![\"Families](\"https:\/\/cnewa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG-20210311-WA0001-1024x768.jpg\")
These examples of men living out their vocation of service \u201cencourages me to gain hope and pray to overcome this horrific situation,\u201d concluded the bishop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of those extraordinary witnesses visited CNEWA\u2019s Addis Ababa office last week. The young priest, whose identity is being protected, painfully recounted his experiences walking from one remote parish to another \u2014 dodging shells \u2014 offering the sacraments and counseling communities struck with terror and fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now in Addis Ababa to address some of the physical and psychological wounds he suffered in the field, the priest reported to CNEWA\u2019s Ethiopia field staff how he begged soldiers not to kill innocent people even as he encouraged villagers to prepare food to offer the soldiers, thus preserving some villages from looting and killing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In other places, he and other priests asked soldiers to allow them to bury the dead. Often, they were refused, to which they responded, \u201cWe are priests. We are here to pray for the sick and to bury the dead. This is our service to our people. Why do you forbid us to bury the dead?\u201d The priests succeeded somehow in burying the dead, which would have fallen instead to local women, young people and children, said Mr. Fantu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In an interview with Catholic News Service on 12 March, Mr. Fantu said more than 8 million people in Ethiopia need food assistance \u2014 the majority of them in the Tigray region \u2014 and severe locust infestations have disrupted farming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the conflict erupted, people fled their homes to mountainous areas, preventing them from gathering much to eat. The issue of food shortage in these remote areas is leading people to starvation; people are dying for the lack of food, Mr. Fantu reported to CNEWA head office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To make matters worse, no one is paying attention to the surge of COVID-19 in the region, which has increased from 13 percent of those tested to more than 17 percent, he continued. As aid workers move in Tigray region with less attention to the virus and more attention to serve people, it is feared the virus will spread thus decimating a people encountering multiple sufferings: security, hunger and the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As an immediate response, CNEWA is rushing humanitarian assistance to Bishop Medhin for 34 remote parishes in the eparchy to distribute to families impacted by the crisis over a six-month period. Admittedly, this aid is but a drop in the bucket, but it is part of a three-pronged approach by CNEWA in Ethiopia. This approach includes a commitment to monitor, assess, coordinate and offer targeted assistance to the local church; support the broader efforts of the church through the Congregation for Eastern Churches; and remaining on the ground, \u201cever available and present in the accompaniment of the suffering throughout Ethiopia,\u201d says CNEWA president Msgr. Peter I. Vaccari.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Families](\"https:\/\/cnewa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG-20210311-WA0000-1024x768.jpg\")