How volunteering helped me work for CAFOD

May 25, 2016

Liam Finn is our UK News Officer and volunteered for CAFOD before working for us. Here, he talks about the opportunities he gained as a volunteer and how it helped him to start working with CAFOD full-time.

Liam worked as a communications volunteer for CAFOD
Liam worked as a communications volunteer for CAFOD

I began volunteering for CAFOD in 2013 after graduating from university, working in a diocesan office as a communications volunteer.

I’d been a CAFOD supporter since I was in primary school, so it was great to be directly involved in our work. I decided a few years ago that I wanted to work in the media as I believe that providing information and telling stories is the best way I can help to bring about change in the world. But I had the same problem so many people face when starting their careers: applying for jobs, going to interviews, and being told “you don’t have enough experience”.

Volunteer with CAFOD

This is why I’ll gladly admit that a big motivation for volunteering was so that I could gain that experience. Continue reading “How volunteering helped me work for CAFOD”

Why I volunteer: “we must care for each other and be good stewards”

May 24, 2016

Ahead of Volunteers’ Week, we asked a number of CAFOD volunteers to share why volunteering with CAFOD is important to them.  One volunteer, Trevor Stockton, has been an active volunteer for more that 40 years in the Birmingham diocese.  Here, he shares his inspiration for volunteering and tips for those wanting to get involved. 

My volunteer work with CAFOD has been an important part of my life, especially my spiritual life, since the early 1970s. I was inspired by Pope Paul’s encyclical ‘Populorum Progressio’ and by Dom Helder Camara and his work in Brazil.

My whole working career was in social work and so my commitment to people who are disadvantaged was already active. So, parish involvement in Lent and Harvest Fast Days, and campaigns such as that against apartheid in South Africa were my starting points with CAFOD.

Find your starting point for volunteering with CAFOD

Continue reading “Why I volunteer: “we must care for each other and be good stewards””

Hands On: Water returns to Kitui

May 20, 2016

Africa-Kitui-Hands-On-community-wavingAbout this project: The community of Kitui in Kenya have spent two years working on a project to re-sculpt their landscape and bring back a sustainable supply of water. This has all been possible thanks to generous supporters in the UK. Our next project is beginning soon – find out more and get involved.

Over the last two years we have planted trees, dug terraces, built dams and learned everything necessary to bring safe water back to the Kitui community.

People’s lives will now be transformed – so many opportunities will open up now that people here don’t have to walk for many miles each day just to have enough to drink. Continue reading “Hands On: Water returns to Kitui”

Lampedusa cross: We are all migrants

May 20, 2016

Lampedusa cross CAFOD pilgrimage
Starting the Lampedusa cross pilgrimage

Sarah Hagger-Holt works in CAFOD’s campaigns team.

Every migrant or refugee’s journey begins with ‘what if?’s.

What if I never make it? What if I’m turned back? What if I never see my home or my family again? What if where I’m going is worse than where I’ve come from?

Yet, it is not just other people who are migrants, travellers, makers of journeys. We all have our own significant journeys, and our own stories of displacement, change or transition.

Send your own message of hope to refugees

Last week, I spent the day with a group reflecting on Laudato Si’ and on our response. We began by sharing our own stories of journeys made and new turns taken.

Several people spoke of leaving home and family in their teens or early twenties to live and work overseas, of becoming adults in countries they knew little about, and dealing with situations for which they were totally unprepared. Continue reading “Lampedusa cross: We are all migrants”

CAFOD: Lampedusa cross carpenter’s message of hope

May 19, 2016

Lampedusa crosses made by Francisco Tuccio
Lampedusa crosses made by Francisco Tuccio

Sicilian carpenter Francesco Tuccio makes rough crosses from the wreckage of boats carrying refugees that sank off the island of Lampedusa to offer to survivors as a symbol of their rescue and a sign of hope. Here, Francesco explains what motivated him to act.

In 2009, refugees started landing on the coast of Lampedusa. We, as residents, got to know the people, the victims and their families. I felt angry that no one was caring about so many tragedies and losses. It was a real injustice.

We were on the front line to help: to welcome refugees, feed them and treat them with respect. I got the impression that for the media they were second-class citizens not worth of attention, not even worth being mentioned in the papers.

I had never witnessed so much suffering in all my life. To see people going through so much pain, seeing mothers losing their children or a husband was very hard. It is difficult to describe how I felt when faced with so many tragedies.

So, as a Catholic inspired by the suffering Jesus Christ went through on the cross, I wanted to create crosses to give hope and a better future to those who were suffering so much. This action has been appreciated by so many people.

Send your own message of hope, inspired by the Lampedusa cross

Continue reading “CAFOD: Lampedusa cross carpenter’s message of hope”

Young People in Southwark use CAFOD pilgrimage and write messages of hope for refugees

May 18, 2016

Bethan with a Lampedusa cross and action card at St. Vincent’s, Whitstable
Bethan with a Lampedusa cross and action card at St. Vincent’s, Whitstable

CAFOD ambassador Bethan is based with Southwark Catholic Youth Service.

