Emergency food aid was possible thanks to the collaboration between the Mission Office of New Rochelle and the organization "Feed My Starving Children". The aid consisted in the donation of 10,000 pounds of enriched rice, capable of ensuring food for 40,000 people who were victims of the flood.
The Salesians in Paraguay are responding to the changing needs of the flood victims and their work has always been aimed at the education and training of young people so that they can have better opportunities for the future.
The areas on the banks of the river, homes to mostly poor families, were evacuated during the last flood and almost all the inhabitants were transferred to temporary shelters.
The victims were brought to settle in squares, public spaces and military land, where they experience poor living conditions. Many families are still waiting for the next flood, predicted for June or July because of the meteorological phenomenon "El Niño".
Paraguay is one of the poorest countries in South America, and it is in this context that the Salesians work: nearly 23% of the 6.5 million population live in poverty, on less than $1 a day. The gap between the small bourgeois class and the great popular class is extremely large and does not allow any social mobility in practice. Compounding this condition there are other problems, such as the situation of young people, job insecurity, teenage pregnancy and illiteracy.
Source: Misiones Salesianas
