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NEWS STATEMENT
Irish Missionary Resource
Service provide over €209,000 in support of
emergency relief effort in Kenya
[Click on Map to enlarge]
The
Irish Missionary Resource Service (IMRS),
Ireland’s missionary development work funding
agency, today (Tuesday 5th February), released
the below statement reporting on provision of
emergency relief in support of missionaries
working in Kenya.
Following the 27th December election in Kenya
and the violence which has ensued across the
country the IMRS has been working to make
support available to missionaries on the ground
to provide humanitarian aid to those left most
vulnerable.
It is thought that so far more than 900 people
have been killed, with a further 250,000
displaced to camps within the Rift Valley and
Western Kenya, while others have fled into
neighbouring Uganda and Tanzania.
The IMRS are coordinating their response
alongside the leadership of missionary
organisations whose personnel are very much at
the centre of the local relief effort in Kenya.
Funding of over €209,000 has been provided to
those congregations who have sought IMRS support
to assist in responding to the immediate needs
in the area of provision of food,
water/sanitation and provision of healthcare.
The IMRS is in contact with 27 missionary
organisations in Kenya and has currently
provided emergency financial support to the
following:
-
Christian Brothers
-
Franciscan Missionaries of Saint Joseph
-
Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa
-
Irish Ursuline Union
-
Jesuit Missions
-
Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary
-
Patrician Brothers
-
Saint Patrick's Missionary Society
Mr Mike
Greally, IMRS CEO commented,
“The funding being allocated to the Kenyan
relief effort by the IMRS is being used by
missionaries who are doing their utmost in very
difficult circumstances to help people address
the most immediate and urgent challenges The
money is going directly to missionaries in areas
such as Eldoret, Nairobi, Mulanda, Kibera,
Kisumu, Kisii, Kariobangi, Kitale and Jamhuri
Park, many of which have been deeply affected by
the escalating violence of recent weeks and are
in need of direct and immediate assistance.”
He continued,
“Many missionaries have been communicating
directly with us from Kenya particularly those
in the midst of the crisis in the Western
region. They all emphasise the extraordinary
human cost of the crisis, and stress the
importance of all those in positions of
leadership – both within and outside Kenya –
taking meaningful steps to put an end to the
violence”.
- ENDS -
Note to editors:
-
The
Irish Missionary Resource Service (IMRS) is
a charitable organisation that supports the
development work of Irish Missionaries. For
more information about the IMRS and some of
the work of its members, please go to their
website on
www.imrs.ie.
-
In 2007
the IMRS allocated a total of €2.3million to
Kenya in support of missionary development
work. The total allocated to Kenya between
2005-2007 was €6.3million.
-
In 2007
the IMRS received a grant of €16 million
from Irish Aid and in 2008 will receive an
increased grant of €20million.
The IMRS
can make available for
interview both IMRS representatives
and missionary spokespeople in Ireland or in
Kenya.
For
further information please contact:
Rita McCullagh, Communications Officer
Phone: +353 [0]1 4055028
Mob: +353 862357723
Email:
rmccullagh@imrs.ie
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