May 17, 2013 by Jim Stipe

Initial reports of damage from Tropical Storm Mahasen indicate that destruction is serious, but less severe than expected earlier in the week. The tropical storm, downgraded from a cyclone as it approached land, appears to have spared vulnerable communities of internally displaced people in Myanmar. Damage in Bangladesh is substantial, but reported loss of life is lower than in previous storms.

When infected with the malaria parasite, many children, mostly under 5, perish or survive with lasting disabilities. The good news is that malaria is preventable with an insecticide-treated bed net. In Guinea, Catholic Relief Services is working on a massive distribution project of nets to nearly 3 million people – that’s half the country’s population.

The University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) partners with CRS to help provide quality education through Catholic schools in Haiti. ACE’s video shows the kind of impact ACE and CRS are having on education in the poorest country in the western hemisphere.

Watch the video here

“There were moments throughout the day when we were not sure we would survive,” said Maribeth Black of her last day in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic. “Grenades and bullets were whizzing by outside the gate and angry looters were banging.”

Black and other members of Catholic Relief Services’ staff were seeking safety from the fighting and chaos that was engulfing Bangui as rebel troops entered the city. They had joined other humanitarian workers at the compound of the International Rescue Committee.

By Peter Kimeu

Before the 2007 Kenyan elections we joked about politics amongst colleagues and neighbors in this most famous of East African nations. After the elections we could no longer look each other in the eyes. Our beloved Kenya had fractured along tribal lines leaving more than 600,000 displaced and an additional 1,100 dead.

In a small mountain village in Lesotho in southern Africa, Rosa Maria Rametsi and her husband are raising their six grandchildren. Their two youngest grandchildren attend a CRS-supported Early Childhood Development Center where they learn to count, to recite the alphabet and to work together in groups. Rosa Maria is hopeful this education will give the children a good start towards a bright future.

This week, CRS Rice Bowl introduces the story of a farmer named Moussa Ouedraogo, who lives with family in Burkina Faso, in West Africa. A new irrigation system has helped Moussa grow enough produce year round for his family to eat and sell what is left over at the market. More than 925 million people in our world don’t have enough food. Now Moussa and his family are not one of them.

As the crisis in Mali continues – with French, Malian and other African troops battling rebels in the country’s north – CRS continues to meet the needs of those displaced by the conflict. CRS’ Helen Blakesley is currently in Bamako, Mali’s capital, where CRS assists people with monthly cash distributions and other aid.

What is the current situation in Bamako?

As fighting increases in the West African nation of Mali, Catholic Relief Services is preparing to expand its lifesaving work that is now providing assistance to thousands of people displaced by the violence that has engulfed the northern part of the country for nearly a year.