I was at St. George’s Cathedral recently, working with young people making their Confirmation and I heard a talk from Laura at CAFOD, about her personal experience of the refugee crisis. She spoke about her visit to Lesbos and we were introduced to a new prayer resource inspired by a carpenter who has created crosses from a boat that capsized carrying hundreds of refugees, near a place called Lampedusa. These crosses were given to the survivors from the boat as a symbol and sign of hope.

Learn about CAFOD’s Lampedusa cross

We’ve recently led sessions with young people getting them to use their imagination to put themselves in the perspective of a refugee and we’ve been using a Lampedusa cross and the new CAFOD refugee pilgrimage to help young people pray for those in so much need of hope. Our groups have responded so well to writing messages of hope and welcome to refugees. Continue reading “Young People in Southwark use CAFOD pilgrimage and write messages of hope for refugees”

Walsingham pilgrims pray for refugees with CAFOD’s Lampedusa cross

May 16, 2016

CAFOD volunteer Kris Pears from Coventry went on a pilgrimage to Walsingham and spoke to fellow pilgrims about the Lampedusa cross

Kris Pears took the Lampedusa cross on a pilgrimage to Walsingham
Kris Pears took the Lampedusa cross on a pilgrimage to Walsingham

“Hello my name is Kris and I am a CAFOD volunteer”, an opening line that I have used many times in the past, but this time it was very different.

Pentecost Sunday 2016 was the third and final day of the weekend pilgrimage to Walsingham by my parish, St Thomas More’s. The day before I had been privileged to serve Mass for Bishop Robert Byrne at the climax of the Archdiocese of Birmingham’s Diocesan day pilgrimage to the shrine. This morning the crowds had gone and as we left Elmham house to walk the pilgrims’ mile down to the shrine.

A few minutes before the group of 50 of us set out I had briefly explained to the Coventry group and our fellow pilgrims from Liverpool about the Lampedusa cross. Now I carried it at the font of our group as we walked the path between the fields from the village. Continue reading “Walsingham pilgrims pray for refugees with CAFOD’s Lampedusa cross”

Refugee crisis: A message from Lebanon

May 15, 2016

Mark Chamberlain is a communications officer with CAFOD. He spent time with refugees in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley in December 2015. On International Families Day, he writes about meeting some of the families there.

Razir is a 40-year-old mother of five. It was just after 11 in the morning when I visited her tent.

She offered for me to sit down on the only blanket the family had. I declined, blew into my hands to keep them warm and chose the bare floor instead. It was like sitting on ice.

Send a message of hope to refugees today Continue reading “Refugee crisis: A message from Lebanon”

Discovering the Joy of Love

May 14, 2016

Rachel McCarthy works in CAFOD’s Theology Programme. She reflects on how our faith calls us to show mercy to the children, women and men searching for peace and refuge.

Love is a gift of God

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“Love never gives up, even in the darkest hour” Pope Francis, Amoris Laetitia #118

I am blessed to know what love is. From the example of my parents and my grandparents, I know that love for another person is a self-sacrificial gift, a sharing in each other’s joys and sorrows, one that is ever willing to heal wounds and bring new life.

Reading Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, (the Joy of Love), the words leapt out at me, reminding me of this living stream of our faith. For love “trusts, it sets free”. Love “never gives up, even in the darkest hour”. Love “opens our eyes and enables us to see, beyond all else, the great worth of a human being”. Love “is always a gift of God”.

Based on biblical teaching and the experiences of the faithful worldwide, Amoris Laetitia reflects on the meaning of love and boldly addresses the complex issues which prevent human flourishing. It teaches us how to be loving in our relationships with our own families, but also inspires us to look outwards and to foster an attitude of global solidarity.

Pray for refugees 

Continue reading “Discovering the Joy of Love”

Hope and grief in Nepal one year after the earthquake

May 13, 2016

Chris Bain, CAFOD Director, writes about his recent visit to Rasuwa district in Nepal one year on from two devastating earthquakes. Watch a short video of Chris in Nepal and read about some of the families who are rebuilding their lives thanks to donations from CAFOD supporters and the tireless work of our partners.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb54G9klxnw]

Just over a year ago, a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal north of Kathmandu. A few weeks later, on 12 May, another 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck in the northeast of the country. Nearly 9,000 people died, thousands more were injured, and 600,000 lost their homes and livelihoods. One year on, I travelled to Nepal to meet the communities that were affected, and see the work that CAFOD through our partners in Nepal have carried out to help people recover from this tragedy. It was my third visit to Nepal and I was saddened to see the impact of the disaster on the beautiful landscape and villages we passed.

Join CAFOD’s Emergency Response Team and support our work during emergencies

In Rasuwa, near the border with China, I met Kamala Thalea who lost her young son, two daughters and her mother when the earthquake struck. Kamala’s surviving daughter, Asmita aged 13, told me that she survived the earthquake because she was in a wooden section of their home, while her brother, sisters and grandmother were in a section of the house built of stone. Her hip was injured by falling rubble, but still she saved her two-year-old cousin who lay in the debris next door. Kamala was visiting her mother-in-law in a village three hours away, and arrived home the next day to a collapsed home and her lost children.

She said, “My family and old life are gone now, I only have my eldest daughter left with me.” Continue reading “Hope and grief in Nepal one year after the earthquake”