When the Villanova Wildcats beat the Seton Hall Pirates 84-76 in men’s basketball Jan. 18, it wasn’t just a hard-fought victory in the tough Big East conference.
The game also was a win for the people of the Republic of South Sudan, the world’s newest nation, thanks to a partnership between Villanova University and Catholic Relief Services.
Billed as “Playing for Peace,” the game gave student ambassadors an opportunity to showcase the struggles the people of South Sudan are experiencing as they work to build a nation from the rubble of a decades-long civil war.
Jennifer Joyce Kissko, an assistant professor in the university’s Center for Peace and Justice Education, said the event offered the chance to present an important concern to a wider audience that extended beyond the Villanova community.
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Posted
January 27th, 2012 in
playing for peace, Sudan by:
Patrick Carney |
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Women gather grass to build traditional tukul homes in Jonglei, South Sudan. The town of Boma has received more than 2,400 people displaced by recent fighting in Jonglei. Photo by Renee Lambert/CRS
By Rene Lambert,
My colleague, Jane and I, flew in a small eight-seater plane from Juba to Boma Town in Jonglei, South Sudan. We were on our way to see how Catholic Relief Services and Caritas Internationalis might assist thousands recently displaced by conflict. In recent weeks, Boma, a small verdant mountain town of around 7,000 had swelled with the arrival of roughly 2,400 people displaced by inter-communal violence between two ethnic groups the Lou Nuer and the Murle. The U.N. estimates that more than 60,000 Murle fled their homes when around 8,000 armed Lou Nuer youth raided towns in search of stolen cattle and kidnapped children.
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Posted
January 26th, 2012 in
Africa, Emergency Response, South Sudan, Sudan by:
John Lindner |
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When I first heard about Operation Rice Bowl at my church in America, I thought they were talking about something I knew so well from Chinese culture. I don’t have to tell you that the Chinese people eat a lot of rice—you have been to enough Chinese restaurants and seen enough Chinese landscapes with rice paddies to know that. But rice bowl was a term I heard all the time, and not just at mealtimes.
Growing up in Hong Kong, rice bowl indicated our overall well-being. If you say you have “a new rice bowl,” you have found a new job or started a new business. An “iron rice bowl” means your future prosperity is assured. A “solid rice bowl” is a good indication that you have a sure way to make a living. If you say, “My rice bowl is broken,” well, maybe you have fallen on hard times. And so on.
When you use rice bowl this way in Chinese culture, you are really talking about your livelihood. I have found no real equivalent in American English. It is some combination of steady paycheck and nest egg.
So, when I first heard about Operation Rice Bowl, that’s what came to mind. And, really, I was not far off.
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Posted
January 26th, 2012 in
by:
John Lindner |
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A young Mom with her baby girl at a nutrition education event in Dindefelo village, Eastern Senegal. Photo by Helen Blakesley/CRS
By Helen Blakesley,
Only yesterday I was under the British rain, bidding farewell to my nearest and dearest. Today I’m back to my francophone, sun-filled Dakar days, catching up on the latest political intrigue as Senegal heads towards a contentious Presidential election. That, and trying to work out why my water’s been turned off.
The trick, as I see it, is to try to exist in the moment, to connect with the places and people around you. Let your several lives and worlds mingle to make a space where certain universal truths exist: we all laugh, we all cry, we all need love, we all need God’s grace. Not always an easy feat.
But sometimes, a trip to “another world” can be the eye opener you need when your status quo seems to leave something to be desired. A mini adventure into the Senegalese outback just before Christmas (otherwise known as my latest work trip) served to transport me—in mind, body and spirit.
I’d been feeling rather flat since returning from Benin after the Pope’s visit (hey, it’s a hard act to follow.), so getting back on the road was just the ticket for restoring my joie de vivre. A 12-hour car journey took us first past the urban sprawl of Dakar, through dusty savannah landscapes, and then—way out East—we reached the hills, the forests, the monkeys and the wild boar.
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Posted
January 17th, 2012 in
Africa, Senegal by:
John Lindner |
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In the last 2 years, thanks to your support, Catholic Relief Services has:
- Built 10,600 transitional shelters
- Provided 10 million meals to more than 1 million people
- Organized medical teams that performed more than 1,000 emergency surgeries and conducted 71,000 outpatient consultations
- Helped workers crush enough rubble to fill almost 1,800 dump trucks
- Hired more than 12,000 people in temporary cash-for-work programs
See all of the great work your support has made possible in Haiti over the last 2 years.
Posted
January 12th, 2012 in
2 year anniversary, earthquake, Haiti by:
Patrick Carney |
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Two children standing in front of a CRS-built transitional shelter in Haiti. Your support of Haiti is helping rebuild the country for the next generation. Photo Robin Contino/CRS
Robin Contino joined CRS in 2006 and worked in as the country manager in Nepal. She is a licensed clinical social worker with a background in responding to emergencies and trauma. After the earthquake, Robin was sent to Haiti to offer crisis intervention and support to all of our staff in Haiti. Since then, she has continued to support Haiti from headquarters and continues on as the Haiti advisor supporting CRS’ Haiti country program in all aspects of its work.
