December 17, 2021
The CAFOD group at St George’s parish in Norwich, Norfolk, has been standing in solidarity with communities overseas for years. The parish group holds events every month of the year, including fundraising events such as marmalade sales, parish lunches and Christmas lucky dips. This Advent they also sold two nativity sets, which they made out of fabric.
Continue reading “Sewing for solidarity and peace”November 25, 2020
Wednesday 25 November is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Gloria, a passionate defender of women’s rights, talks about dedicating over 30 years of her life to preventing and ending violence against women in Colombia.
Continue reading “Defending women’s rights in Colombia”September 6, 2018
Chris Knowles works in our education team. In this blog he explains why young leadership is essential to CAFOD’s work.
Our new Hands On project in Colombia has young leadership at its heart because young people are not just the future of our world, but as Rosana, involved in the project in Colombia says;
“We have a responsibility towards our country, we are the present”. Rosana
Read about our latest Hands On project
Continue reading “Why are young people at the heart of what we do?”
August 24, 2018
Linda Jones from our Theology team reflects on the challenges of Jesus’s teaching in this week’s gospel (John 6:60-69)
Based on the gospel for Sunday 26 August – John 6:60-69
“This teaching is difficult, who can accept it?”
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Continue reading “Gospel reflection: There is no easy road to peace”
August 2, 2017
For more than fifty years Colombia has been ravaged by an armed conflict that has impacted the lives of millions of people. Despite a peace deal with the FARC guerrillas, there has been an alarming increase in attacks against human rights defenders. CAFOD’s Laura Ouseley meets Liney Contreras, one the women who is speaking out.
“When I was younger I wanted to be a teacher” says Liney. “But that all changed. After the attack I wanted to be more dead than alive. My dreams went out the window.”
Liney Contreras, from Colombia, is telling me about the moment her life changed forever when she was just 16 years old. She was in Medellin to register for university, walking with two friends when a car bomb went off. “I lost my right arm and broke my leg in the explosion. I spent 6 months in hospital.”
Continue reading ““I wanted to be more dead than alive.” Meet one woman building peace in Colombia”
July 1, 2016
Monsignor Héctor Fabio Henao, Director of Caritas Colombia, is a long-standing partner of CAFOD. For years he has been close to efforts by the Catholic Church to negotiate peace with all parties involved in the conflict in Colombia.
Here he reflects on the news that the Colombian Government and the FARC guerrilla have signed a bilateral ceasefire agreement; the first time both parties have agreed to put down their arms in over 50 years of conflict.
News that the Colombian Government and FARC guerrillas have agreed a bilateral ceasefire could herald a fresh start for a country that has witnessed the longest-running internal conflict in the western hemisphere.
Find out more about the peace process in Colombia
In the past half-century, at least 220,000 people have been killed in my country. More than 25,000 are missing, more than 6 million have been displaced, and thousands have suffered sexual violence.
Continue reading “Colombia’s future hinges on an inclusive peace deal that recognises human rights”
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””
