Faces of Project Compassion

Read about the incredible impact your support has made. Through inspiring stories of strength, resilience, and change, you'll see how your generosity helps create real, positive change in communities around the world. These stories highlight the difference you’re making and how your actions are helping people overcome challenges, build better futures, and thrive.

Sisilia

is a 13 year-old girl who lives with her mother and siblings in a remote village in northern Tanzania. Sisilia had to walk long distances each day to fetch water from a dirty canal. The water was unsafe, causing frequent illness, and the long walks left Sisilia exhausted, fearful of wild animals and struggling to focus on her studies. 

With support from the A+ Successor Project, Sisilia's school and village now have clean water taps. This means it takes her just two minutes to collect water from her house, reducing the risks she faced and giving her more time for learning.

Sisilia’s dream is to one day become a pilot and she hopes the time she saves collecting water can be used to focus on her studies.

Monoranjon

lives in a coastal village in southwest Bangladesh, one of the regions most affected by climate change. He and his family face extreme heat, cyclones, water scarcity, and rising salinity that is destroying crops and livelihoods. As a farmer and father of two, Monoranjon struggled to provide for his family and keep his daughter and son in school.  

Thanks to support from Caritas Australia and its partner Caritas Bangladesh, Monoranjon joined the Community Managed Sustainable Livelihoods and Resilience Program, where he learnt climate resilient farming techniques. He now grows salt-tolerant vegetables, raises livestock, and shares knowledge with his community. With support, he can send his children to school and protect their future from poverty. 

Manaini

is a mother of six and a grandmother of two living in remote northern Fiji. Life has always been a struggle for Manaini - holding back tears, she shared: “The things I worry about the most is my kids’ education. The requirements that need to be met are hard for me to try to achieve with my daily income.”  

Thanks to your generosity, Manaini joined training with local partner, FRIEND. She learnt food processing skills to transform leftovers from crops like cassava and taro into flour and increase her weekly income. Her family eats healthier meals, and she saves money. 

Manaini is proud of her progress and still dreams of more. She hopes to expand the women's business and one day bring solar power to the village. She said, “The project as a whole has a lot of value in my life as it totally changed the life of my family and even the community.” 

Ahmad

is a Caritas Jerusalem staff member living and working in Gaza, who has endured repeated displacement during the conflict. In December 2023, the house where his family was sheltering was bombed, leaving Ahmad injured and his brother with life-changing wounds. For months they lived between hospitals, tents, and borrowed homes, losing what little they carried each time. 

Despite the trauma and displacement, Ahmad continues to serve families through Caritas’ emergency response and hopes that one day, Gaza can rebuild.  

“Thank God we work at Caritas, allowing us to serve people in the most challenging conditions despite the lack of medicine,” he explains. “I hope this ordeal ends so we can go back to rebuild Gaza, our children’s future, our country, and our organisation.”