As we entered the house, I was surprised the room would fit a bed- it seemed so small. The room was pitch black, but I could just make out the figure lying there; the Ugandan gentleman we had come to visit.
He was looking frail and, after discussions with his wife, it transpired she believed he would soon die. She was planning to take him back to his village where people often go to die or bury their dead.
Nurse Josephine carefully examined him, and spoke with him and his wife. He was HIV-positive and his symptoms suggested the virus had progressed to a stage where he now needed to be put on antiretrovirals (ARVs).
Travelling with us was Margaret, an HIV counsellor. She sat with the gentleman’s wife in the back of our car, and discussed with her the consequences of taking him back to his village. In his village there would be no medical support and limited contact with the family’s children who live in Uganda’s capital city Kampala.
In December, when world leaders meet in Copenhagen for crucial climate change talks, they will be discussing an issue on which the future of my country – and of humanity – depends.
The mountainous landscape of Honduras makes us extremely vulnerable to extremes of climate.
We only have two seasons, the rainy season and the dry season. Every year we see that the dry season is getting longer.
Right now we are experiencing one of the longest and hottest summers. The rivers are totally dry, crops are completely lost and many people have to walk up to15 kilometres just to find water to drink. Keep reading →
Father Justin Nkunzi, director of our partner the Bukavu Archdiocese Justice and Peace Commission, talks about the growing problem of sexual violence in his country.
The last of a series of four video blogs; Karen Luyckx, CAFOD’s representative in Bolivia, talks from a political rally in Cochabamba, where indigenous movements from all over Bolivia have gathered to hear what the political leaders of the region say on equality, human rights and climate change.
As soon as we got out of the car in the village Ankpa, we were welcomed in the most delightful way, with people swarming out of the healthcare clinic to greet and show their appreciation for us. Everyone seemed so happy to see four young English girls in their village.
As we spent the day in the health clinic in Ankpa, we found out more about the young mothers and how they manage to look after themselves during pregnancy, as they don’t get a lot of help from their family to go through the emotional and physical help pregnant women need.
We asked the mothers what they feel they need most during pregnancy, and the most common answer was a napkin and baby clothes. The mothers told us they were very happy to be having the baby and how the clinic benefits and supports them.
This contrasted hugely with the most emotional experience of the trip. The next day we visited an outreach clinic in Ankpapa. As soon as we arrived, we saw the amount of poverty affecting the area.
A pupil from St John’s Catholic Junior School New Ferry was so moved by cases of drought that he spent many hours formulating his plan for clean water. He was really keen for CAFOD to see his ideas. We thought that they might be of interest to others. Well done!
All Hallows Catholic College students are pictured holding banners carrying many hundreds of ‘hand-print’ pledges to help reduce the nation’s Carbon Footprint. The banners also contain messages to Gordon Brown and his Government which, together with hundreds of thousands of messages from across the UK, will be presented ahead of the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen on December 5th.
Students handed over the banners to Sue Bownas, Shrewsbury Diocesan Manager for CAFOD, one of a hundred organisations within the ‘Stop Climate Chaos Coalition’. Sixth formers, as part of their Social Enterprise project, spent their lunch times campaigning for ‘Climate Justice’ and gathering the messages from students across the College. Head Boy and Girl, Will Truefitt and Alice Beaden, commented, ‘it was a fun and accessible way for students to ‘be the change they want to see in the world’.
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