A woman collects grain at a camp for internally displaced people in Adadle in Ethiopia’s Somali region. Photo: OSV News/Claire Nevill, World Food Program handout via Reuters Recently I was one of a number of Irish bishops who paid a short visit to Ethiopia to see the work that Trócaire is undertaking there. Founded in 1973 by the Irish Bishops Conference in line with Pope Paul VI’s 1967 encyclical Populorum Progressio, Trócaire’s mission is to give concrete expression to the Church’s social vision of working to promote human dignity and development where it is most needed.
Significantly, down to our own time, this work is carried out on a focused scale in a number of countries, most especially in Africa and Latin America. Interestingly, the assistance is given on the basis of need, rather than as a means to promote a Catholic religious identity. Thus, for example, Trócaire’s important development work in Ethiopia is carried out in a country which is less than one percent Catholic (Orthodox Christians 44%, Muslims 31% and Evangelical Protestants 19%) and it constitutes a real blessing to the communities which they serve.
My abiding impressions of my Ethiopian visit
Meeting so many people living in poverty and deeply scarred by a recent civil war in the Tigray Region in the north of the country was a most troubling, humbling and enlightening experience. They live in a country where the government does not provide children’s allowance, old age pensions, unemployment payments or other types of social assistance that we in the West take for granted. I must say that I was touched by the great dignity of the Tigrayans we met and talked with especially those in the very sparse ‘internally displaced persons camps’ we visited (they could not be called ‘refugee camps’ because the people are still living in their own country – Ethiopia).
Despite their dispossession and suffering – having lost their land and their homes – these people retain a firm determination to pick up the pieces of their lives, and those of their families and communities, by returning home, if and when the occupation of their land ends. When representatives of these people met and talked with us, it was clear that they are particularly appreciative of the good will and assistance that Irish Catholics share with them in the shape of Trócaire’s work among them. I found this most encouraging.
She and her family have a future, and, happily, Trócaire employs this same useful methodology with many other people”
Among the examples of the assistance that Trócaire gives that we saw, one involved a woman, a widow (her husband had been killed in the civil war), who had been helped to buy chickens which she reared and drew an income from on the basis of the eggs she sold daily. In addition, and very importantly, she was taught how to keep accounts and manage her small business enterprise, skills which she will hopefully hone and develop as her business experience expands. Clearly, she and her family have a future, and, happily, Trócaire employs this same useful methodology with many other people. Whatever the great value of this and other projects, I am nevertheless aware that so much more needs to be done in the great ocean of need that exists there.
Another highlight for me was to meet Bishop Tesfasellassie Medhin of the Catholic Eparchy of Adigra. Our host for much of the visit, he witnessed at firsthand the unspeakable suffering and deaths of hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans in the recent civil war. Staying with his people, refusing to flee at the height of the fighting, he is an inspirational faith leader. Feted now not only by his own people but by the Orthodox and Muslims of Tigray also for his courage and articulacy in seeking an end to violence and the promotion peace and justice.
Their work continues and excels under the leadership of the redoubtable Tigrayan, Sister Medhin”
A final example of the network of partners with whom Trócaire works is the Daughters of Charity in the Tigray Region. In the past many of their sisters were Irish born and they were instrumental in establishing schools, health services and livelihood supports particularly for women. Today, their work continues and excels under the leadership of the redoubtable Tigrayan, Sister Medhin, who welcomed us so warmly to an excellent school catering for all that the sisters founded and run. The school is a real beacon of hope in an area of the country that was devastated over the last few years by a bitter and deadly civil war, and it is a testimony to the sisters’s courage, dedication and faith in the most difficult circumstances imaginable.
Compelled
Since returning home from Ethiopia I feel more compelled to play my part in raising awareness, especially among young people, of the need to encourage greater solidarity among Irish people towards people in the developing world. So much needs to be done. For one thing, I intend to redouble my efforts to encourage our parishes and Catholic schools to be as supportive as possible of the 2025 Trócaire Lenten campaign. May the iconic Trócaire Box be found in and used in every home and school throughout the Diocese of Ossory this Lent!