Articles

The spring of this year was one of the most demanding times in the recent history of Caritas. JAROSLAV NĚMEC, Director of the Caritas of the Archdiocese of Prague, likens the pandemic to a 100-year flood.

The Caritas of the Archdiocese of Prague is celebrating 100 years of existence. For more than one-fifth of its history (the past 22 years), the organization has been headed by Ing. JAROSLAV NĚMEC, a man who has been instrumental in shaping the charity’s activities and bringing it among respected, reliable, and highly professional organizations.

This year, the Magdala Counseling Center, a facility providing one of the services offered by Caritas of the Archdiocese of Prague, is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its establishment. Its services are presented by the center’s Director, ŠÁRKA DRŠKOVÁ.

The 2019 school year has begun in Zambia. Sarah Mwale, a young inventor from Solwezi went back to school after the Christmas holiday at home. She already completed her first year at Mukinge secondary school, the all girls’ boarding school at Kasempa district. She did well yet again in another competition for young inventors. Sarah is an orphan, she is being brought up by her grandmother and her studies are sponsored by donors from the Czech Republic.

In his continuing catechesis on the Ten Commandments, the Pope during his General Audience reflects on the eighth commandment: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour”.

Jana is a young woman from west Bohemia. She had a dream of working as a chef in a spa hotel, so she went to a college specialised in chef trainings. At the time, Jana met a partner on a social website. He was funny and she liked him a lot. Things moved on very quickly and they married four months after they first met. Very soon after the wedding their first daughter was born and later on a son with mental health problems.

Give a gift this Christmas, not only to your own loved ones, but also to an unknown battered woman. They live among us with hidden pain and suffering. They cannot enjoy a beautiful and merry Christmas. From their close ones they only receive wounds to their body and spirit, never gifts.

The streets of this big city are dangerous at night. A woman might prefer to ask a male chaperone to walk with her if she finds herself faced with the prospect of returning home through dark and deserted streets in the small hours of the night. But not everyone has a home to return to. In Prague alone, at least 800 women are living on the street. We met with some of them at the newly-opened women-only daytime center on Žitná Street – the only one of its kind in the Czech Republic.

On Wednesday, October 5, 2016, the Agel Foundation graciously agreed to act as patron for the Gloria Shelter Home. Women’s shelters help mothers overcome grave life crises, as they suddenly find themselves in the street, and are moreover at risk of having their children taken away and put into institutional care by child protection services. However, these shelters would not be able to do their good work without the kind support of donors.

As of July, people in need have been receiving food and other basic necessities under a program of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs which is financed from the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD). Distribution of this aid across the country lies primarily in the hands of Caritas and other non-profit organizations.

For the last six years, we have been organizing regular classes in Zambia that provide adults with basic education. Sixty individuals in Mukonchi and Solwezi are learning how to read and write in their adult years.

Caritas Czech Republic launched its Caritas Cares country report on 2 February. This report describes the main challenges related to poverty and social inclusion in the Czech Republic and provides recommendations for policy makers to address these challenges.

Men dressed as the Three Kings, Balthazar, Melchior and Gaspar, rode camels in the historical core of Prague and across the Charles bridge during the traditional Three Kings Procession on January 3, 2016. The procession was organized by The Caritas of the Archdiocese of Prague.

The St. Charles Lwanga Buikwe Hospital has received the Celestýn Opitz Award, which goes to outstanding personalities or projects that set an example in care-giving to the infirm or otherwise needy. It is being awarded by the Hospitaller Order of the Brothers of Saint John of God.

The Parenting Skills Support for Single Mothers project is an innovative program concerned with the development of mothers’ parenting personalities and skills. The creator of this comprehensive program, which was first implemented in 2012, is the personnel of Caritas of the Archdiocese of Prague, who have drawn on their many years of experience working with single mothers, especially with those living temporarily in the shelter.

Many regions of the Czech Republic saw heavy flooding in June. Caritas reacted to the floods within hours. It set up a collection account and crisis centers, monitored the situation, and passed on information in the affected areas and to the general public. Caritas is a network of more than 350 Caritas entities in the Czech Republic (on the level of dioceses, cities, regions, parishes). The whole network worked together as one.

The Caritas of the Archdiocese of Prague is officially opening its new donation program, Sponsor a Hospital Bed. Donors can give directed support to the St. Charles Lwanga Buikwe Hospital in Uganda, which the Prague Caritas organization established in 2007 and has examined nearly 200,000 patients since that time. Even just CZK 300 will fund one bed in the pediatric ward for a week.

International and development aid provided by Czech Caritas has promoted the good name of the Czech Republic for 20 years already – this was the appreciation expressed by Karel Schwarzenberg, Minister of Foreign Affairs, when awarding the Gratias Agit Award to Caritas Czech Republic.