Abby Riddell
Five months since conflict started in Tigray, northern Ethiopia, the humanitarian situation is dire and millions of people remain in need of life-saving support. There has been widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and local services, and many people have fled their homes to escape the fighting, with no more than the clothes they were wearing.
People have sought safety in the major cities, but organisations do not have enough supplies to match the growing need. In Mekele, the capital of Tigray, at least 140,000 people have arrived – and numbers are increasing. There is also a grave shortage of food and clean water. In early March, at one centre for 3,000 people there were just 12 toilets. The local community has rallied around to provide shelter and cooked food. The Daughters of Charity were one of the first organisations to respond, re-targeting their school feeding programme to support displaced people. The charity is now providing approximately 18,000 people with rice or bread once a day. They want to maintain this and increase the nutritional content. They also want to provide more support for women and girls traumatised by the sexual violence that has taken place during the conflict.
The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul is a Catholic organization present in Ethiopia since 1927 – their mission to serve the poorest and most disadvantaged regardless of faith. The charity has a long track record in helping Tigrayan communities survive conflict and drought – making donations go as far as possible.
Several colleagues of Becky Riddell’s mother Abby have worked with and been hosted by communities in Tigray for many years, as have many of their friends and family. This group, Team Kbret, are raising funds for Daughters of Charity St Vincent de Paul because of their work with vulnerable people in Tigray. They hope that the contributions made will enable some of the most vulnerable displaced people in Tigray to live in difficult circumstances with more dignity. This will include providing clothes, sanitary pads, baby milk and additional food to breastfeeding women, older women and men, the young, and people who are sick. The word Kbret means respect or dignity in Tigrinya.
For those who would like to know more about the situation in Tigray, see:
https://sites.tufts.edu/wpf/starving-tigray/
Unfortunately, there is no alternative to online donations at the moment.
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Forty-Three Newsletter • Number 505 • May 2021
Oxford Friends Meeting
43 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LW