Virgin London Marathon 2016: Team CPL Aromas running for CAFOD!

April 6, 2016

Bright and early on the morning of Sunday, 24 April, eight runners from CAFOD corporate supporter CPL Aromas will be making their way to the start line of the 2016 Virgin London Marathon. Here three members of Team CPL tell us about the highs and lows of training, along with their motivations for taking on this huge challenge.

Chris Pickthall, Group CEO, CPL Aromas:

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Chris has completed 14 marathons and visited CAFOD projects in Kenya and Sudan

“When I heard that CAFOD had spaces for the London Marathon, we put a note on the CPL intranet asking if anyone would like to take part. Much to my surprise, we now have eight runners!

Sponsor Team CPL and support CAFOD’s work with vulnerable communities

Back in January, I completed the Dubai marathon. I’ve done 14 marathons and this was the most difficult. I found it really tough. We were running up and down one long road, which gets a bit monotonous. The atmosphere at the London Marathon is sensational and I am really looking forward to it.

Continue reading “Virgin London Marathon 2016: Team CPL Aromas running for CAFOD!”

Running for water: Unexpected challenges

April 5, 2016

Damian Conlin, from our fundraising team, took on a new challenge this Lent, one that mirrors the challenge faced by thousands of young girls around the world. With Lent over, he reflects on some of the difficulties he expected to face, and others that surprised him.

CAFOD Lent Appeal Damian at the river for his Lent challenge
Damian at the river he ran to every week in Lent

I’ve (just about) been keeping up with my Lent challenge of running to water once a week.

For the most part, the experience has been what I expected. That is, I knew I’d find it difficult. I’ve always enjoyed sports and still do exercise, but running has never really been my thing. 5km is not a particularly long way, but my body has always made it pretty clear it considers itself to have been built for running distances of 50-60 metres tops.

There is still time to donate to CAFOD’s Lent appeal and help change lives

So there’s been lots of wheezing and knee creaking. Observers would be forgiven for thinking my Lent challenge has been to perfect my impression of a man running backwards. But there have also been a couple of things I did not expect.

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Rediscovering Mercy: an invitation to connect faith and mercy

April 3, 2016

Catherine Gorman works in CAFOD’s Theology Programme. On Divine Mercy Sunday she reflects on how we can “be merciful as our Father is merciful”.

CAFOD Syrian refugee father and child
A father warms his child after arriving on the beach in Greece.

Throughout this Year of Mercy, but perhaps particularly today on Divine Mercy Sunday, we are called to “be merciful as our Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). For Archbishop Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation, this call “serves as an invitation to follow the merciful example of the Father who asks us not to judge or condemn, but to forgive and to give love and forgiveness without measure.”

This is a real challenge. Personally, I find that it is so much easier to hold a grudge, to judge others, to close myself off, rather than to open myself up, to let go and forgive. How can I possibly try to emulate the mercy of God in my interactions with others?

Download our Rediscovering Mercy resource>>

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CAFOD Lent challenges: What we learned and what we’ll remember

March 31, 2016

Mariacristina Lubrano from our digital team tells us about her colleagues who have taken up some really exciting challenges this Lent.

CAFOD staff ready for Lent challenges
CAFOD staff at the beginning of our challenges

Back in February, right at the beginning of Lent, I shared my excitement about the number of extraordinary challenges that some of my colleagues had set themselves.

Some decided to fundraise for the CAFOD Lent appeal, seizing the amazing opportunity to double their impact with match funding.

Others chose to reflect personally and raise awareness in solidarity with people who struggle to get clean water. As I heard each idea, I was touched by their commitment and willingness to push themselves.

Continue reading “CAFOD Lent challenges: What we learned and what we’ll remember”

Lenten works of mercy: Love and mercy in action

March 25, 2016

Our final Friday blog on Lenten works of mercy is from schools volunteer Penny Morse.

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Guti (far left) and her friends collecting safe clean water from a local pump in Uganda.

