March 12, 2015
Stella, Sabeth, Kisilu and Juliet are here to show you the work they’ve been doing to build a dam, and why this project is going to make such a difference to them in our video.
A new Hands On project is starting soon – check out the plans for Niger and get involved!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbkxvej0CU8&w=560&h=315]
March 12, 2015
15 March sees the Syria crisis enter its fourth year. As the crisis continues to deepen, and the human suffering is greater than ever before, we would like to introduce you to two families who have been affected by the conflict in Syria. With money raised by CAFOD supporters across England and Wales our partner, Caritas Lebanon, is able to support Syrian refugees fleeing the conflict to Lebanon, with vital food, health and education services.
As part of the #WithSyria campaign CAFOD is calling for world leaders to find a political agreement to end the conflict.
Sign the #WithSyria petition today
Abir and Tony
Abir and Tony are Syrian refugees who fled to Lebanon in 2011, when the conflict intensified in their country. Thirteen months ago they had they had triplets that were born ten weeks premature. With support from CAFOD partner Caritas Lebanon and from the UN Refugee Agency – UNHCR the babies received the vital hospital care they needed, and today all three children are healthy. Continue reading “Syrian crisis fourth anniversary: meet two families who fled to Lebanon”
March 11, 2015
Mark Chamberlain is a writer with CAFOD. Already a vegetarian, this Lent he is going vegan by giving up eggs, dairy and honey. He will donate the money he saves to CAFOD and is hoping that his Lenten food choices will help him to reaffirm his belief in non-violence.
I dreamed of an egg last night. A single poached egg, lightly salted on a slice of toast. And as I went to pick up my knife and fork…I woke.
A few years back, when I became vegetarian, I had a similar dream about a giant slice of ham. The ham was huge and was draped over me. I realised the only way to escape was to eat my way out of it. And as I opened my mouth to start feasting…I woke.
I told the ham story to a friend. He had spent time in the Himalayas when he was younger and said when he trekked through the range, his group had run very low on food. After a week or so, he had a dream that his group were all lambs and that the only way to escape starvation was to carry them in his stomach to the nearest town. The good news is, he’s alive and being the lovely chap he is, he didn’t resort to cannibalism.
Every £1 you donate this Lent to the CAFOD Lent Appeal, the UK government will match Continue reading “Lent 2015 appeal: What matters?”
March 10, 2015
BBC World Affairs Correspondent Mike Wooldridge OBE joined CAFOD on the podium at Leeds Trinity University this month to mark the university’s annual Journalism week. St Mary’s Menston sixth form student Luke attended the talk and reports his findings below.
It was an afternoon of absorbing tales from the world of journalism, as BBC World Affairs Correspondent Mike Wooldridge OBE teamed up with CAFOD to inspire the journalists of the future.
The galvanizing event was just one of a variety of guest speakers and workshops as part of Leeds Trinity University’s Journalism Week.
After an introduction from the CAFOD team based in Leeds, Mr Wooldridge wasted no time in immersing the audience in his stories from a career any journalist would dream of. From the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990, to the Haitian earthquake in 2010, the audience was captivated by anecdotes from a working life which Mr Wooldridge describe as “like having a ringside seat at history in the making.”
If any budding journalists present were having second thoughts about their degree, just one hour in this lecture theatre would be enough to set their ship back on course. It made for powerful listening. Continue reading “CAFOD and Mike Wooldridge OBE inspire young journalists at Leeds Trinity University Journalism Week”
March 10, 2015
Khudayja, A CAFOD Young Leader from Portsmouth Diocese, explains why she is supporting #Muslims4Lent by Cutting it Out with CAFOD and how her Young Leadership group is getting the whole school involved with campaigning and fundraising.
We are a group of Year 12 students studying at sixth form college in Portsmouth Diocese. We believe that we must be the change we wish to see in this world, and this has driven us to become CAFOD Young Leaders. We recognise that the youth of today are the future of tomorrow and therefore it is our duty, as Young Leaders, to make our generation a great one.
Are you a young person? Get involved with CAFOD.
It has been a wonderful experience getting to know other Young Leaders from across the Portsmouth Diocese through our training sessions, ones that have been beneficial in personal development as well as real-life leadership applications.
Continue reading “Let’s Cut it Out! and double the positive this Lent”
March 9, 2015
Sarah Croft is CAFOD’s campaigns officer. She joined thousands of others in London on Saturday to campaign for action on climate change.
