Author Archives: roisins

About roisins

Work at CAFOD, sing in Red Time, married to Jonny, sister to Declan, daughter to Sue and Tommy.
by | December 11, 2012 · 4:49 pm

“Why should people be going hungry when I sit at home every night eating a nice tea?”

Inspired by Potato Day, Michael Richards, 15, from Rhyl in North Wales, recently braved the elements with his friend, Amy Davies, to do a 10-mile coastal walk in aid of CAFOD.

When I first heard about CAFOD, I wasn’t very sure what it was about, Then I met Katja (CAFOD North Wales Manager) and she told me about an annual event held in Noddfa called ‘Potato day’. I went to my first Potato Day in 2011 and I enjoyed learning about how we as Christians can help the poor. We learnt about CAFOD’s campaigning for poorer countries’ need for fresh, clean water, and we learnt how to dowse, to find water. We also learnt that a lot of people die each day due to not having enough clean water to drink.

In the first year of actually being involved with CAFOD I didn’t do much fundraising. I think it was because I wasn’t ready to give to other people. However, when I went back to the Potato Day this year I thought to myself: ‘why should people be going hungry when I sit at home every night eating a nice tea?’ I thought: ‘I’m going to try my best to help the poor now and to spread CAFOD’s campaign, ‘Hungry for change’ and the interesting facts we learnt about how our government is failing the poorer countries.’

Michael and the North Wales team hungry for change on their coastal walk

Michael and the North Wales team hungry for change on their coastal walk

So upon leaving this year’s Potato Day, me and Amy Davies got straight to thinking of ideas of how we can fundraise for the poorer countries. We decided on doing a 10-mile sponsored walk from Colwyn Bay to Rhyl, this was arranged, I think, for a month or two after Potato Day. We spoke in Mass in St Mary’s Church in Rhyl to let the Church goers know about our walk and what they can do to support CAFOD. On the 25th November we took to the challenge of walking the 10 mile stretch from Colwyn Bay to Rhyl along the coastal path. Along the way we met many other Christians from other areas, one from Wigan. By doing this walk for CAFOD, we let more people know about the amazing work it does and we raised £250.

We are currently thinking of more ideas on how to fundraise for CAFOD in the months to come.

Want to do something to highlight world hunger like Michael? Act now. Email the Prime Minister for a fairer food system: www.cafod.org.uk/hungry

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by | December 5, 2012 · 4:00 pm

Our daily bread

Bread is an important staple for many communities around the world. During our Hungry for change campaign, two of our partners talk about the important part bread plays in their lives, and the challenges they face when the price of ingredients goes up.

Teresinha Camargo da Silva runs a healthy eating project, called Bread and Art, as part of the work of CAFOD’s Brazil partner, MDF, to help families on low incomes make the most of their food.

Teresinha: Bread has rescued my life

Teresinha: ‘Bread has rescued my life’

“I remember going without food when I was a little girl. I was very poor. I remember that when I went to school, my family didn’t have any food to give me for lunch, just corn flour. I left school and started working when I was 12. I come from a region that had a lot of machismo and discrimination against women. Later, when I came to Sao Paulo, I worked and worked. I had no time to think of anything except how to earn enough money to buy food and have somewhere to live.

 ”That is why I started the Bread and Art project. I love making bread. 

“The price of ingredients has gone up a lot, just recently. It’s too much. In the papers, you can read how Brazil is growing, but the truth is that people are living in misery. The problem is that most of our customers are linked to the Church and they don’t have a lot of money.  

“With the Bread and Art project, I discovered that it wasn’t only about making bread. Inside this bread is a story, a story of the farm labourer who prepares the land, scatters the seeds and gathers the harvest to bring us flour. It is a story about dignity. There is a human being inside this bread. Bread is the essence of my life because it has rescued my life,” says Teresinha.

In Puentecitos, in El Salvador, CAFOD’s partner, JDS, works with a women’s bakery. Sibia Martínez is part of the group which makes large quantities of bread to sell.

