# Thirty years into the pandemic, UNAIDS estimates that 33.3 million people globally are living with HIV. This number includes an estimated 2.5 million children under the age of 15 years.
# The number of people receiving antiretroviral therapy in low- and middle-income countries has increased thirteenfold since the 2004, to more than 5 million. However, only 35 percent of people in need of treatment are currently receiving it. Roughly 10 million people cannot get the medication they need.
# Catholic Relief Services began supporting its first HIV project in Bangkok, Thailand in 1986. Today, CRS and our partners directly support more than 4.8 million people affected by the epidemic.
# Through the AIDSRelief Project, CRS helps provide lifesaving antiretroviral therapy to more than 220,000 people living with HIV in nine countries; more than 18,000 are children.
Father June in the hospitality house, where he has been assisting migrants to recover from recent floods in Thailand. Photo Elizabeth Tromans/CRS
By Elizabeth Tromans
At the foot of an overpass about 40 km northeast of central Bangkok, Father Ongart Kaesue, known as Father June, pulls over his truck and announces, “This is where the flood begins.” A volunteer wearing a bright orange vest asks drivers their destination in order to arrange rides for the dozens of people standing on a nearby platform. “Saphan Mai,” says Father June, and the volunteer shouts the location into the megaphone. A few people with bags of groceries climb into the back of the truck and we cautiously continue into standing water.
Father June didn’t realize the calamity ahead of him when he began working with the National Catholic Commission on Migration (NCCM), a part of Caritas Thailand, four months ago; he had only just been ordained as a priest in the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Read the rest of this entry »
Father Eustache Nobime, Caritas Coordinator for the Diocese of Abomey in Benin, stands outside Ouidah’s Basilica where Pope Benedict XVI signed His latest Apostolic Exhortation. Photo by Helen Blakesley/CRS
By Helen Blakesley,
Here in Benin, the roads have re-opened, the banners are down, you could say “the Pope has left the building”.
But for one Catholic priest, working in the Diocese of Abomey, 2 hours north of the capital Cotonou, “out of sight” is certainly not “out of mind”.
Father Eustache Nobimè is Diocesan Coordinator for Catholic Relief Services’ partner organization Caritas. He’s been a priest for 11 years. And this was his first Papal sighting. Father Eustache got closer than most – he met Pope Benedict in the small coastal town of Ouidah when His Holiness came to speak to members of West Africa’s oldest seminary, Saint Gall. Read the rest of this entry »
In a few weeks, I will celebrate my last Christmas as an employee of Catholic Relief Services. As you know, I am retiring as president on December 31 and am handing over the post to Carolyn Y. Woo. Starting next month, Carolyn will be writing these letters to you.
Almost 40 Christmases have passed during my time here at CRS. Coming up to the last one certainly brings back some memories.
Many of those Christmases were not at all like the ones I had growing up in Boston. It’s not cold or snowy in Sierra Leone in December. You don’t pull a scarf around your neck or smell roasting chestnuts as Christmas approaches in Manila. And reindeer seem a bit out of place in Nairobi—wildebeest maybe, but not reindeer. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted
November 22nd, 2011 in
by:
John Lindner |
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Pope Benedict XVI made his second visit to the African continent when he visited Benin, West Africa from November 18-20th. One of the reasons for His visit was to present an important document on the future of the Church on the continent. The ‘Pledge for Africa’ lays out the conclusions of the 2009 special Synod of Bishops for Africa which brought more than 200 bishops together and focused on “the church in Africa in service to reconciliation, justice and peace”. The Pontiff made 10 speeches at 16 events during his 3 day visit. Benin is home to around 2 million Catholics.
Posted
November 21st, 2011 in
by:
John Lindner |
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Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Benin to a joyous reception. The Holy Father spoke about his affection for Africa. Photo by Helen Blakesley / CRS
By Helen Blakesley
“God is neither absent nor irrelevant” as Pope Benedict arrives in Benin
As the Papal plane touched down onto the sun-baked tarmac of Cotonou airport, the ‘press pack’ were jolted into action. There was scurrying and weaving about as journalists tried to find the best spot, with lenses as big as my head tucked under their arms.
I took my place in the scrum, just behind the Guard of Honor who would welcome Pope Benedict XVI when He stepped from the plane. I couldn’t believe my luck. Here I was, camera around my neck and video camera in hand, meters away from the dais where His Holiness would soon be standing. It felt surreal. And so exciting.
The door to the plane opened and the Pope emerged into the blazing afternoonheat. With that first glimpse of his white-clad figure, descending the steps, I caught my breath. A cheer went up from the crowd. Hundreds of women dressed in material bearing his image, waved handkerchiefs and started to sing and dance. They wore brightly colored headscarves, each representing a different parish.
The Pontiff himself had added a splash of color to his formal dress—he wore a pair of bright red shoes.
The military band struck up as Pope Benedict was greeted by Benin’s President Thomas YayiBoni and some of Africa’s cardinals and bishops who’d made the journey to welcome him. The 21 gun salute gave me a bit of a scare. Read the rest of this entry »
I lived in San Francisco in 1989 and experienced the Loma Prieta earthquake. Feeling my home here in Tulsa rattle and shake, I was again reminded of how a natural disaster brings a community together to repair the damage to structures and psyches.
In September, I was a member of an advocacy group sponsored by Catholic Relief Services that traveled to Kenya and saw first hand the positive work our shared foreign development aid was doing to alleviate another natural disaster – drought. Near the Dadaab refugee camp, I saw for myself that digging wells, providing agricultural access for good crops, working with communities literally to grow their own futures will impact directly our own good here.
Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. We alleviate suffering and provide assistance to people in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality.
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