April 25, 2022
Neil Roper talks to Margaret Clark, President of the National Board of Catholic Women (NBCW), about the year of fundraising for CAFOD’s 60th anniversary and invites you to a quiz on Saturday May 7th at 7pm, raising money to support vulnerable Lebanese and refugee women.
Continue reading “Supporting Lebanese and refugee women”July 5, 2021
2022 will mark 60 years since CAFOD became an official charity following the creation of the first Family Fast Day by CAFOD’s founding mothers.
Continue reading “Celebrating 60 years of life-changing work with CAFOD’s founding mothers”February 4, 2021
Everything that Nohad Al-Mir owned – including the house that she was born in – was destroyed in the massive explosions that shook Beirut last August. Six months on, she is slowly trying to piece her life back together.
Continue reading “Memories are all that remain in Beirut”June 19, 2020
During World Refugee Week, Yasmin Kayali, co-founder of charity Basmeh and Zeitooneh (B&Z) and CAFOD partner, explains the challenges the coronavirus pandemic has brought to refugee communities and how she is working alongside these communities to help them better prepare for the future.
Continue reading “How I’m working alongside Syrian refugees in Lebanon to help them build a better future ”November 15, 2019
Visiting Lebanon as part of a CAFOD initiative, student Joshua Nichol, 21, explains how he experienced warmth, welcome, strength and the Kingdom of God.
Continue reading “Reflections on a Lebanese journey ”November 23, 2018
Presenter and reporter Julie Etchingham travelled to Lebanon to see the work of CAFOD partner Caritas Lebanon.
So I’m flying home early this morning after three eye-opening days in Lebanon – expertly guided by CAFOD and their partners on the ground Caritas Lebanon. As we wind slowly upwards away from Beirut, I’m thinking of all the children we met in the past few days.
Help a refugee child. This charity gift will give much-needed emotional and educational support to children who have fled the violent trauma of war. Continue reading “Bringing childhoods back to life”
November 19, 2018
Presenter and reporter Julie Etchingham travelled to Lebanon to see the work of CAFOD partner Caritas Lebanon.
Thursday morning and we’re up before dawn to take the winding road to Mount Lebanon.
It’s a beautiful clear day as the sun comes up and we arrive at the home of a family of six refugees from Syria.
They’re living in a couple of rooms in a house which is still being built – but there’s a stove burning and the four children are happily pouring tea and having breakfast.
And even better – Hussein, 11, Mostafa, 10 and Amar who’s 6 are just about to put on their school uniforms.
Continue reading ““I want to be an engineer so that I can rebuild Syria””
November 16, 2018
Presenter and reporter Julie Etchingham travelled to Lebanon to see the work of CAFOD partner Caritas Lebanon.
It is Wednesday afternoon and we’re sitting on the floor of a shack covered in tarpaulin with eight year old Karim, where he’s been living with his family since fleeing Syria.
He was up at 6am this morning picking potatoes in the neighbouring field to bring in a few dollars a week for his family. He is a strikingly handsome young boy – bright eyed and smart – and he’s sick of having to work.
Help a refugee child Continue reading “Future? What do you mean by future?”
November 12, 2018
Presenter and reporter Julie Etchingham travelled to Lebanon to see the work of CAFOD partner Caritas Lebanon.
In a side road in a small town in the Bekaa Valley Yazan and Majed are hard at work. They are brothers aged 10 and 11. Their day started in darkness, getting up at 4am they were a bit scared to be going out before dawn, to get to their jobs in a local bakery.
The tiny bakery turns out flatbreads for local restaurants. The boys work alongside two grown men. The adults receive $40 (£30) a day. The boys get $3 (£2.30) a day between them. But these meagre earnings are vital for their family to survive after fleeing the war in Syria.
Donate to CAFOD’s Syria Crisis Appeal. Continue reading “The Child Breadwinners of Bekaa”
December 7, 2017
Richard Sloman is CAFOD’s Middle East Programme Officer. Here he reflects on his time in Lebanon where almost 40 per cent of the population are Syrian and Palestinian refugees. Richard visited one of Lebanon’s twelve Palestinian refugee camps – home to 450,000 people, one in ten of the country’s population.
Bourj el Barajneh in Beirut, Lebanon is one of the world’s oldest refugee camps. Established in 1948, it’s home to more than 31,000 people. These women, men and children live in just one square kilometre of land. That’s roughly 31 people for every square metre of earth.
Please give to CAFOD’s Advent appeal to help people living in poverty
Continue reading ““When they heard my Palestinian accent, they didn’t call back””
