Out of Africa

Lilian Mori [James Fraser]

Lilian Mori works in CAFOD’s East Africa office as the regional administrator. Based in Nairobi, Kenya, she has worked with us since 1998, and especially proud of the HIV work

“When I see what CAFOD is doing – ordinary people in the UK giving up their time, lunches to help poor people – and when I see CAFOD’s work with partners on various projects , especially on HIV and AIDS, I am encouraged,” she says.

Lilian discovered that CAFOD was supporting various projects including HIV and AIDS projects in her home town - one of the regions most affected by HIV.

Wide variety of support

“When I started working for CAFOD I kept showing everyone brochures saying ‘Look, they are supporting all these projects – even HIV and AIDS'.

“Shortly after I started I visited an HIV and AIDS project in Masaka Uganda. We went out to one of the communities with a mobile team.

“On the way we stopped at the home of a lady who was really sick. She was the mother of the family. Her husband had just died and she had three very young children. There was nobody to take care of them.

“The home-care team arrived with the medicines. The neighbours said she hadn’t talked to anyone for more than two days. But when the team arrived, she turned her head. Some help had come.

“She smiled and that really had an impact on me. She was dying, but help had come."

One trip she remembers in particular is a visit by school teachers from England and Wales linked to the Millennium Development Goals.

“One of the projects they visited was in one of the slum areas in Nairobi. The project supports communities in the slum through provision of credit facilities. Here many poor people do not have land.

"They learn new skills, for example how to use old tin cans to plant vegetables in and hang them by their houses. It has also strengthened the capacity of small-scale entrepreneurs in the area.

“In Northern Kenya there have been terrible droughts – most of the pastoralists lost their cattle – you could see carcasses of cows everywhere.

"The scarcity of resources led to cattle rustling, fighting over water and grazing land. CAFOD and other organisations have brought warring communities together to discuss these issues in the open and try and resolve them.

The Nairobi office is now the hub for East and Horn of Africa and covers Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Lilian has also visited the UK on several occasions.

“I visited one of the dioceses where they were campaigning on debt. Some people had just come to listen. Some people were quite old. It really touched me that someone would gather their strength to attend such a meeting.

"I wish to sincerely thank CAFOD supporters for all their support and prayers. Their donations have helped poor people especially in East Africa have a better life.

"They should keep donating to CAFOD as their support is needed to help in making this world a better place for all.”

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