As we begin to mark our 50th anniversary year at CAFOD, it is a time to reflect on what we have achieved, and how we have fulfilled our mission, both as an organisation and as individuals. In that spirit of reflection, we are asking all staff, volunteers, supporters and other friends of CAFOD to look back over their lives and recall the moment when they were first drawn into the fight against poverty and injustice.
Archbishop of San Salvador and human rights campaigner Oscar Romero (b.1917, murdered March 1980). During the 1980s, El Salvador was ravaged by civil war which in 1992 was ended with a United Nations-brokered peace agreement. c Equipo Maiz
For many of us, it was a news broadcast, a photo, a speech or an inspirational person. For some, it was a film, book or a story from the Bible. And for others, it was the personal experience of taking a trip abroad or seeing the kindness of others first hand. The events, experiences and people which have inspired us are as diverse as we are, but we can recognise in each others’ testimonies common bonds: the awakening of compassion for others; and the discovery of a world outside our own.
So please share with us your stories, and let us share them with the wider community of CAFOD supporters and partners throughout the world. Whatever age we are, whatever background we come from, and however different our stories are, we are united by our fire for justice. So let us share that fire, and celebrate our unity. To tell us what lit your flame, please email: flame@cafod.org.uk or leave your own story as a comment below.
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There were two for me: one was the ‘clean up your computer’ campaign. CAFOD campaigned for workers’ rights in the electronics industry, and took a stand against discrimination in recruitment practices. I heard a CAFOD spokesperson on the radio and that was when I knew this was an organisation which promoted human rights without prejudice. The other was CAFOD’s work in Rwanda, working for peace and reconciliation after the genocide. I was overwhelmed by people’s capacity to forgive and rebuild after such a terrible event. The tireless bravery and strength of the people who work at CAFOD’s partner AVEGA East, and the determination of the people they help to rebuild their lives and communities, inspires me every day.
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September 1964, flying out to Singapore to take up a post as a civilian teacher in an Army Children’s School, we made a 24 hour stopover in Bombay(Mumbai) , after an emergency landing. Bussed into the city from the airport I was overcome first by the smells then as the group of young teachers stepped off the bus we were surrounded by a crowd of beggars, One mother tried to push her emmaciated baby into my arms pleading ‘take him, take him’. We were hustled into our hotel for the night but that incident left and indelible impression on me. Arriving in Singapore I joined the Legion of Mary Praesidium attached to the Cathedral and so met many of the local people striving to live with dignity in kampong houses,in a society that still reflected the old Colonial attitude in what had a been a trading outpost of the British Empire.By the time I returned to England in1966 CAFOD had begun their work and the rest is history!
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There were a number of events that lit my flame; one that really sticks in my mind is watching the movie Blood Diamond. This graphically brought home the injustice of child soldiers and the blood diamond trade and caused me to investigate the issue deeper.
In terms of practical action, two events that really stirred me to pursue using my professional IT skills to help fight poverty and injustice were (a) reading a survey from Wycliffe Bible translators working in West Africa who noted a lack of IT support as a greater hindrance than armed conflict and (b) having the opportunity to do some IT support in a school / orphanage project in Mombasa, Kenya.
Until those events I had wondered how I could help in the fight, after them I felt inspired.
I am 48, when I was young I wanted to become a lawyer which I thought would help me help and support people who are faced with injustice, I did not make it, years later I became a mother of many children and strived to bring them up insstilling in them that God made the whole world with everything in it for everyone to have an equal share of everything thing. This is not the case, everyday I felt I had an obligation to make my children see what I believed in me, in how I lived with their father and the other dependants we kept at home. Years later one of my daughters entered into law school and has been emphasising that she wants to prepare for ” a career of service and not that of gathering wealth”. This made me to look back and count on what God has done for me so far, I am greatful especially for the education of my children which I can not attribute to chance nor human effort but devine providence. As a result I started a small programme where I am supporting orphaned girls and boys who drop out of school to get back to school and reach their maximum potential. I have two girls in colledge, one girl in boarding, one boy in weekly boarding and and two in day school. when life becomes really hard, I look at areas of my life to cut down expences such as cut my hair, walk instead of driving. These children are happy, I tell them some parents died some are still alive and I am one of the parents available to you. Other friends have come in to support me no child has been turned back without support in my neighbourhood. I have also mobilized their guardians to train them in skills. One community member has offered a place where we are processing leather using vegetation, tailoring and planning to add basket making for the very elderly grandparents. It is so fulfilling to be part of the team in making the world a better place to live in. Belita Njobvu Phiri, Chipata, Zambia
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