In his note to the information service of Propaganda Fide, Agenzia Fides, Fr. Hailemariam Medhin has been quoted as saying, “Sending humanitarian aid to Tigray has become easier and we continue to assist people who have been affected by the two years of conflict.
“We are slowly resuming counseling services and reopening educational centers, but most of all people need food and health services,” Fr. Medhin adds in the Monday, February 27 Agenzia Fides report.
The member of the Religious Institute of Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) said that the Tigrayan people in need of humanitarian support in the region number about seven million.
“Although the peace agreement has been signed and many services have been restored, there are still many needs. Banks are open but people still do not have access to their accounts,” says Fr. Medhin.
He lauds the efforts by the members of SDB in the region, which he says has been constant and complements government provisions.
In Tigray, Fr. Medhin says that there are 25 Salesians “engaged in serving more than 5,000 minors and youth in educational centers of all levels, technical institutes, youth centers, and parishes.”
He acknowledges with appreciation a shipment of goods sent to the Salesian house in Mekele by the World Food Programme, which he says was put together with contributions from other parishes and distributed to the needy.
The Agenzia Fides report indicates that “the presence of the Salesian missionaries of Don Bosco in Ethiopia dates back to 1975. Their first center was in Mekelle, the capital of Tigray.”
The presence of SDB members in the Horn of Africa nation currently extends to a total of 14 houses, of which four are in Tigray and three in Eritrea.
In partnership with the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco who registered their first presence in the country in 1986 in Dilla, the two groups “also pay particular attention and resources to street children, victims of human trafficking and prisoners.”