Robin sent this first-hand account of what it was like to wake up in Haiti on the 2-year anniversary of the tragic Haiti earthquake:
Its January 12, 2012 and I wake up to the sound of what I think is a mass loudly and passionately coming through the windows from somewhere down the hills from where I am staying in Peggyville. People are singing and sharing together. I can feel the deep compassion and its flowing through the streets.
This is my 8th trip to Haiti since the Earthquake, and every time I come I see change — real and significant change. And its amazing. You’re work and dedication is commendable beyond my words. People are moving and settling back into their neighborhoods, and they are grateful for the support of CRS staff and programs. You have uplifted lives and brought families out of unspeakable despair.
I encourage you to take a moment this day, and everyday, to remember those lost and to renew your commitment to supporting Building Haiti Better hand in hand with Haitians.
You Inspire Me and I am grateful for all that you do!
Humbly,
Robin
See how your support has helped Haiti rebuild after the earthquake 2 years ago.
Posted
January 12th, 2012 in
2 year anniversary, earthquake, Haiti by:
Patrick Carney |
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We don’t hear much about slavery on the news. We don’t see slaves being bought and sold on the street. Yet, slavery still exists in 161 countries around the world including the United States.
January 11 is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. See how much you know about slavery and human trafficking by taking our short quiz. Answers are posted below.
1) How many people are currently trafficked worldwide?
A) 1 million
B) 5 million
C) 8 million
D) 12 million
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Posted
January 11th, 2012 in
Human Trafficking, National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, Slavery, Trafficking by:
Patrick Carney |
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It’s 2012. How is slavery still possible? It’s not on the news and we don’t see it in our neighborhoods.
Somehow, this $32 billion industry exists in 161 countries around the world, including the United States. Innocents are routinely trafficked into the United States, and some live in a community near you.
Twelve million people are coerced, trafficked, and trapped. It’s a massive industry. What can you do? Realistically, what can one person do?
Ask one former slave.
You can make a difference.
January 11 is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Join Catholic Relief Services in the fight against slavery and human trafficking.
Posted
January 10th, 2012 in
Human Trafficking, National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, Slavery, Trafficking by:
Patrick Carney |
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Ana Lucia Tesoureira, a former slave in Brazil, is now a successful homeowner at the age of 23. Photo Robyn Fieser/CRS
Many among the 42 families in the Nova Conquista, or New Conquest, settlement share horror stories of toiling away on fields in Brazil’s Amazon for little or no pay. Enslavement often began with a recruiter paid to lure workers to remote ranches with the promise of a salary.
Sleeping under tarps and in stables, drinking the same dirty water given to animals, and far from their families and out of reach of official inspectors, the people of Nova Conquista found themselves indebted for their food, travel, equipment and accommodations, which is often nothing more than a shack with no electricity or running water.
But it’s no longer the experience of slavery that ties the people of Nova Conquista together. It’s the 5-year fight to demand that the Brazilian government compensate them for their lost time. Under Brazilian law, they are entitled to back pay, but the bureaucratic process often drags on and becomes such a financial drain that many workers give up. Not the families of Nova Conquista.
With the help of Catholic Relief Services’ partner Pastoral Land Commission, the Nova Conquista group organized, demanded and received 2,670 acres of land and material to build more than 30 houses in their hometown of Monsenhor Gil in northeastern Brazil.
January 11 is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Join Catholic Relief Services in the fight against slavery and human trafficking, and meet the people who went from slave to successful homeowner.
Posted
January 9th, 2012 in
Human Trafficking, National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, Slavery, Trafficking by:
Patrick Carney |
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Nida Go sits with her daughter, Glejen Ting. Glejenís daughter, Jharrly Jean, age 14 months, died when the house they were sheltering in was hit by a floating industrial truck and collapsed. Photo by Jennifer Hardy/CRS
There are many stories of flood victims weaving through evacuation centers and temporary relocation sites after flashfloods triggered by tropical storm Washi (the storm is called “Sendong” in the Philippines) swept through low-lying areas of Cagayan de Oro in the Philippines. Stories of the youngest casualties stand out.
Glejen Ting, 20, and her mother Nida Go, 40, sit on a gently sloping hillside, resting in the shade and breezes that were scarce in their first evacuation site after tropical storm Washi. Their faces reflect the long days and noisy, restless nights after their home was washed out to sea. They’re relieved to be in a new, more open site, but as each hot day passes, the reality of their loss becomes a heavier burden. They are grieving the death of Glejen’s first baby and Nida’s first grandchild, Jharrly Jean. The bright eyed 14-month-old girl delighted her parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles. Now the whole family waits to see if they will have a chance to properly say their goodbyes.
Nida described her family’s scramble for high ground as the flashflood took her neighborhood by surprise. “When we heard the neighbors’ shouting about the flood, we climbed on a roof. When the water moved higher, we thought the tree near our home would be best. But there were too many people in the tree, and it broke beneath us.”
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Posted
January 6th, 2012 in
Asia, Emergency Response, Philippines by:
John Lindner |
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