Sr Ivy Khoury is Caritas Australia’s Program Coordinator for Africa, here’s what she had to say about the lifechanging impact your support enables across much of the continent. 

On World Water Day, we celebrate water and raise awareness of the 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water. It is about taking action to tackle the global water crisis.

On March 17, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that Australia will ramp up support to Papua New Guinea, and allocate 8000 vaccines, as well as personal protective equipment and medical specialists to support the country in response to an alarming mass outbreak of COVID-19.

Halima is raising two children in a refugee camp in Bangladesh, while caring for her mother who has a disability. Widowed at just 21, Halima fled violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State in 2017, arriving at the camp with nothing.  

Arsad, an Indonesian farmer, had no toilet in his home so he had to walk into the forest to the open defecation area, even at night or in the rain. Around 17 percent of Indonesia’s rural population practice open defecation, with many unaware that it contributes to spreading diseases. 

All across Australia, you have joined the groundswell of support to 'Be More' for Project Compassion. The coronavirus pandemic has not stopped communities from connecting, virtually, or in person, to raise money for essential support and supplies for those poor communities most vulnerable to the disease.  

CEO Kirsty Robertson talks about supporting women living in poverty for International Women's Day 2021. 

Oliva, a twenty-two-year-old woman living in Tanzania with her farmer husband, two young sons and an adopted niece and nephew, didn’t have the opportunity to go to school growing up.

After a devastating explosion rocked a city and a society which was already facing enormous challenges, your support is helping to rebuild and restore livelihoods in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut. 

For Arsad in Indonesia, improved hygiene and infrastructure have improved his family’s health. Willy Tan, Caritas Australia’s Program Coordinator for Indonesia and the Philippines, explains how.

Margret, is a teacher at a vocational school for deaf students in the Solomon Islands. She was born deaf so she knows the challenges it poses to education and employment.  

DRC faces multiple threats, tackling new Ebola outbreak amidst fears of first COVID-19 era famine. Caritas Australia’s Africa Program Co-ordinator reflects on two decades of work in the Democratic Republic of Congo and its current situation

Jamila, a twenty-two-year old single mother, lives in the world’s largest refugee camp in in Bangladesh. A Rohingya woman, she fled the armed conflict in Myanmar’s Rakhine State to save herself, her elderly mother and eight-month-old baby daughter. 

Caritas Australia stands in solidarity with the people of Myanmar during these particularly challenging times. We pray for all of the people in Myanmar, especially the vulnerable and marginalised communities who will be most severely impacted by the recent political upheavals.

At a time of such upheaval and challenge across the globe, possibly the greatest world-wide challenges since the inception of Project Compassion, Caritas Australia encourages all Australians to ‘Be More’ this year to help vulnerable communities.

Caritas Australia’s partner, Caritas India, has recently been awarded the prestigious Mahatma Gandhi Award 2020 for COVID-19 Humanitarian Efforts.

The award recognises the tireless work of Caritas India during the pandemic to reach the most vulnerable communities.

Natural disasters, including two cyclones and  an earthquake, have struck the Asia-Pacfic in recent months, with already vulnerable communities struggling to deal with displacement and upheaval, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aiya is one of over 93,000 people, mostly from the Karen or Karenni ethnic groups, who live in nine camps along the border, who have endured decades of displacement, after fleeing widespread conflict in Myanmar.