22 August 2014

Malteser International Provides Medicines to Displaced Iraqi Christians and Minorities

Back to school means thousands of displaced will soon be homeless

Malteser International, the worldwide relief agency of the Order of Malta, will secure medical assistance for 10,000 displaced Christians and minorities in north Iraq over a period of three months. A shipment containing drugs, medical supplies and hygiene items will be distributed to the camps around Erbil through the humanitarian agency’s network on the ground.

http://www.orderofmalta.int/latest-interventions/74553/iraq-crisis-medicines-for-10000-displaced-christians-and-minorities/?lang=en

Humanitarian aid for Gaza victims delivered by Order of Malta

The Order of Malta’s hospital in Bethlehem sends essential medicines to the general hospital on the Gaza Strip

The recent conflict in Gaza has been devastating in terms of 2000 lives lost, 9500 wounded and almost a quarter of the population displaced. All the infrastructure (electricity, access to water, transport, health and schools) has been seriously damaged. A great number of hospitals and health centres – destroyed or damaged by the fighting – are only partially functioning.

The Sovereign Order of Malta hopes that the present ceasefire can mean the end of the armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and that humanitarian aid can be distributed to the more vulnerable population groups.

The few hospitals still functioning in Gaza are overcrowded and cannot cope with the thousands of wounded without outside assistance. The worsening of the humanitarian situation has prompted the Order of Malta’s Holy Family hospital in Bethlehem to organize support for the Al-Shifa general hospital in Gaza and several pallets of medicines and equipment were sent last weekend.


http://www.orderofmalta.int/latest-interventions/74577/humanitarian-aid-for-gaza-victims/?lang=en

17 August 2014

Malteser International to Assess Situation in Iraq


A Malteser International assessment team arrives today in Erbil, north Iraq, in order to prepare relief efforts for persecuted minorities. Oliver Hochedez, Malteser International’s emergency relief expert, will lead the team on the ground to prepare the deployment of immediate aid for at least the next three months, in order to support displaced Christians and Yazidi communities that have fled from the militants of the self-proclaimed Islamic caliphate (IS). “This is a very important deployment, as the persecuted population is in great need and the current humanitarian situation is deplorable,” Hochedez explains. “Added to that is the extremely difficult security situation.”

For over a decade the Order of Malta’s international relief agency has supported a health care center in Karamlish, in the Nineveh region, in cooperation with its Iraqi partners and the local Chaldean Catholic Church. On Aug. 6, IS took control of the town, and the center was forced to suspend its activities. “The townspeople, who are mostly Christian, ran away to Erbil,” Hochedez tells. “We are checking whether the staff from the health center can provide medical assistance to the displaced families, and whether we can purchase the necessary drugs and medical supplies for the refugees.”


http://www.orderofmalta.int/latest-interventions/74461/iraq-crisis-assessment-team-on-its-way-to-erbil/?lang=en

14 August 2014

Anniversary of the Order of Malta's Support of East German refugees in Hungary

'Budapest, 21/08/2014

Hungary and the Order of Malta celebrate the Order’s key role in supporting East German refugees. Messages of Angela Merkel and Fra’ Matthew Festing.

On August 14, 1989, the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta set up in the garden of Zugliget parish church in Budapest the first refugee camp to deal with the tens of thousands of East German refugees fleeing into Hungary. For an intense period of over three months the Service cared for almost 47,000 refugees. The event, known as the Day of Welcoming, is marked every year.

In opening the 25th anniversary celebrations Father Imre Kozma, founding president of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta, recalled receiving with Baroness Csilla von Boeselager the request of the West German Embassy that they take care of the East German refugees. He remarked, “Hungary evoked the admiration of the world in 1989; the Hungarian people had leaders with the courage to take risks, and their decisions meant the only glimmer of hope for refugees”.

http://www.orderofmalta.int/news/74567/hungary-the-day-the-fall-of-the-iron-curtain-changed-history/?lang=en

Grand Masters Request to Pray for Persecuted in Iraq

http://www.orderofmalta.int/news/74445/violence-and-religious-discrimination-in-iraq-cause-acute-concern/?lang=en

Disclaimer

This blog and the opinions are all my own and in no way imply the endorsement from any organization. Nor does a recommendation of another blog or web site imply my agreement or endorsement of everything found on their site.