On 21 November at 5:00 pm, through the Zoom platform from Rome, we held a “Reflection Meeting” on the emergencies produced in various countries of the American Continent by hurricanes Eta and Iota. Since the beginning of Hurricane Eta, we had been receiving reports and requests for aid from Central America. We are particularly moved by what happened in Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama, where there was the greatest destruction.
Pope Francis’ message on the World Day of the Poor (33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, 15 November 2020) strengthens our convictions to take concrete and immediate action for the good of the millions of people affected by the hurricanes.
Father Tomaž Mavrič and his Council decided to promote this initiative. The meeting was coordinated by Father Aarón Gutiérrez, Assistant General, and was attended by the members of the Council including the Secretary General and the Treasurer General. From their central offices, we were accompanied by the Visitors of the Provinces of San Vicente de Paul, Spain; Saragossa, Spain; Slovakia; and Central America; the Regional Superiors of Honduras (José Vicente Nácher) and Panama (Teodoro Manuel Justavino); confreres from the missions of Honduras: Barra Patuca (Enrique Alagarda) and Sangrelaya (Jozef Noga); from the missions of Puerto Cortés (Ángel María Echaide); from the Indigenous Mission of Panama (Joseph Fitzgerald); and the Director of VIMS (Mark Pranaitis). Emmet Nolan (Internal Seminary of Guatemala), Giuseppe Turati (Secretary General), and Miles Heinen (Assistant General) collaborated in the translation.
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The coordinator presented the objectives of the Meeting:
1º. Listen to what you have seen and heard in your missionary communities.
2º Elicit a “brainstorming” of what we can do on the three levels we are going to present to you:
2.1 Immediate help (according to our possibilities);
2.2 What are the pressing needs and how to respond to them? Presentation of what VIMS has started.
2.3 Organize the initiatives with a future perspective – as Saint Vincent would do – thinking above all about setting up a Fund for disasters with Vincentian Family.
Outcome of the Meeting:
After a brief moment of prayer and presentation of the objectives, we turn to:
1º Looking at the current Situation: In your mission location, what scenario has been left after the passage of these hurricanes?
The participants presented the situation of the missionary communities of Honduras: San Pedro Sula, Puerto Cortés, Barra Patuca, Puerto Lempira, and Sangrelaya; from Panama: the missions of Soloy and the parishes of Chiriquí; from Guatemala in Central America: the missionary parish of Sayaché; and what happened in Nicaragua.
The situations that arose were very similar:
- Major floods
- Landslides, obstruction of roads
- Destruction of crops and workplaces
- Destruction of educational and health facilities
2º What are the most urgent needs at this time?
Immediate aid:
- Accompaniment of people on their return to their homes, where they certainly will find terrible and distressing situations
- Household utensils
- Implement a house-building project
- Damaged-land reforestation project
- Support projects: for the education of children who are not going back to school; and some project to look for sources of work to help the unemployed.
3º. Reflect on what is in store for the future. As a Vincentian Family, how do we prepare for what is coming?
The efforts by missionaries and other members of the Vincentian Family to support the people affected in their respective mission areas are exemplary. In this sense we have different initiatives:
The support of VIMS: The Director, Father Mark Pranaitis, explained that VIMS is an Office in collaboration with the VSO to support projects. It raises funds for projects, seeking support from “donors.”
The support of COVIDE-AMBE: Vincentian Cooperation of Spain is an NGO. It has many years of experience in helping to reduce the suffering of the poor in different countries.
The support of the people: You have to admire the great spirit of solidarity, how it organized and helped the people of the villages in the way it can. “The poor save the poor” is the conviction expressed by some missionaries. It is a remarkable fact that coincides with typical Vincentian thought. People have much more confidence in the Church than in poorly organized and unreliable government agencies.
Think about the possibility of uniting the Family in setting up a “Disaster Fund.” In many places, the Vincentian Family also has organized itself to help those in need.
Before all this, it is necessary to think about setting up a disaster fund, to be prepared and to be able to help better in situations like these.
We concluded the meeting with a brief prayer and the blessing of the Superior General for the missionaries, the missions, and the people who are suffering the consequences of these natural phenomena.
Father Aarón Gutiérrez Nava, CM
Assistant General
