at the end of the tunnel.”

CAFOD is the official aid agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. Across the world we bring hope and compassion to poor communities, standing side by side with them to end poverty and injustice.

The Disasters Emergency Committee, of which CAFOD is a part, launched a combined Ebola crisis appeal on 30 October, which has so far raised more than £20 million.

 

12 Nov 2014