Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Dedza (Agenzia Fides) - Malawi is a strip of land in East Africa inhabited by about 15 million people where food, water, medical facilities is lacking and where AIDS is rampant among the young and old. Among the many charities working to bring aid to this devastated population, there is a group of volunteer "S.O.S. Childhood Denied ", born in 2004 and since 2008 involved in development projects in the African country, especially in the Diocese of Dedza. Don Alfonso Raimo, president of the association told Agenzia Fides how they decided to intervene in Malawi. "What attracted our attention was the deplorable condition of children in what is considered one of the poorest Countries in the world. We decided to create 'Malawi Project' that in Dedza tended to deal with health and education emergency.
The situation of the small African Country is dramatic, the percentage of children affected by AIDS is terrifying", adds Father Raimo.
"The Project - continues the priest - was conceived as a collaboration at the Diocesan Commission for Health of the Diocese of Dedza, and provided support to various initiatives in favor of the poor and sick children assisted in medical diocesan centers. Due to the rapid spread of the virus, many parents die leaving children alone, with no one to care for them, and whose fragile existence has to also deal with the lack of food, drinking water, malaria, cholera and other endemic diseases. The Diocese of Dedza guarantees health care through some health centers spread over a vast territory", says Don Raimo. "We have a project this year that includes the construction of the 'Sun Village' that will will take care of the neediest children aged from 2 to 5/6. It will be a service center, with the possibility of offering needy children, health care, nutrition and education, without uprooting them from the contexts of origin", concludes the priest. (AP/AR) (Agenzia Fides 22/05/2015)
