Marco Carvalho
Since the first patient with Covid-19 was detected in Macau in the dying days of January, Caritas spent more than 200,000 patacas lending a helping hand to support more than six hundred non-resident workers who had lost their jobs and had been immersed in a situation of great economic fragility ever since. The charity led by Paul Pun Chi Meng has distributed small amounts of money and basic commodities such as rice, cooking oil, pasta, canned goods, diapers and powdered milk, mainly to Filipino, Indonesian and Vietnamese nationals.
Notwithstanding the economic uncertainty in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, support for non-resident workers facing the menace of food insecurity is one of Macau Caritas’ current priorities. The other one, Paul Pun told O Clarim, is to make sure that the services provided by the organization to Macau’s most vulnerable residents is not at risk: “Right now, the biggest challenge is to maintain the services we provide. We won’t be able to provide new services, but the money we have should be used to maintain the services we already provide. We must make use of what we have to keep these services up and running. Our priority is to obtain enough money to finance the services we already provide to Macao residents and to raise food and essential goods for non-residents,” the Secretary-general of Caritas explained. “These are the two areas for which we need to find resources. The main services we provide to local residents are focused on the elderly, people with disabilities and single parents. We need to find enough money to help them,” Paul Pun reasserts.
Nam Van Lake Nautical Centre hosted the 51st edition of Macau Caritas Charity Bazaar at the beginning of the current month. The initiative – the biggest charitable event organized in Macau – helps Caritas to raise most of the financial support with which it funds its activities. This year, nevertheless, the Covid-19 pandemic had an irrefutable impact on the success of the event. The Secretary-General of Caritas claims that there was a noticeable drop not only in the number of exhibitors and visitors, but also in the general availability to help: “This year we received around 40,000 visitors. One year ago, there were about 50,000. This year, due to the pandemic, we had to reduce the number of exhibitors to around 85,” Mr. Pun Chi Meng told O Clarim. “We will probably face quite a few difficulties to promote our services next year. We owe these difficulties not only because the Government has already told us that it will reduce the budget, but also because the financial capacity of many of our regular donors is less robust than it was last year. Many still demonstrated their willingness to help, but gave less than they used to,” Paul Pun said.
The Secretary General of Caritas did not reveal the exact amount of money raised in the 51st Charity Bazaar, but acknowledges that it fell short of the amount obtained in previous editions of the event.
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