Farming techniques that help to regenerate and protect the environment are helping families in Bangladesh to grow the food they need
As we work together for a better world, it’s important to take time to celebrate everything we achieve together. Thanks to your incredible support, we were able to reach over 1.3 million people last year. That’s an amazing impact – and it wouldn’t have been possible without you.
We’d like to share three more incredible achievements that we think are worth celebrating this summer, all made possible through the work of our amazing partners, resilient communities and generous supporters like you.
Helping people affected by war in Ukraine
Thanks to your support, local Church experts in Ukraine helped Maria and her family to get enough fuel to heat their home so they could stay warm during the extreme cold
Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, at least 6.8 million people have fled abroad to escape the conflict and another 3.6 million people remain displaced within the country. Millions of families are in urgent need of food, healthcare, shelter and psychological support.
Our sister Caritas agencies and partner organisations are helping people across Ukraine and the wider region. Your generous contributions to the Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Appeal have helped over 185,000 vulnerable women, men and children.
You've helped:
Get food to over 120,000 women, men and children.
Provide emergency health services to more than 20,000 people.
Support 15,000 people with emergency shelter, home repairs and warm clothing and fuel to survive the winter.
Reach out to more than 11,000 people with mental health and psychosocial support services.
Maria and her family have moved from Ukraine to start a new life in Bulgaria
An update from Maria
When we launched an urgent appeal at Advent to help get winter supplies to people living in damaged homes in Ukraine, thousands of you answered the call.
You may remember Maria and her family. Thanks to your support, our local Church experts helped her family to get enough fuel to heat the home so they stay warm during the extreme cold.
We recently received a message from Maria with good news - she and her family have moved from Ukraine to start a new life in Bulgaria. Her children are going to school and kindergarten, developing hobbies, and enjoying their childhoods in peace and safety.
Investing in the ambitious plans of women and girls
A savings and loan group in Sierra Leone helped Yeabu to start her own business
In Sierra Leone, your support is helping women and girls plan and invest in their own futures.
In Yeabu’s village, our local partners helped a group of women and girls set up a savings and loans group.
“My name is Yeabu. This is my story. I just turned 16 and I have six siblings: four sisters and two annoying brothers! I am in third year of secondary school and I am passionate about education and wish to become a professional nurse and be of service to my community. I presently live with my old grandmother. I asked my parents to let me come stay with her so I will be supporting her with the household chores - and that makes me happy!”
The group was given a starting fund of 5,000 Leones, to invest as they saw fit, and training in how to manage lending and borrowing fairly within the group. Yeabu had an idea for a business, so went to the group for a loan.
“I received 200 Leones and started baking and selling bread. I had mastered the act of bread baking from my grandmother as that was her trade. She, however, stopped the business two years ago due to her poor health and I took the opportunity to revive the business. I am sure my decision to revive the bread baking business makes her proud as I saw the smile on her face when I started a few months ago.
"The business has been good, and I have increased my contribution to the savings and loan group from two to four shares per week, and just last week I bought a science textbook which I have been wanting for the past year. With the mentorship support we are now receiving from our (local female entrepreneur) role model, I am sure of attaining my dream of becoming a passionate nurse and can perhaps set up a well-structured bakery and name it after my grandmother.”
Adapting to climate change in Bangladesh
An organic farmer in Bangladesh shows off some of the worms that make his vermicompost
With its many intertwining rivers and wide flood plains, Bangladesh has been ranked seventh in a list of the countries most vulnerable to the climate crisis. This is despite the fact that the country produces just 0.56% of the world’s harmful emissions.
On the southern coastal belt, ever more frequent cyclones and tidal surges threaten the lives and livelihoods of thousands of families who rely on farming to feed themselves and make a living.
But with our local partners, we are helping families find new ways to make a living, even in the harshest conditions.
By growing organic on the roofs of houses, on trellises above ground, and on floating vegetable gardens on flooded or waterlogged land, farmers have more space to grow the food they need.
Many families have begun using earthworms to create an organic compost to grow vegetables without the need for expensive and environmentally damaging chemical fertiliser. The compost can even be sold to large-scale farmers for extra income.
And all of these techniques help regenerate and protect the environment, and give families ways to cope with the worst effects of the climate crisis.
In the Patuakhali district alone we have helped to support more than 14,000 people, the majority of whom are women, landless families or people living with disabilities.