Dear members and friends,
Thank you in advance for reading this update. Given the large number of activities we have been involved with since the summer, the following commentaries will be short so as not to take up too much of your time. Please don’t hesitate to ask us for any more details on any of our projects.
1° Syria
In September, 23 newborn babies were given nutritional supplements in addition to the 27 who were already helped in August. In October, 50 new borns were included, 29 of whom were new to the scheme.
Reminder: these children are supported until they are 12 months old, which explains the turn-around.
The information below was provided by the Vivere-Syria team:
The father is only able to find sporadic work. He is ready to do any kind of work in order to feed his family.
Imarat: This is the family’s third child. The family used to live in a small, simple house in a part of our town that suffered a large amount of attacks. In a relatively calm period, the family returned to find that their house had been completely destroyed. Now the family rents a small house that is half in ruins. The father is a shepherd. He leaves early in the morning to look for food for his sheep and his family.
2° Mauritania: Fight against Slavery
We were able to meet up with our friend and partner Biram Dah Abeid (winner of the UN prize for Human Rights in 2013, http://biramdahabeid.org) on the 5 October since he was travelling through Geneva. We had a very productive discussion on the fact that slavery still exists in his country and looking at how our two organisations could work together to protect potential victims of human trafficking in Mauritania.
Our conclusions, with the participation of André Bartélémy, a member of Vivere, and honorary President of “Agir ensemble pour les droits humains” can be found on (in french):
3° Uzbekistan : Prevention and fight against Human Trafficking
Our local partner, the association Istiqbolli Avlod, managed to get a local TV station to screen a short documentary which raises awareness about the problem of trafficking and how to prevent it. This is certainly the first of its kind. The documentary can be seen on:
4° Fight against severe punishments handed down to those accused of blasphemy: 3rd successful case for one of our clients !
Last September, our lawyer was successful in obtaining the acquittal of a female teacher who had been detained and accused of wanting to compromise the religious beliefs of one of her students. She could have been sentenced to death for this.
5° Ukraine: According to the United Nations, more than 1000 health facilities have been bombed.
Reminder: Medical and food aid have been distributed to the most vulnerable people of Kharkiv and the surrounding area. This has been thanks to the support Vivere has been able to give to our partners in the region.
6° Democratic Republic of Congo
- Protection of elderly people who have been abandoned, are homeless and have no means of help: in the visit we made to DRC in September, we and our partner association, ACMEJ, decided to support 3 new widows, in addition to the 4 elderly people we have been supporting for 2 years. We were able to find three welcome families for each of these war widows who had already lost their children and other family members :
- 38th Mobile Military Court, Uvira garrison: this took place between the 18-21 September in the mid -plateau area of Lemera. Four cases were brought to court: two murders, one robbery, and one armed extortion. The four detainees were found guilty and severely punished by the court. The presiding magistrate, Lieutenant-Colonel Alain Giongega, gave an interview at the end of the session which you can watch on (in french) :
7° Charitable Christmas Market in Lausanne
Our volunteers will be at the Vivere stand from the 14-16 December. This event is organised by Pôle Sud and Fedevaco and brings together 40 Swiss organisations with products coming from 31 countries. This is a great opportunity for many reasons. Not only can you support these organisations whilst buying your Christmas presents, it is also a fantastic way to talk to new organisations, find out more about them and attract new support for our projects. We are also able to sell articles coming from nearby and far away countries linked to Vivere. We look forward to seeing you!
Many thanks again for taking the time to read this. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us if you would like any more information.
With our best wishes,
Vivere, committee