Ms Connie O’Halloran (Overseas Development Officer) – August 2020.
Using a €14,400 emergency grant from Misean Cara, the Spiritans in Moçambique initiated a programme of support to internally displaced persons (IDPs), in the form of the provision of food, soap, clothing and blankets.
Fr. Alberto Tchindemba C.S.Sp. leads a 6-person team which networks with the UN, World Food Programme, UNHCR, national NGOs and Caritas. The project was instigated in May 2020 by the Catholic Bishop of Nampula whose city now has some 3,000 IDPs who are accommodated within church compounds. About half are children.
With little more in terms of possessions than the clothes on their backs, the IDPs have fled Moçambique’s northern province, Cabo Delgado where the war started three years ago. It is now spreading, threatening many areas including Monapo, and the cities of Nacala and Nampula. People have lost everything including family members, have seen their villages burnt and are living in extended family groupings of 12 to 20 members per compound, with very few amenities.
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