‘Giving in Unity’: The beautiful gift of charity
Join us at Romero House from 15th-25th June for a brand new art exhibition entitled ‘Giving in Unity’. Read about why we are so excited to be hosting this event and hear from one of the artists about what her art means to her and why she wanted to fundraise for CAFOD.
Pope Francis once called charity ‘a very beautiful gift’, a spiritual beauty at work in the hearts and souls of those living a life of true Christian charity. This June CAFOD hopes to prove that charity can be physically beautiful too by hosting an exciting new art exhibition in our very own Romero House.
An amazing group of seven young emerging artists are going to be providing works, each in their own unique style, exploring the theme of ‘Giving in Unity’.
For the full list of the artists or to let your community know about this exciting event, download our printable poster/leaflet here:
How do I visit the exhibition?
‘Giving in Unity’ will run from 15th-25th June in CAFOD’s Head Office at Romero House in London. There will be special viewing events with drinks, nibbles and the chance to meet some of the artists on the following dates:
- Thursday 15th June, 17:00-20:00
- Tuesday 20th June, 17:00-20:00
- Sunday 25th June, 11:00-16:00
Entry to the exhibition will be free but all of the art on display will be available for purchase with one hundred percent of the proceeds going to support CAFOD’s work with some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable communities.
You can use the link below to donate to the exhibition as well!
Art that changes lives
The project has been spear-headed by Luisa Rodriguez, a young Honduran artist, who has experience using her art for good when, in the wake of the devastating hurricanes that swept through Honduras in November 2020, she raised nearly £2,000 for CAFOD’s emergency response work.
Hear Luisa’s story and listen to this inspiring artist talk about her own experiences, her art and why she wanted to use it to raise money for CAFOD’s work in this short video:
Giving in Unity
CAFOD’s work overseas and with our partners is only possible because of the generosity of our supporters in the UK, so giving is at the heart of everything that we do. Every family, every society, our whole world centres around reciprocal relationships of trust in giving and receiving. When one group starts taking more than they give, those bonds of trust are broken and, inevitably, it is the poorest that are made to suffer.
Salina is an organic farmer in Bangladesh who got trapped into a system of dependence by large seed corporations. When the seeds she had been made to buy turned out to be of poor quality, she was forced to buy chemical fertilisers from the same corporations to keep her crop alive, plunging her family into financial crisis and forcing them to borrow money from neighbours and food from relatives just to survive. “I felt ashamed”, Selina told us.
When whole communities are trapped into the same system, these problems are exacerbated as families can no longer afford to lend food or resources to struggling neighbours and if a flood strikes and wipes out a harvest, there are no other crops for these communities to fall back on.
The system was broken precisely because a community built on reciprocal giving was replaced by large corporations taking everything, leaving small farmers with little to support themselves, let alone others in their community.
But thanks to organisations like CAFOD’s partner UBINIG, Salina and other local farming families now have access to a seed centre where native seeds are stored for them to use and swap with their own, allowing whole communities to work together in an ethos of trust and shared giving that benefits all. The seeds do not require fertilisers and their variety ensures local biodiversity which is in turn good for the soil, preserving the fertility of the land for future generations.
Such a simple act of giving that has transformed a whole community and will continue to for generations.
This is what ‘Giving in Unity’ means to CAFOD. It means neighbour helping neighbour, whether they live next door or continents away. It means hope for a better world than the one of greed that we so often build for ourselves.