Report - Vincentian Family International Campaign Against Hunger
There were some 160 projects generated by the Vincentian Family Campaign Against Hunger. These projects gbenerated the following funds
* Africa: 494,280 $USA
* America: 993,800 $USA
* Asia: 32,500 $USA
* Europe: 1,245,000 $USA
The report provides more in depth analysis of types of projects, levels of collaboration across the branches, etc.
PROJECT “GLOBALIZATION OF CHARITY:
FIGHT AGAINST HUNGER”
We would like to present a short report on the results of the Campaign “Globalization of Charity: Fight Against Hunger” which the Vincentian Family started in 2001 at an international level.
The commission for the project was composed of three persons: Any Rodriguez, AIC, Sr. Marie-Yonide Midi, DC and Fr. Benjamín Romo, C.M.
As follows, we present the results of the above-mentioned campaign, based on the reports we have. The presentation will be by continents, their trends, types of projects, the collaboration as Vincentian Family, the twinning, the populations which benefited, types of projects, the funds of the projects, some examples and a short conclusion.
1. PROJECTS BY CONTINENTS
There were 36 projects in Africa. These were done in: Angola (3), Burundi (2), Cameroon (3), Congo Brazzaville (1), Democratic Republic of Congo (7), Egypt (1), Madagascar (4), Morocco (2) Mozambique (9), Nigeria (2), and Rwanda (2).
There were 72 projects in America. They were carried out in: Bolivia (2), Brazil (17), Colombia (1), Ecuador (2), Guatemala (2), Haiti (5), Mexico (1), Nicaragua (2), Peru (2), Puerto Rico (3), Dominican Republic (4), USA (29), and Venezuela (2).
There were 10 projects in Asia. The locations were: Afghanistan (1), Philippines (6), India (2), Japan (1).
There were 41 projects in Europe. In Albania (1), Germany (1), Austria (1), Slovakia (1), Spain (22), France (1), Great Britain (1), Italy (7), Portugal (3), Moldavia (1), and Ukraine (2).
This is a total of 160 projects throughout the world.
2. PROJECT TRENDS
* The projects of Europe were generally done to help the projects in developing countries.
* The projects of Africa and Asia searched for
help and economic co-responsibility.
* The projects of America tried to be auto-financing.
3. TYPES OF PROJECTS
* Immediate action: 48% of the projects
* Actions of sensitizing: 10% of the projects
* Fight against the causes: 32% of the projects
* Immediate action and fight against the causes: 10% of the projects
4. COLLABORATION OF THE VF
* Six (6) branches of the VF intervened in 14% of the projects
* Five (5) branches of the VF intervened in 21% of the projects
* Four (4) branches of the VF intervened in 19% of the projects
* Three (3) branches of the VF intervened in 23% of the projects
* Two (2) branches of the VF intervened in 17% of the projects
* One (1) branch of the VF intervened in 6% of the projects
5. TWINNING
65 % of the projects were carried out through twinning with other countries. In some cases, the whole VF of another country, region or province collaborated. On other occasions, the twinning was done with one branch in particular.
6. THE POPULATIONS WHICH BENEFITED
The people who were beneficiaries were: 30% children, 28% old and infirm, 15% female and 27% the whole community.
7. TYPES OF PROJECTS
The types of projects were varied: 48% for meals; 25% for schools and educational centers, 12% for cultivation of land and 15% for integral development of the community.
8. FUNDS BY CONTINENTS
* For projects of Africa: 494,280 $USA
* For projects of America: 993,800 $USA
* For projects of Asia: 32,500 $USA
* For projects of Europe: 1,245,000 $USA
9. SOME EXAMPLES
It would be well to clarify that much information about the projects did not arrive at the office of the Vincentian Family in Rome. We recognize the immense work that the whole Vincentian Family is doing as a commitment for the fight against hunger. We present some of the many projects which the VF realized around this campaign.
A) Agro-pastoral project in Congo
The project done by the VF in Congo under the coordination of Fr. Janusz Zwolinski, CM. In Manenga, 35 km from Kinshasa, on 150 hectares of land, all the branches of the VF worked in common to create a Center of Learning and Professional Formation, in the section of agro-pastoral development (cooperative, management of agricultural development, appraising local resources and environmental protection). The total cost estimated for the center was 55,000 $USA.
The project was directed towards the poorest, especially unschooled youth in difficult situations. The objective was to initiate and form a group of volunteers in techniques and agro-pastoral management, which could then insert itself and provide input into the socio-economic development of their communities. The cultivated products serve to bring direct alimentary assistance to the community’s most vulnerable persons, especially children and pregnant women, orphans, the sick and elderly.
B) Projects in the Philippines
The Philippines is considered a Third World country in which 41% of the inhabitants live below the poverty line. The Vincentian Family Coordinating Council carried out two programs for the fight against hunger.
1) Maintenance Program
They set up places where food was offered to the poor and help to persons in concrete situations; for example, the victims of the eruptions Mts. Pinatubo and Mayon, the mudslides in Payatas and the armed conflicts in Mindanao.
2) The Multipurpose Cooperative of the Vincentian Family
It is way of freeing the poor from the economic misery which they suffer, giving them an opportunity to be able to buy merchandise and medicine at lower prices. The cooperative promotes the human dignity of the poor and teach them to trust in themselves.
C) St. Vincent de Paul Soup Kitchen in Mexico
In the capital of Mexico, where around 13,000 indigenous peoples live, the VF opened a soup kitchen for street people. Brother Carlos Marcelino Cardenas, C.M., is in charge of the “St. Vincent de Paul” Soup Kitchen. It offers food to about 250 persons every Saturday. All the branches of the VF participate in the project, some in a direct way, others indirectly. Some are in the direct service of the clientele (street children, beggars, etc), others seek donations and contributions for the soup kitchen’s needs.
The objective is to offer not only the food, but also human-affective support to motivate them, to open horizons of their lives. It has formed a Civil Association (AC), which allow them to obtain more resources, materials and economic assistance for the poor of the street. It aims to offer integral (human, psychological, social and spiritual) help to the clientele.
D) Projects of Spain
1) Solidarity Gesture with Haiti
During the celebration of the nine youth feasts and some rural festivities, the National Council proposed that all the centers make gesture of solidarity, concretizing the penitential fast of Good Friday and a collection. The objective is to get rid of something in order to dedicate it to financing some project of the fight against hunger. The result was the collection of 3,030 euro which was sent to Haiti for collaborating in the maintenance of 65 children, for a month, in a nursery school of the Daughters of Charity. It was a concrete gesture for “sharing bread and hope with the children.”
2) Well for a prison in Brazzaville
With the motto: “In Africa, Christ is thirsty, hungry, and a prisoner,” the whole VF of Córdoba tried to gather, throughout the entire year, the amount needed to dig a well in the prison of Brazzaville. The required amount was 24,000 euro. The prison already has a large vegetable garden but during dry season it has no water inside the person. The well will improve the nutrition of the 350 prisoners, keeping them in useful work and preparing their social reinsertion at the end of their stay in prison. The way of obtaining the resources was by collecting among its members and the population the cost of a loaf of bread a week (one euro) for one year.
10. CONCLUSION
The Campaign worked better in those countries where there exists a National Coordination Team of the Vincentian Family.
In many countries the campaign began in 2001 and continues to the present as a permanent answer of the Vincentian Family in the fight against hunger.
Let us continue working as Vincentian Family in the fight against hunger today!
Secretary of the Vincentian Family
April 2005
Tags: Hunger