Luxembourg’s capital. Volunteers wanted to fill two aid containers for St Vincent

At the Rollingergrund primary school in Luxembourg City, the hustle and bustle has not stopped since the weekend. Boxes of clothes, mattresses, suitcases, toys, kitchen utensils, non-perishable food, hygiene products and even medicines are waiting to be sorted and organised.

Two containers packed with these essential goods will leave this Friday for São Vicente, the Cape Verdean island hardest hit on 11 August by the devastating tropical storm Erin.

“The containers will arrive this week, we’ll fill them up and everything will go to Cape Verde from here by the end of Friday,” Christian Rodrigues, one of the organisers of the collection, told Contacto.

“At the moment we’re only accepting hygiene products and non-perishable food. We don’t accept any more clothes because we have enough and there’s even a risk that we won’t have enough space for everything because we still have to receive gifts from some shops,” Rodrigues said.

“So the balance is more than positive, not least because of the presence of many volunteers from Cape Verde and beyond. We’re grateful for the help and we’re happy for the private individuals and associations who are here to help with the sorting,” he said.

However, more help is still needed because there is a lot of sorting and tidying up to do. Deliveries and volunteer work can be done every day until Friday, from 08:00 to 18:00. “The hours have been extended from 16:00 to 18:00 because we need more time for sorting and tidying. So anyone who can come and help is welcome,” Rodrigues said.

Mobilisations in Ettelbruck and Esch

Another mobilisation took place in the north, in Ettelbruck. The local commune has provided volunteers with space in the Chalet de Ettelbruck for a barbecue and collection of clothes, shoes and financial donations. The event was only planned for last Friday, but due to the incessant deliveries of donations it was extended until this Tuesday.

“We had already taken everything out of the ‘chalet’, but people kept handing in more and we collected a lot again. After the sorting, it took five vans to take the boxes to Rollingergrund, with numerous trips. It’s a lot,” said Sara Santos, a cultural activist and association leader. She also explained that they are in contact with pharmacists “to get a large quantity of medicines that will go directly to the hospital in São Vicente by aeroplane.”

In the south of the Grand Duchy, a group of Cape Verdeans organised a collection point last week in the Rue du Brill in Esch-sur-Alzette, gathering even more goods, including food, kitchen materials, bedding and hygiene products. According to a post on Facebook, the material was sent to Cape Verde over the weekend.

More than €20,000 collected

At least €22,000 has so far been collected in Luxembourg to support those most affected in São Vicente.

Santos and her partner Cibelle da Graça have so far raised around €10,500 via the GoFundMe website and a further €2,000 at the Chalet de Ettelbruck event. Those responsible guarantee that “part of the amount has already been transferred to a restaurant that provides meals to those affected, to buy water and food for volunteers who are cleaning up the wreckage and to help a resident of Ribeira de Craquinha.”

Another confirmed contribution came from a ‘Solidarity Day for the Island of São Vicente’ event, organised at the weekend at the Boonchu bar-restaurant in Bertrange. Gilda Monteiro, president of the São Vicente Association, told Contacto that they raised around €10,000.

Associations and individuals unite

Some members of the association were still on holiday in São Vicente when the storm hit. They are keeping Monteiro informed of the island’s most urgent needs.

The president of the São Vicente Association recalled that the challenge is too great for a single organisation. “What’s happening is so big that no association can act alone. Right from the start, we contacted the Federation of Cape Verdean Associations and got together with everyone – federated associations or not, private individuals – to help rebuild what was lost. It’s not just the São Vicente Association here, it’s the whole Cape Verdean community united,” he said.

Collecting goods in supermarkets

Monteiro added that the next phase of support will begin next weekend, on 23 and 24 August, with the collection of goods at the Primavera supermarket in Gasperich on Saturday from 09:00 to 19:00 and on Sunday from 09:00 to 13:00. “We’ll be collecting non-perishable food for adults and babies, hygiene products for adults and babies, masks, gloves, school materials, dressing materials and disinfectants,” he explained.

The association is also awaiting a response from the Cactus group for a campaign in all the country’s shops and promises to announce the next collection dates and locations gradually.

Official support from Luxembourg

Solidarity isn’t just coming from the community. The Luxembourg authorities have also expressed their support. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Cooperation and Humanitarian Action Xavier Bettel wrote X of his “deep sadness for the victims of Tropical Storm Erin”, offering his condolences and assuring that Luxembourg is “ready to respond to any request for assistance” from Cape Verde.

Prime Minister Luc Frieden also expressed his condolences and solidarity with his Cape Verdean counterpart. Ulisses Correia e Silva posted on his social network Facebook that, in a telephone conversation, Frieden guaranteed “the willingness of the Luxembourg government to support the recovery effort, based on the social emergency programme and the resilient reconstruction of infrastructures.”

International aid

The Cape Verdean Prime Minister also announced, in another recent publication, that the World Bank has approved a request for emergency support to reinforce the response to the damage caused by the storm on the islands of São Vicente, Santo Antão and São Nicolau. The funding was granted through a special disaster response mechanism, allowing for the immediate disbursement of $10 million.

“At this difficult time, I would like to thank the World Bank Group for its swift response and high sense of solidarity, given the need for rapid and robust emergency social and infrastructural responses to protect people and rebuild with greater resilience,” the head of the Cape Verdean government said.

(This article was first published by Contacto. Translated by AI and edited by Duncan Roberts.)