“Last year, the ingredients for 100 rolls cost $5. This year they cost $7,” she explains. Of the ingredients they use, they grow rice, but the women have to buy wheat flour, milk, cinnamon, yeast and sugar. “We are overcoming the challenge of rising costs by making the rolls smaller!” says Sibia. 

They also make quesadilla, a type of cheese tortilla. Last year, 12 trays cost $8 to make, while this year, the cost has risen to $12. Despite the costs going up, Sibia says that they sell the quesadilla at the same price as before. “We do this in solidarity as everyone is poor and cannot afford it,” she says.

Sibia says the bakery gives credit to people, giving them 15 days to pay. It also accepts things in exchange if customers have no money. 

Bread-making has changed her life, says Sibia.  “It’s made a big change because for the first time we have some savings which we re- invest to buy ingredients to make our bread.”

Are you hungry for change? Take action by e-mailing David Cameron now http://www.cafod.org.uk/Campaign/Take-action-today/Hungry-for-change

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by | November 22, 2012 · 5:06 pm

Them and us: a ‘rich world, poor world meal’ at Loreto High School

Recently, five year 9 students in the Justice and Peace group at Loreto High School, Chorlton, organised a ‘Rich world, poor world’ meal. Ann Wilson from the CAFOD Salford office provided some ‘feed’ back…

The year 9 members of the Justice and Peace group at Loreto High School, Chorlton had heard CAFOD’s Harvest Fast Day story about the lack of food which faces our brothers and sisters around the world and decided to host a ‘Rich World, Poor World’ lunch.

The group sold tickets for 50p to 20 of the year 7s who came along to the classroom at lunchtime to see a table spread with a feast for lunch. As well as sandwiches and crisps, there were lots of other goodies and treats.

Looking forward to the 'rich world' goodies

Looking forward to the ‘rich world’ goodies

Other tables just had bread and water. There was a raffle to decide which five would represent the rich world and the five pulled out of the hat sat and ate the wonderful food, of which there was far too much, while the other 15 had bread and water. The year 9s explained to the group that, in the real world, about 20 per cent of the people possess 75 per cent of the resources, including food. At the end, the ‘rich’ decided that, instead of throwing away their unwanted food, (as happens in our world) they would share with the ‘poor’.Below are the comments from the group.

The rich people said:

I felt full and I didn’t feel sorry at the time. But, I felt glad that I had shared at the end.

I felt full but I felt sorry for the poor people and was glad I had shared.

I felt sorry for everyone but happy for myself.

I felt ashamed.

Uninspired by the 'poor world' lunch

Uninspired by the ‘poor world’ lunch

Those living in poverty said:

I was sad.

I was upset.

I was jealous.

I was angry.

I felt like dirt.

I felt like I was living on a different planet from them.

I felt angry at them.

I felt unwanted.

I felt the rich people were all being mean and selfish.

I felt poor. Grrrrrr……..

The head teacher, Mr Dillon, joined in as one pupil was absent and he got to eat from the rich table!

Mr Dillon enjoys tucking in with students

Mr Dillon enjoys tucking in with students

Want to do something to highlight world hunger like the students at Loreto? Act now. Email the Prime Minister for a fairer food system: www.cafod.org.uk/hungry

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by | November 13, 2012 · 10:37 am

From breakfast with the ambassador, to the last moments of an archbishop: El Salvador, day one

Pat, a Primary Advisor from Liverpool Archdiocese, Margaret, a retired Primary Advisor from Shrewsbury (now working in Faith development and doing some writing for CAFOD’s schools team) and our own Bridget Fenwick from the schools team are in El Salvador to experience CAFOD’s work and Romero’s legacy in that country. 

This is the second of Bridget’s blogs:

Day one – After a busy and interesting morning, concluding with lunch with the British Ambassador (!), we set off to the hospital where Archbishop Oscar Romero lived and was assassinated. This proved to be a salutary and emotional experience. We were fortunate that our colleague, Clare Dixon, had arranged for Jose to meet us there. Jose is a catechist in his home parish and also works for CAFOD’s partner, Tutela Legal, which, amongst its work, records and defends the human rights abuses of the civil war.

