Munster Express Online

Monday March 9th was Peace and Justice Day in Stella Maris Secondary School. The day began with the launch of the Trocaire 24 hour fast. Almost 80 girls participated in this fast. All the hungry bellies will go a long way to helping the work of Trocaire in countries like Uganda and Somalia.

As part of our day, we welcomed Ms.Aoife Rush (a former member of staff) and a visiting speaker to the school. In her role as Education Officer for Trocaire she along with the visitor from Uganda met class groups. David Ojara (speaker) was forcibly displaced from his home when he was five years old. He had dedicated his life to working for displaced people in northern Uganda. He works for Trocaire’s partner group CESVI, an Italian organisation which was founded in 1985 and has been operating in Uganda since 2000. They work in the areas of emergency relief, post-war reconstruction and the fight against poverty with the focus on sustainable development. CESVI has been working with families who have moved to satellite camps near their ancestral land in Pader. A study carried out in 2006 by CESVI indicated that 95% of internally displaced peoples in the Pader district were accessing their ancestral land. CESVI has been working with these families since 2004 and continues to assist them to overcome the challenges they face.

The Trocaire/CESVI partnership began in 2005 with a six month emergency project on improvement on household food security for internally displaced peoples in Kilongo Camp. Trocaire’s partnership is growing from strength to strength and over €117,000 has been extended to CESVI thus far.

It was great to hear first hand about the work of Trocaire on the ground and all class groups were made aware of the growing issue of displaced people in the world.

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