During Lent I have been visiting  primary schools in the Clifton diocese, meeting children and sharing stories from Uganda in assemblies and workshops. In this Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, Pope Francis e invites us to be living signs of Jesus’ love. This Lent I’ve really seen these living signs of love and mercy lived out through children’s actions.

Support CAFOD’s Lent water appeal

Here’s a flavour of what I’ve observed these past few weeks.

Continue reading “Lenten works of mercy: Love and mercy in action”

Elly’s Lent challenge: Swimming the length of the English channel!

March 23, 2016

CAFOD’s Eleanor Heans-Glogowska set herself the challenge of swimming the length of the English Channel over the course of the 40 days of Lent.

CAFOD Lent Elly swimming the length of the English channel
Elly is swimming the length of the English channel this Lent!

This Lent I set myself the challenge of swimming 22 miles – the length of the English Channel.

Good Friday is approaching and I can almost see the French coast appearing on the horizon! I’ve now got just 300 lengths left of my Lent Channel Challenge.

Support CAFOD’s Lent Appeal

I decided to attempt a Channel swim (although admittedly it was in my local swimming pool rather than the cold waters of the Channel) in solidarity with girls like Proscovia, who have to walk two to four hours just to get the water they need.

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Connect2: El Salvador: Renovating the Chapel in Puentecitos

March 17, 2016

chapel

In 2014  Fidel and Julia shared how the Connect2: El Salvador  community were starting to  renovate their chapel.  Since then, lots of work has taken place, and the chapel in Puentecitos looks very different now.  It is built of brick, rather than clay, which means it should be more resistant to earthquake damage, and it is also a lot bigger.  Fidel says: “We got the walls and roof on in about five months. We had some help to buy some of the materials, and the rest we raised ourselves by holding raffles and other fundraising activities.”

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Fidel outside the renovated chapel

There is still some work to be done: the floor is unfinished, and there is a bit of electrical wiring to finish too, but Fidel says, these are “finishing touches”.  They also plan to put a tabernacle on a shelf behind the altar and display the mementoes that Connect2 parishes have sent them.

The community are now working to keep it clean and to cover the cost of water and electricity bills.  On the wall of the chapel there is a rota for the year, sharing out these responsibilities amongst all the different families. Continue reading “Connect2: El Salvador: Renovating the Chapel in Puentecitos”

Father Rob’s water challenge: four years later

March 17, 2016

Father Rob starts his water challengeFather Rob Esdaile is parish priest of Our Lady of Lourdes, Thames Ditton, Surrey. For our Lent 2012 Appeal he raised over £2,000 by living on ten litres of water a day for a week. Here is his update on how the challenge went, and how the experience changed him.

Our Lent Appeal aims to bring clean water to people living in poverty. Donate here

Four years ago…

Back in 2012, when talking to members of the parish Justice & Peace group someone produced details of a leaflet inviting CAFOD supporters to live for 24 hours on 10 litres of water, which is all that many people in developing countries have access to for all their needs. Continue reading “Father Rob’s water challenge: four years later”

Hands On Kitui: Into the final weeks

March 16, 2016

As we enter the last few weeks of our project, everywhere we look we are greeted by signs of transformation. Our dam and wells are filling, people’s gardens and our community farm are starting to produce harvests, and the landscape is so much greener than just two years ago.

Continue reading “Hands On Kitui: Into the final weeks”

Lent 2016: Surviving a cold-water weekend

March 15, 2016

 

Proscovia
Proscovia washes her hands in clean water (Credit: David Mutua)

CAFOD’s Mark Chamberlain gave up hot water, heat, light and hot food for a week during Lent. Here he writes about some things he learned after a weekend without the basics.

So, I survived a weekend of no hot water and other things I would normally consider essential (heat, light, warmth). I say ‘survived’, what I’ve found is that despite being very difficult, this challenge is really teaching me things about my life choices. And I’m also starting to understand a minuscule amount of what things might be like for some women and men around the world who have to face the effects of water poverty every day.

You can sponsor Mark on his JustGiving page

Continue reading “Lent 2016: Surviving a cold-water weekend”