Tag Archives: What lit your flame?

Maria Horkan (Former Step Into the Gap volunteer)

I can easily pinpoint what lit my CAFOD Flame – it was attending the Harambe festivals at Ushaw Collage in Durham when I was young.  I used to really love these family days and it was great to learn about CAFOD from an early age and meet CAFOD workers and partners. I particularly enjoyed the sponsored Fun runs!

The CAFOD-organised visit of the Millennium Stars, a Liberian football team, to the North East in 1998 played an unpredictably large part in my CAFOD story. Little did I know, aged 12, that when chatting to the players during a celebration night in Middlesbrough, I would coincidentally meet the team again over 10 years later whilst on the CAFOD Gap Year programme in Liberia! For me this was an incredible yet very real example of the connections formed by CAFOD between communities and individuals across the globe.

The year I spent on the Step into the Gap programme opened my eyes to the behind-the-scenes work of CAFOD in the UK and in the wonderful country of Liberia. It was fantastic to share these experiences with the young people of the north east during Youth Ministry Team retreats and missions. For me, by being involved with CAFOD I have made friendships both at home and abroad and I am certain that the link of CAFOD will continue to play an influential role in my life.

A massive thank you to all the CAFOD team whose work makes such lasting impressions on so many people.

As we mark our 50th anniversary at CAFOD, it is time to reflect. 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. http://www.cafod.org.uk/whatlityourflame

Ben Wethered (Media Team volunteer)

Last year a Red-Nose Day documentary went out in which British celebrities spent time living in harsh poverty with locals in Kibera, a slum in Nairobi, Kenya.

The documentary told the inside and personal stories of the sex-trade, HIV and a family of orphans.

The fact that the privileged were actually putting themselves in the shoes of those living in this poverty made the documentary very powerful, and one imagined oneself doing the same.

The close bonds they came to share with the locals were a reminder that we are all the same; the images and stories of desperate poverty, a reminder that despite being the same, some have everything, some nothing.

Sitting in my privileged position I was hugely moved. More than anything, I felt a huge sense of injustice on behalf of those living in Kibera, and guilt that I could go about my everyday affairs in such comfort while good people unfairly suffer.

The documentary was a graphic and unforgiving portrayal of injustice, and stirred inside me a will to help change what is so blatantly not fair.

As we mark our 50th anniversary at CAFOD, it is time to reflect. 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. http://www.cafod.org.uk/whatlityourflame

(Julie Robinson-Joyce, Bradford) I was reading an article in the paper about Make History Poverty and it said ‘just do one thing’ and I thought surely I could do one thing – so I started getting people to sign the postcards, and that led to fundraising, and more campaigning.

(Anne Riddoch CAFOD Volunteer, Arundel & Brighton) I spent 11 years living in Malawi where I saw the large gap between expatriates and local people, but I was a member of Justice and Peace group. Since return to UK in 1971, the flame still burns.

 (Anne Trotter, Bingley) A friend and fellow teacher went to the Philippines and El Salvador with CAFOD many years ago. I was inspired by her passion and dedication for justice and peace in the world. Also, Oscar Romero’s words and story are inspirational.

(Patricia Deacon, London) For me, it was listening to an inspiring talk from one of the CAFOD organisers. She speaks each year and is so articulate and touches many consciences.

(Robert Nunn, Ruislip) After the 1984 news report by Michael Buerk on Ethiopia, I saw people dying in front of my eyes. I joined a Justice & Peace Group and we sold 40 Band Aid records and the next year I ran the 6k run to raise money for the Third World. It became a lifelong commitment for me.

(Susan Golden Bridgwater): As a young mother, I saw a dying baby (starving) and her mother, and I was devastated not to be able to help.

(Kathy Webb, Our Lady of Kirkstall, Leeds) I was visiting my daughter who was working with the Voluntary Service Overseas in rural Malawi. One day, I met a roadmender boiling “Irish potatoes” on a fire at the side of a road. He offered to share them with me. He, who had so little, was so generous and I felt ashamed at my lack of generosity