Christian Aid Week 11-17 May 2025
For 80 years, Christian Aid has been fighting poverty and injustice. We’ve partnered with communities and organisations across the world to support people of every faith and none. We know that eradicating poverty can seem like an impossible task. Hope has compelled us to stand up for communities in crisis and support people living in poverty. And right now, we need it more than ever. As tragic events unfold across the world, from Gaza to Ukraine and South Sudan, we need your support to offer hope to communities in crisis.
Food Crisis in Guatemala
In Guatemala, the climate crisis is killing Amelia’s precious crops. She relies on the land to feed her 8-year-old son, Lázaro, and 4-year-old daughter, Yakelin.
Caption: Amelia with her 4-year-old daughter, Yakelin, surveying the tragedy of their dying banana trees during an intense heatwave
Credit: A.Sheppey/Christian Aid
Amelia says: ‘I worry about how my children will eat.’
A river passes through Amelia’s farm, but deadly heatwaves are causing it to run dangerously low. Both communities and crops stand to lose life-giving water.
The cruel injustice is that Indigenous communities like Amelia’s have done the least to cause the climate crisis, yet they endure its impact the most. As their farms are devastated, the search for solutions becomes critical: ‘With high heat, there is little we can do but adapt.’
Amelia’s hopeful that she can combat the worst effects of extreme weather by changing the way she farms. With the support of specialist training from our partner, Congcoop, Amelia is planting resilient crops, conserving water and making fertiliser.
Amelia is also a leader in her community, sharing her knowledge with other households, so that one day, no family will worry about their children going without food. This is the unstoppable power of Amelia’s hope in action.
Will you demonstrate the unstoppable power of hope and help fund vital tools and training, so farmers like Amelia can push back against the climate crisis and beat hunger? every gift, act and prayer counts.
- £6 could pay for the seed trays that kickstart a plant nursery at someone’s home.
- £10 could pay for the pruning scissors that mean a farmer can care for their cacao trees.
- £20 could buy two pounds of climate resilient seeds that diversify a family’s crop.
Christian Aid and its local supporters are joining together once again to fundraise in all kinds of ways. In the Marple Area, there will be a plant and cake sale at Marple Methodist Church, Church Lane Marple on the morning of 10 May, we will be delivering as many envelopes as we are able through your door so you can drop off donations at local collection points and you can donate directly to our on-line fundraising site using this QR code.
A NEW REPORT ‘PUTTING OUR MONEY WHERE OUR MOUTH IS- why we need public climate finance’ was released on N
ovember 11th 2024
Picture: Empty livestock pens, livestock and camel carcasses caused by drought – Image: May 2022.
As world leaders meet at COP 29 in Azerbaijan, this latest report by Christian Aid has warned the world leaders they must stop “chasing shadows” with attempts to make up for insufficient and poor-quality public finance with private contributions.
The report shows people living in the 10 countries most affected by climate change between 2000 and 2019 received less than 2% of all climate finance. The 750 million people now living in these countries received on average less than $1 each per year from rich countries.
On Finance Day at COP29 Christian Aid urged governments to pay for public, grant based finance through progressive taxes on major polluters e.g. fossil fuel companies. Read more details here
Read the full report here
A new analysis of the top 20 costliest extreme climate disasters over 2023 has revealed a “global postcode lottery stacked against the poor” where the relative economic impact of disasters varies considerably across countries.
Christian Aid, which published the analysis in their report Counting the Cost 2023: A year of climate breakdown, warns “more climate finance is desperately needed” including investment in early warning and early action.
The top 20 list of the costliest extreme disasters of 2023 across a range of 14 countries shows that some countries – through size, geography, or other factors – are more prone to experience disasters.
Read the synopsis here: https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/48796Download the full report here counting_the_cost_2023
ABOUT CHRISTIAN AID
Christian Aid exists to help create a world where everyone can live a full life, free from poverty. Poverty is an outrage against humanity. It robs people of their dignity and let injustice thrive. But together we have the power to transform lives.
We are a global movement of people, churches and local organisations who passionately champion dignity, equality and justice in countries worldwide. We are the changemakers, the peacemakers, the mighty of heart.
We provide urgent, practical help in times of crisis and beyond. We seek to eradicate extreme poverty by tackling its root causes. Together with people living in poverty, we amplify our voices to speak truth to power and create lasting change. Everyone is equal in the sight of God. For over 70 years, this has inspired us to stand together in solidarity with our global neighbours, of all faiths and none.
BRAZIL : Christian Aid praises police for bringing criminal charges against mining company over Brumadinho dam disaster
Dec 8th, 2021
Picture: Toxic sludge has covered homes, farmland, livestock and people.
Toxic sludge has covered homes, farmland, livestock and people.
Christian Aid has welcomed reports that Brazil’s Federal Police is bringing criminal charges against Vale for environmental crimes for its role in the Brumadinho dam disaster and has called for urgent “justice and compensation.”
The international development charity, which co-authored a report into the incident this year alongside the Movement of People Affected by dams (MAB) as part of a project aimed at ensuring redress for people affected, believes a further 33-45 dams are vulnerable and leaving thousands at risk.
The Brumadinho dam’s collapse on 25 January 2019 released 11.7 million cubic meters of toxic waste and mud, killing 270 people and contaminating the Paraopeba River and nearby water systems and lands. An estimated 944,000 people have had their livelihoods impacted.
Christian Aid is calling for families of the people killed by the Brumadinho dam disaster and people who have been displaced or lost their livelihoods to be fully compensated by Vale and responsible state actors.
The Brazillian Federal Police’s investigation found evidence on the commission of crimes against animal life, flora, water resources, and various crimes of pollution. Federal prosecutors will now evaluate the conclusions and determine whether charges will be brought.
Fionna Smyth, Head of Global Policy and Advocacy for Christian Aid, said: “Families have been torn apart by the Brumadinho disaster and the community remains devastated nearly three years on. Reports that criminal charges are to be brought for environmental crimes against Vale are a positive step but must come with real justice and compensation.
“Nothing short of an independent, thorough and swift criminal investigation into what can only be described as serious human rights violations will do.
“We also need systemic change. No longer should mining companies be left to mark their own homework. With other dams posing a risk, we need an international agreement that places the rights of people before greed.”
Christian Aid’s report, The true cost of mining: Ensuring justice for people and communities affected by the Brumadinho dam disaster – can be found here: www.christianaid.org.uk/sites/default/files/2021-01/Brumadinho%20Report.pdf
Rage and Hope 75 prayers for a better world
Published in March this is a collection of defiant prayers for justice and a better world to commemorate and celebrate 75 years of Christian Aid. Bringing together voices from different contexts and cultures around the world, this is a collection of prayers of lament for he injustices of the world, and prayers of hope for the world we want to see. You can order it from https://spckpublishing.co.uk/rage-and-hope