The La Salle International Foundation has launched an emergency appeal for funds to benefit a Lasallian ministry in Mozambique.

On March 14, Cyclone Idai hit Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Preliminary assessments in Mozambique indicate that hundreds of lives have been lost, tens of thousands of homes have been destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of hectares have crop damage. Tens of thousands of children are now orphaned or separated from their parents.

In Beira, Mozambique, the cyclone damaged structures at Centro Educacional e Assistencial La Salle (CEALS), which is a pre-postulancy, community, and educational center for almost 300 hundred financially poor children from six to 17 years of age. Operating throughout the calendar year, the center provides academic tutoring, homework assistance, counseling, recreational opportunities, and programmed social interactions between students (values training).

Cyclone Idai severely damaged the structures in which the staff members at CEALS live and teach. To provide emergency relief to these individuals, La Salle International hopes to raise $40,000 to repair the buildings and resume the programs. As with all La Salle International Foundation projects, 100 percent of donations go directly to the project.