Find out how you can take action on climate change with CAFOD
I love the first really sunny day of the year. The kind of day when you can go out without a coat for the first time, feeling the heat on your skin and seeing spring flowers starting to poke their heads through the grass.
On Saturday I was delighted to see that this day had finally arrived! I admit, the first thing that popped into my mind wasn’t ‘This is the ideal day for a protest’. Instead, pictures of BBQs, picnics in the park, bike rides, and ice creams started to flash before my eyes. Continue reading “One Climate One World: Why I marched for action on climate change”
March 6, 2015
Carmenza Alvarez is a human rights defender in Colombia and works for an organisation supported by CAFOD and Caritas, Women’s Initiative for Peace. The role is a dangerous one, in 2014 alone 614 human rights defenders were attacked and 55 killed.
For International Women’s Day on Sunday 8 March, Carmenza discusses inequality and being trapped in the middle of a fifty-year conflict. She recently spent time in Europe as part of a joint CAFOD, Caritas Colombia, ABColombia and EC project, which sought to help protect human rights defenders in Colombia, with a particular focus on land restitution claimants, women and minority groups.
Please pray for equality and peace
“In 1991 I was working in a restaurant. It was in an area frequented by the left-wing revolutionary group, FARC. My son was at school and studying. When he finished for the day, a group would come for him and supposedly take him to play football.
“One of the visitors to the restaurant, after about two months of this, came up to me and said, ‘Sister, I’m going to tell you something. They’re preparing your son for war. Save him.’ Continue reading “International Women’s Day: “There won’t be peace without inclusion or equality””
March 6, 2015
Dom Goggins works in the Government Relations team at CAFOD. He looks back at political progress made on climate change and looks forward to a busy general election period.
With so much at stake in the next few months – a general election focusing on vital issues around the economy, the NHS and the UK’s role in Europe among other things – climate change can sometimes feel like a distant challenge – something we can put to one side for now and deal with in the future.
That might even be the case for many of us in the UK, but climate change already has a devastating impact on many of the poor communities we work with around the world; amplifying existing social, political and economic inequalities and pushing people over the edge. Ultimately, as the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said, “if we don’t confront climate change we won’t end poverty”.
Find out about CAFOD’s One Climate, One World campaign
2014 Progress
Important progress was made in 2014. CAFOD’s MP Correspondents* played a key part by asking the Prime Minister to show his commitment to climate change by attending a special UN summit hosted by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon – and he did! At the summit he echoed CAFOD’s call that the UK should “help those who need it, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable”. Continue reading “Election 2015: questions to ask your candidates”
March 5, 2015
Father David Osbourne is the Parish priest of Cranleigh and Bramley. This Lent he’s cutting out petrol and will be donating all of the money saved to the CAFOD Lent Appeal. The help complete his petrol-free Lent challenge, Crawley Nissan have allowed him to borrow a new Nissan Leaf car.
For me, this Lent, ‘Cut it Out!’ means trying to cut out some use of fossil fuels used in motoring and thus call attention to alternative power sources and uses. This may highlight our almost total dependence on fossil fuels which are not only irreplaceable but are contributing to the largest contemporary threat to civilization – global warming.
Find ideas for how you can reduce your carbon footprint this Lent
I have been loaned an electric car by Nissan to experience whether battery powered vehicles are an alternative not only for the “keenies” but a viable alternative for mass transport.
I’m not sure that’s possible either!
Continue reading “Cutting out petrol for Lent: Father David’s electric car challenge for CAFOD”
March 4, 2015
Liam Finn is CAFOD’s Regional Media Officer. His personal Lent journal today focuses on Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was a CAFOD partner and remains a great example of a ‘Servant Leader’.
When the CAFOD Lent calendar was launched in February and my colleagues and I were working out which days we were going to write our journals on, there was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to write about Oscar Romero.
Archbishop Romero epitomises what CAFOD is about: people giving of themselves to achieve One Just World in which every child, woman, and man can live in peace and free from poverty. And I’ve deliberately chosen to speak of Romero in the present tense, despite it being 35 years this month since his assassination. Romero said himself “If they kill me, I shall rise again in the Salvadoran people”. He also lives on in CAFOD supporters, partners, and anyone who strives to bring about that one just world.
Continue reading “Lent 2015: Oscar Romero – CAFOD Servant Leader”
