Thank you

Thank you to all our supporters!

We would like to offer our sincerest thanks to the people who have supported us over the years. Your goodwill and determination has transformed the lives of many people, families and communities in the developing world.

How your money was spent last year

How your support has helped: Saving babies lives in Kenya

Without the support of people like Donal O'Keeffe and the people who sponsored him to the sum of €3,665 to climb Mount Kilmanjaro, we would not be able to help mothers and babies in Kenya

Trócaire supporters have given an extraordinary gift to mothers and new-born babies in Kenya. With your donations a small clinic in Nairobi has had a huge impact on the transmission of HIV from mothers to infants with just one infant born HIV positive in this clinic last year. Mothers are receiving the treatment they need and children who would have been infected with HIV will lead healthy lives - thanks to you.

Sr. Elizabeth Bundala, who runs the Medical Missionaries of Mary clinic, said: “Mukuru slum, where we work, is extremely poor. There is no running water, people struggle to get one meal a day. Healthcare is a luxury.”

The sisters have developed a real specialism around maternal care. Women who are HIV positive are treated with anti-retroviral drugs and are advised about breast-feeding their babies as the virus can be passed on through breast milk. The sisters provide medication for expectant mothers and, where appropriate, provide alternatives to breast-feeding.

Protecting abused women in Afghanistan

In a hidden corner of Afghanistan’s bomb-torn capital, Kabul your donations are funding one of the only shelters for abused women in the country. The shelter is a secret refuge for women who have suffered the worst forms of violence, rape and terror at the hands of their families and husbands. Their pain is hidden beneath the veil of their burkhas and by a society that values men above women. They are powerless, with nowhere else to turn. Some are not yet women but girls as young as 12. This pioneering shelter provides medical care, counselling, protection and legal support to women whose lives are at risk and whose emotions are clouded by shame and fear.

Trócaire supports a shelter for women in Afghanistan.
Photo: © Ross McDonnell

Fatma was just 13 years old when her brother gave her to an older man to reconcile a family dispute. She lived in misery for two years, enduring brutal abuse by her in-laws. Unable to take any more, Fatma escaped in fear of her life. Looking for protection, she arrived at a police station where the very people she believed would save her raped her. Again, she fled for her life. Thankfully, Fatma made it to the shelter. The abuse was over.

The refuge is now caring for young Fatma. She is also taking a legal case against the policemen who abused her, an exceptionally brave step for a girl who has experienced such horror in her short life. The level of abuse Fatma has suffered physically and the damage done to her mentally may be irreparable, but workers at the shelter are doing all they can to rebuild her shattered spirit. And you, as a Trócaire supporter, are helping her on her path to a new beginning.

Uganda: "Life is better, we have enough food"

Pilemina Aceng lives on a small plot of land in Ngora in northern Uganda. twenty years of vicious civil war have taken their toll on Pilemina and her children. Her husband was killed and four of her children were taken by the militia. She has not seen them since. For five years Pilemina and her children struggled to survive in a camp where thousands of people from the area came for safety. The hunger and despair the family faced in the camp is etched in Pilemina’s memory forever.

“I struggled to feed my children there,” said Pilemina. “Often I would leave the camp and go back home to try to get some food for us.” Every time Pilemina left the camp she risked being attacked or even killed by militia.

Pilemina’s teenage son, Sunday, remembered the fear he felt when his mother left the camp. “Every time she left I was afraid,” he said quietly. “I thought she wouldn’t come back, that she was gone forever.” When the civil war ended people in Pilemina’s camp were encouraged to go home but many were still too terrified. But Pilemina found the camp’s misery too much to bear. “I decided I would rather die at home than in the camp,” she said. The family moved home.

Pilemina quickly got help to grow food from Trócaire and she has been able to rebuild her home and her small farm. Now Pilemina is growing enough food to feed her family and send her grandchild to school. “We are growing beans, potatoes, millet, cabbage and eggplant,” she told Trócaire proudly. “When I think back on what has happened I get weak,” she said, clutching her stomach. “But with the support I’ve received I will work hard and have something to pass on to my children when I die.” Despite all the trauma and pain at such a young age Sunday is very clear about what is important to the family. “Life is getting better, we have enough food,” he said.

Some of our fantastic supporters