Mozambique Cyclone - COVida - Help the Helpers
Donation protected
I imagine most of you have heard about the devastation wrought by Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, as it is currently the world’s biggest crisis. The United Nations reports that as of today at least 686 people have been killed in the three countries hit, but in Mozambique over 1.85 million people are affected, with tens of thousands of homes destroyed and hundreds of thousands displaced. “At least one million children need urgent assistance and this number may well grow. We fear that whole villages have been washed away in places we have yet to reach,” UN Secretary General.
The project I work for, COVida, works with 58 community-based organizations throughout Mozambique to provide health, social, and economic support to over 300,000 orphans and vulnerable children and their caregivers. Over 4000 volunteer case managers visit vulnerable families 1-2 times a month to provide services, link families to existing services, and help them become independent again. These volunteer case managers, managed by the community-based organizations, are the lifeblood of COVida. Their heartfelt desire to help others and commitment has always inspired me to keep finding ways to keep the project going.
Many of these volunteer case managers also lost their homes in the Cyclone Idai and are struggling to survive, their situations marginally better than that of the beneficiaries they help. We started this campaign to support the volunteer case managers and community-based organizations’ staff whose lives were most severely impacted by Idai.
They are good people always helping others. Now, we would like to help them, rebuild their homes, replant crops, obtain new copies of birth certificates, school books and more.
All funds will go directly to these families. If there are more than needed, the funds will to things that help them do their job in these conditions such as rainbows and raincoats. The staff that work for the COVida consortium (FHI 360, CARE, PATH and Palladium) will ensure funds go directly to the volunteer case managers and organizations’ staff to help them recover quickly.
I am sending this message to people who know and trust us and want to contribute to our work. If you would prefer, please also consider contributing to one of the very capable organizations handling emergency response such as Medecins Sans Frontiers, CARE, and/or International Red Cross.
Thank you for reading, and for supporting the people that are really on the forefront of making the world a better place.
The project I work for, COVida, works with 58 community-based organizations throughout Mozambique to provide health, social, and economic support to over 300,000 orphans and vulnerable children and their caregivers. Over 4000 volunteer case managers visit vulnerable families 1-2 times a month to provide services, link families to existing services, and help them become independent again. These volunteer case managers, managed by the community-based organizations, are the lifeblood of COVida. Their heartfelt desire to help others and commitment has always inspired me to keep finding ways to keep the project going.
Many of these volunteer case managers also lost their homes in the Cyclone Idai and are struggling to survive, their situations marginally better than that of the beneficiaries they help. We started this campaign to support the volunteer case managers and community-based organizations’ staff whose lives were most severely impacted by Idai.
They are good people always helping others. Now, we would like to help them, rebuild their homes, replant crops, obtain new copies of birth certificates, school books and more.
All funds will go directly to these families. If there are more than needed, the funds will to things that help them do their job in these conditions such as rainbows and raincoats. The staff that work for the COVida consortium (FHI 360, CARE, PATH and Palladium) will ensure funds go directly to the volunteer case managers and organizations’ staff to help them recover quickly.
I am sending this message to people who know and trust us and want to contribute to our work. If you would prefer, please also consider contributing to one of the very capable organizations handling emergency response such as Medecins Sans Frontiers, CARE, and/or International Red Cross.
Thank you for reading, and for supporting the people that are really on the forefront of making the world a better place.
Co-organizers (2)
Hayley Bryant
Organizer
Anaheim, CA
Belmiro Sousa
Co-organizer