Flood victims need pastoral support

The Catholic Church, through its Catholic Commission for Development (Cadecom) in the country, has said apart from relief items, flood victims in the country also need pastoral care for them to build their spiritual relationship with God.
Archdiocese of Blantyre pastoral secretary Reverend Father Alfred Chaima said this in Phalombe on Thursday after Fritz Zuger, consultant for the church from United States Conference of Catholic Missions, visited two camps for flood victims in the district.
“The human being is composed of body, mind and spirit and we are looking for the whole person.

“Since the disaster started in January, the church joined hands with government in assisting the less privileged victims in various camps in the country. The Catholic Church committed one Sunday in February on which all offerings across the country went towards assisting flood victims,” said Fr Chaima.
After visiting flood victims at Chimbalanga camp in Chiringa, Zuger said he was impressed with the conduct of the people, especially the youth.
Zuger urged the Catholic Church in the country to be with the victims until they are properly resettled.
Archdiocesan secretary for Blantyre Archdiocese Peter Pangani said Cadecom has done a lot in creating open defecation-free (ODF) atmosphere in the area, especially in senior chief Chiwalo through a water and sanitation programme.
“We are happy to report that since January we had never had cases of cholera outbreak, but with minor cases of diarrhoea. After the relocation process, we have other programmes for the victims such as goats pass on, building houses for the needy and giving them maize seed, vegetables and treadle pumps for irrigation farming.
Cadecom is working in 18 camps in Phalombe—providing clean water and doing water tracking where there is no water.