Irish aid agency invites
online donations to fund vital work during pandemic
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| Measures taken in Kinshasa, Congo to prevent spread of Covid-19 (AFP) |
The Irish bishops' agency Trócaire is inviting people to use
telephone and online platforms for donations amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
By Vatican News
Trócaire, the foreign aid agency of the Irish Catholic
Church is currently providing assistance to 18 countries where the Coronavirus
is present. It is also providing aid in seven main areas and the funds raised
during Lent will be used to purchase hygiene kits, testing and prevention
information campaigns.
"Many communities in which Trócaire works," says CEO
Caoimhe de Barra, "do not even have access to drinking water and in the
slums it is impossible to maintain a safe distance because of overcrowding.”
The agency continues its commitment, but is asking for
gestures of solidarity different from the past because of Covid -19.
It is inviting the faithful in Ireland who wish to make a
donation, to do so by telephone or online, as it will not be possible to
recover contributions from schools and parishes, which are usually collected
after Easter Sunday.
The agency notes that there are several countries where
enormous difficulties are being encountered in containing the virus, especially
because of non-existent health systems. These include Malawi, which has one
intensive care bed for every million people, Sierra Leone, which has none at
all, and South Sudan, which has only 2 ventilators for 12 million people.
It also points out that experience gained during previous
epidemics has been effective from the very beginning of the spread of the
Coronavirus.
In Sierra Leone, as well as in the Democratic Republic of
Congo, the aid agency of the Irish bishops, was providing relief during the
Ebola epidemic, guaranteeing supplies of water and medicines.
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