March 7, 2019
Willet Salue is CAFOD’s local expert in Liberia, she tells us about Krubah Weedor who has fought for herself and women in Liberia to inherit land. A success we can all celebrate on International Day of Women.
Continue reading “We celebrate the International Day of Women, with Krubah Weedor”March 6, 2019
Julia is in CAFOD’s Education team. Here she tells us why giving up plastic will be so difficult.
This lent I am challenging myself to give up buying single use plastic. You may have heard the term ‘single use plastic’ in the news recently. It means plastic that is used one time before being thrown away or put into the recycling bin.
Single use plastic is used in a lot of things for example straws, paper cups, water bottles, packaging, shampoo bottles, toothpaste tubes, make up products, medicines and plenty of other items. I use these items every day.
Still not sure what to give up for Lent? Take the CAFOD Lent quiz for inspiration!
Continue reading “Giving up plastic for Lent”March 5, 2019
Niamh Melton is a CAFOD Step into the Gap volunteer and is based at the Briars Centre, Nottingham. She recently returned from an overseas visit to Uganda. Here, she reflects on the experiences she had there.
Apply to Step into the Gap today
February 27, 2019
Joe, a volunteer from the CAFOD Birmingham team shares some inspiration from the St Osburg’s parish in Coventry on running a soup-erb lunch for Family Fast Day.
With Lent rapidly approaching, our thoughts will be turning to what we might give up, but, even more importantly, how we and our communities might give. Well, if we’re looking for inspiration, the people of St Osburg’s parish in Coventry provide a wonderful example.
Continue reading “Soup-er lunches for Lent”February 12, 2019
Our friends at The Climate Coalition discuss love and climate change for Valentine’s Day. CAFOD joins the Show the Love campaign every Valentine’s Day to start conversations about how the things we love are affected by climate change.
As we approach February the 14th, The Climate Coalition’s annual Show The Love weeks, now is the perfect time to ask ourselves: What does it mean to love?
Share green hearts on Valentine’s Day
Continue reading “Why is Valentine’s Day the perfect day to talk about climate change?”
February 7, 2019
Sarah Croft works in CAFOD’s campaigns team. This week, she’s challenged herself to talk to five new people about climate change. Why?
Last week I was shocked to learn that women my age are the group least likely to talk about climate change, even though they are the most concerned about the issue.
We are not alone in our reluctance to talk. Two out of three people have never had a conversation about climate change – ever.
CAFOD campaigns on climate change, so I am unusual in that I spend most of my working day thinking and talking about it to colleagues.
But despite this, when I leave the office and head out to have drinks with friends or to see family, I rarely bring the topic up.
Find resources to help you start conversations about climate change this Valentine’s Day
Continue reading “Five ways to start a conversation about climate change”
January 24, 2019
Bernard is a CAFOD Volunteer and Campaigns Coordinator in the Plymouth diocese. He recently visited the COP24 summit in Katowice, Poland alongside CAFOD staff and supporters.
We’re asking the Prime Minister to commit to net zero emissions by 2045: Sign the petition
December 12, 2018
Rachel works for CAFOD. Here she reflects on how meeting Katy, a CAFOD Gapper, helped her to discover the power of a simple birth certificate, and inspired her to create a new, very special virtual gift for CAFOD’s World Gifts collection that will help babies and children around the world.
A birth certificate. Every person needs one, it shows our citizenship, lets us get a passport – it tells the world who we are. And I think that here in the UK, we take this simple legal document for granted.
But for people living in poverty, perhaps in rural areas, where babies are born at home, it is often forgotten. And a child without a birth certificate faces problems.
In Zimbabwe, children without a birth certificate cannot go to school, take exams, apply for an ID card, vote, travel, nor access many other basic essential services.
You can buy a Birth certificate World Gift so that a child can go to school
I’ve worked in fundraising for years and am always eager to hear about how donations help. Katy, who recently travelled to Zimbabwe on a gap year trip with CAFOD, told me about the terrible and long-lasting impact of growing up without a birth certificate.
Katy said, “Children around the world continue to grow up without the basic human right of an identity.”
This startling comment gripped me.
Continue reading “The power of a Birth certificate – a World Gifts update”
December 10, 2018
Today is International Human Rights Day. Esther Gillingham, CAFOD’S Brazil Programme Officer explains how CAFOD’s partner, Justice on the Railway Tracks is empowering human rights defenders and changing lives in Brazil.
CAFOD are very proud to share the news that our Brazilian partner, Justice on the Railway Tracks was presented with the first ever Human Rights and Business Foundation Award presented at the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva on 27th November 2018.
They received the award for their work defending poor communities from the impacts of human rights and environmental abuses by mining companies in the Amazonian state of Maranhao in north-eastern Brazil.
This work included a 13-year long legal struggle which resulted in the landmark resettlement of the Piquia de Baixo community who have been adversely affected by a huge steel plant built right next to their community in the 1980s.
Support our human rights work in Brazil
Continue reading “Celebrating Human Rights Defenders in Brazil”
December 5, 2018
Oge Chukwudozie is a Humanitarian Capacity Strengthening Officer for CAFOD in Nigeria. Oge explains how community volunteers play such a vital role in CAFOD’s work to support remote communities.
As the most populous country on the continent, Nigeria is often referred to as the “Giant of Africa”. It is also large geographically, and transport links are poor in the more rural areas. It takes six hours for CAFOD staff to travel by road from Abuja to Omalla in Kogi state, and this is one of the closest areas where we work.
Community volunteers, supported by CAFOD and its partners, play an important role in supporting remote communities across Nigeria. This International Volunteers Day, on December 5th, I want to celebrate the important role that volunteers play in CAFOD’s work across the world, by sharing the stories of some of the wonderful volunteers in Nigeria.
Continue reading “Celebrating International Volunteers Day with volunteer stories from Nigeria”