He was accompanied by his friend and fellow parishioner, Chito, both of whom had known Archbishop Romero, or ‘Monsenor’, as they fondly call him. Jose told us how Archbishop Romero gave him his First Communion and how his mother pushed him forward to shake the Archbishop’s hand! He added that it was the best day of his life meeting Romero. Chito told a story of how the Archbishop came to his parish and they had put on a huge spread for after the celebration. However, Romero refused to go into the room to eat as he wanted to stay with ‘his people’.

Romero's simple bedroom

Romero’s simple bedroom

We went first to the room where Romero had lived – a simple bedroom with a small desk in the corner, where he worked and wrote and prepared his sermons, and a small bathroom, complete with his shaving gear! Previous to this, Monsenor had lived in a tiny room behind the altar in the Chapel. The Sisters were not happy that their Archbishop should live in such a place, and so gave him this room as a birthday present! It was hardly luxury…Indeed, it is an example of a man who, the higher he rose in the hierarchy of the Church, the more humble he became, showing how deeply he understood and lived the ideal of servant-leadership which he saw in Jesus. We also saw the vestments which he was wearing when he was gunned down.

We then walked up to the hospital chapel where Archbishop Romero was celebrating the Eucharist when he met his death. Jose and Chito sang us a song about Romero as prophet, and spoke to us in detail about the

Romero's desk

Romero’s desk

day of the assassination. The day before, while celebrating Mass in the cathedral, Romero had appealed directly to the members of the military to stop the killing, telling them that they were killing their own brothers and sisters, and reminding them that they were not obliged to follow an order that contravened God’s law. Many believe that in saying this, Romero signed his own death warrant. As he lifted up the chalice of wine, soon to become the blood of Christ, shed for the world, a car drew up outside the chapel. From where he stood at the altar, Romero could see the glint of guns and must have realised that his hour had come. Shots rang out and Romero fell behind the altar, where he had been preparing to offer the sacrifice of the Mass, shedding his blood, laying down his life for his friends. This took place beneath the cross of the Master he had served so faithfully.

On this altar Monsenor Oscar A Romero offered his life to God for his people

On this altar Monsenor Oscar A Romero offered his life to God for his people

Romero had said that if he was killed, he would rise again in the Salvadoran people. Although we have only been here for one day, we can see that this is indeed true. Like the grain of wheat dying and falling into the soil, the death of ‘St Romero of the Americas’ continues to yield a rich harvest. And today, we were privileged to stand on truly holy ground.

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by | November 12, 2012 · 12:35 pm

Seeing the world with ‘new eyes’ – a visit to El Salvador

Bridget Fenwick, from CAFOD’s education section, brings us the first of her blogs from El Salvador.

Exhausted after almost 24 hours of travelling, we are now in Panama City Airport waiting for our last and final flight to San Salvador. We three intrepid travellers are on our way to meet colleague Clare Dixon in El Salvador and experience CAFOD’s work and Romero’s legacy in that country. 

“We are hoping to see the world with ‘new eyes’ to see it from the perspective of the poor and with an eye to the structural causes of poverty; he began to respond to the suffering of the poor with ‘eyes of compassion.’  Oscar Romero, Wright p.xiii

This is exactly what we hope to do in the next ten days.

Who are we?

Pat – I am a Primary Advisor from Liverpool Archdiocese.  I work for the Christian Education Department.

Margaret – I’m a retired Primary Advisor from Shrewsbury but ‘retired’ I am not. I’m working in faith development with adults in parish settings and doing some writing for CAFOD’s schools team.

Bridget – I’m in CAFOD’s schools team working with teachers, schools and volunteers to raise awareness of global justice in the developing world. I hope to bring you more of our experiences from El Salvador as and when they happen.

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