In the Enciclica Letter Laudato Sì, Pope Francis says: “Fresh drinking water is an issue of primary importance, since it is indispensable for human life”.
Since many years now, the Community of Sant’Egidio is addressing the water-related crisis through a number of compelling initiatives for the relief of the most exposed ones, such as the poorest part of the world. “Our world has a grave social debt towards the poor who lack access to drinking water, because they are denied the right to a life consistent with their inalienable dignity”.
The continent of Africa is particularly affected by water poverty. Here large sectors of the population have no access to safe drinking water, experience droughts which impede agricultural production, or are hit by natural disasters, as tragically happened in Mozambique, where the Cyclone Idai has left hundreds of victims and thousands of displaced people behind.
Therefore, it is in Africa where the efforts of Sant’Egidio are mainly focused:
- Water supply and relief aid to those population suffering from lack of water and food resources due to land degradation and desertification.
A story from Kenya
- Structural improvements of prisons’ condition in Africa - among the most precarious in the world. These kind of environments are usually suffering from lack of daily water supply, a situation made dramatically worse by the constant droughts, forcing inmates to poor and precarious sanitary conditions.
A story from Malawi
- Nutritional Education.The fight against child malnutrition, also caused by the lack of water supply, is also carried out through the management of special nutritional centers implemented in those areas particularly affected by this problem.
DREAM in water-colors
