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Learning about climate in class

May 4, 2016

Katie Thilthorpe works in the CAFOD Schools Team. She recently received a batch of letters and work from children in XII Apostles Primary School in Lancashire who have been exploring life in El Salvador.

Letter-to-El-Salvador — Letters to El Salvador

“After I saw your beautiful landscape I wished I could live in El Salvador but the only thing that makes me sad is the water pollution. That’s why we are raising money for your country and right now we have £500. When we raise enough we will send it to CAFOD and they will send it to you. I hope that you will have nice clean water and I hope to see you and the Sierra Madre mountains one day.” Olivia, Year 4.

Since its release in 2015 primary schools across England and Wales have been using CAFOD’s El Salvador geography photo pack, including XII Apostles Primary School in Lancashire. All the children in the school aged 7-11 have been using the resources, and in March the pupils wrote letters to the four children featured in the pack. The school kindly sent some of the letters to us and I was lucky enough to read them.

Order your free copy of the El Salvador Education Pack

The El Salvador pack, which can be ordered or downloaded online, includes a country map, information sheets, photo cards and links to brilliant online films, which bring the stories and themes from the pack to life. Continue reading “Learning about climate in class”

Parish energy audit winners: Small changes make a big difference

April 30, 2016

Last year, St Thomas More parish in Coventry won CAFOD’s energy audit competition. This offered one parish the chance to receive a free cost-cutting and carbon-cutting energy audit from energy experts B:SSEC. Six months later, parishioner Kris Pears reports back on what difference the audit has made.

CAFOD St Thomas More energy audit winners — Parishioners from St Thomas More now have a clear idea of the energy-saving changes they can make.

When we heard we’d won the competition, we were delighted. It couldn’t have come at a better time. I’m not sure the church has had any insulation since it was built in 1968 and the heating system is so ancient and inefficient with air blowers you can’t hear Mass sometimes at all.

I hoped that the audit would give us a clear idea what work needed to be done and the best options for the amount we had to spend. The report came back full of ideas for changes we could make.

At the moment, we can’t afford any big capital outlay, but there are plenty of smaller items in the report. Although these are minor improvements, added together they will make a reasonable difference.

Continue reading “Parish energy audit winners: Small changes make a big difference”

CAFOD campaigns: The accidental MP correspondent

April 29, 2016

Gillie Drinkall has been volunteering with CAFOD for nine years. About two years ago she started writing to her MP about CAFOD campaigns. Back then she joined a group of CAFOD supporters visiting parliament, and heard from Nick Hurd MP about the impact of our campaigning. Here she tells us that story.

I first joined CAFOD as an Education Volunteer. That decision was based as much on proximity to CAFOD’s headquarters as any spiritual calling. But, within weeks of me joining, CAFOD had moved from Brixton, near my home, slightly further afield to Romero House. Furthermore, as an Education Volunteer I found myself, unsurprisingly, in schools rather than the office.

Seven hugely enjoyable years later, I now, in addition to the schools volunteering, spend one day a week helping the Campaigns Team at Romero House. It was here that, slightly inadvertently, I became an MP Correspondent (MPC).

Find out how you could become an MP Correspondent

My first letter to my MP

I was asked to draft a letter about the World Humanitarian Summit for MP Correpondents to use. Having written the letter, I decided that I should actually send it to my MP and call myself an MPC too!

That was how, this week, I found myself attending the MP Correspondents’ annual parliamentary reception at the House of Commons. Here I heard first-hand why my action was, and continues to be, important. Continue reading “CAFOD campaigns: The accidental MP correspondent”

Nepal earthquakes: rebuilding lives and homes one year on

April 22, 2016

Janet Crossley is CAFOD’s Emergency Programme Manager for Nepal. One year on from the devastating earthquakes which struck Nepal in April and May 2015 watch Janet’s short video from Nepal and read how the generosity of supporters has helped our partners reach the people who were most affected.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wt0jndoVuY?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

When I arrived in the village of Bungkot in Gorkha district, piles of rubble still filled spaces where houses once stood. Grass and crops had already started to grow out of the heaps of stone and dust that families once called home.

Please pray for the people of Nepal

I first visited Gorkha district in western Nepal three months after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck on Saturday 25 April. It devastated the lives of more than 5 million people, killing over 8,700, and reducing more than half a million homes to rubble. A second earthquake caused further destruction when it hit three weeks later on 12 May.

Continue reading “Nepal earthquakes: rebuilding lives and homes one year on”

As Pope Francis visits Lesbos, refugee and displacement crises are not going to go away

April 15, 2016

Matthew Carter is CAFOD’s Humanitarian Director. On the eve of the Pope’s visit to Lesbos, Greece, he shares his concerns about the refugee agreement the EU recently signed with Turkey.

Waleed and son — Waleed and his four-year-old son reached safety in Lesbos

Waleed, his wife and 4-year-old son borrowed money to make the journey. The short sea crossing cost them $1,850 and they shared their journey with 70 other people. Half way through, the boat started to rock very dangerously in the sea. Everyone was crying. They were picked up by the Greek police who rescued them and took them to Lesbos where they were staying at the Caritas Greece run accommodation centre before continuing their onward journey to Western Europe.

This is Waleed’s story, but you will have seen, read and heard many just like his. In 2015, more than 850,000 people made the perilous journey across the water from Turkey to Greece. Waleed and thousands more were fleeing the brutal conflict in Syria. In the UK, images of dramatic boat rescues and life-jacket littered beaches filled our screens, accompanied by huge outpourings of compassion and generosity.

Please donate to our Refugee Crisis Appeal

But over the past few months we have seen attitudes harden and borders slam shut. Today, more than 51,000 people are stranded in Greece, staying in hastily built camps across the country, unable to continue their journey along the ‘Balkan route’. Over 13,000 refugees are stranded on the Greek-Macedonian border at Idomeni, living in dire conditions on a muddy wasteland, their route to northern Europe now closed.

Pope Francis’ visit

On Saturday 16 April, Pope Francis will travel to the Greek island of Lesbos. He will meet with refugees and migrants who have made the same treacherous sea journey as Waleed and his family.

Continue reading “As Pope Francis visits Lesbos, refugee and displacement crises are not going to go away”

My Lent Challenge: Going ‘tea’-total!

April 7, 2016

Tom, from CAFOD’s fundraising team, challenged himself to give up hot drinks for Lent. He tells us how he got on, and reflects on how the generosity of CAFOD supporters in the UK is helping people like those he met in Kenya.

CAFOD's Tom has his first cup of tea since the start of Lent — First brew and a slice of brack – Happy Easter!

This Lent, I took on a challenge very different to my usual no-sweet-things observance. In line with CAFOD’s aqua themed fundraising appeal, I decided to take up a water challenge and drink no hot drinks for 40 days and 40 nights.

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

For some people this would be fairly straight forward. But I come from a long line of tea drinkers and would usually have at least 3 cups a day. A visit to my Nan’s is synonymous with having a brew, and if you were to turn one down you’d immediately be confronted with a “What’s wrong?!”

Continue reading “My Lent Challenge: Going ‘tea’-total!”

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:

Chris-Pickthall-marathon-running-800x800 — 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.

Continue reading “Running for water: Unexpected challenges”

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>>

Continue reading “Rediscovering Mercy: an invitation to connect faith and mercy”

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”