A camp for internally-displaced persons in Somalia. Photo courtesy of a local CRS partner
CRS is working through local partners in Somalia as it begins to recover from a devastating drought. Here is a post from a member of one of them. For security reasons, we cannot identify the blogger or the partner. The first post is here.
“Why are they shooting?” I screech and dive to the floor. The other men are laughing; this is my first trip to Mogadishu.
“Oh my brother!” the driver shouts over the machine gun clatter, “There is a traffic jam. This way is more effective than a horn.”
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Posted
March 22nd, 2012 in
Africa, East Africa, Emergency Response, Somalia by:
John Lindner |
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A camp for internally-displaced persons in Somalia. An estimated 1.5 million Somalis have been displaced within the country due to drought, famine and war. Photo courtesy of a local CRS partner
CRS is working through local partners in Somalia as it begins to recover from a devastating drought. Here is a post from a member of one of them. For security reasons, we cannot identify the blogger or the partner.
Somalias are infinite.
There is the Somalia of Adel, who owns twenty camels with tasseled saddles; he rides across the sand with his cousins and brothers and a cluster of long-horned cattle, rising up and down and up like a fleet of tiny ships.
There is the Somalia of Wa’ail, who slipped away from the village in the cool of early morning and walked two weeks to find a school. Now he can read. “I would write home and tell them,” he says. “But there is no one to answer.”
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Posted
March 21st, 2012 in
Africa, East Africa, Emergency Response, Somalia by:
John Lindner |
1 Comment »
By, Bishop Gerald Kicanas, Chair, Catholic Relief Services’ Board of Directors
Later this month, I have the privilege of traveling with several other brother bishops from the United States to join our Holy Father on his visit to Cuba. Pope Benedict XVI follows in the footsteps of his predecessor John Paul II, the first pontiff to visit Cuba, in 1998. This time, Our Holy Father comes to Cuba as a “Pilgrim of Charity” to celebrate with the Church in Cuba the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the image of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre.
Pope Benedict is reaching out to an often isolated island nation that has a history of discord with our country. His presence in Cuba will send a message that we are all one human family, called to live in peace, despite our political differences.
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Posted
March 20th, 2012 in
Cuba, Pope by:
John Lindner |
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Women carry cut cassava back to their village. Because of the LRA, some residents in northeastern DRC are afraid to walk on the roads to their fields. Photo by Carl Walsh for CRS.
Reported by Helen Blakesley
Kony 2012—the video made by the charity Invisible Children to highlight the violent actions of the Lord’s Resistance Army and its leader Joseph Kony—has been viewed over 100 million times worldwide in the past 10 days.
While the media storm rages, Catholic Relief Services is continuing the work we’ve been doing for decades in the regions of East and Central Africa where the LRA is active: Helping protect communities, helping people to heal after trauma, and helping improve their lives.
Julien Marneffe works for CRS in Goma, in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. He’s program manager for a Community Protection and Early Warning project implemented—in among other places—Haut and Bas Uele, the regions of northeastern DRC that continue to suffer at the hands of the LRA. He told us what he thinks of the Kony 2012 phenomenon.
What’s your reaction to the Kony 2012 video and the unprecedented reception it’s received?
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Posted
March 15th, 2012 in
by:
John Lindner |
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In the past week, there has been a viral web reaction to the Kony 2012 video and its campaign to stop the violence of Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistence Army. In response to questions on how Catholics should respond, we offer these thoughts:
The video calls for Kony to be captured and brought to justice through the International Criminal Court (ICC) indictment on him. As an American organization and targeting the American public, the video urges for continued support of the U.S. military advisors deployed in the LRA affected areas. CRS’ area of expertise is not in military action. CRS has been working for years to help the victims of Kony and the LRA. Even if Kony is captured or killed, the effects of the LRA will be felt for years and CRS will continue to work with the people of the LRA-affected areas on rehabilitation and reconciliation.
After US Catholics watch the Invisible Children video, the obvious next question they ask themselves is what they can do. The following are some suggestions, based on Church statements, the work that CRS and our partners do, and the US legislation, that can guide this conversation:
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Posted
March 15th, 2012 in
Advocacy, Africa, Uganda by:
John Lindner |
1 Comment »
The Miami Herald, in advance of Pope Benedict’s papal visit later this month, reports on the vital role played by the Catholic Church in Cuba, particularly to the country’s neediest people:
Havana retiree Maria Antonia confesses that she would be starving without the free lunches doled out by her neighborhood Catholic Church.
The 69-year-old widow has a $12-a-month pension that barely covers six to eight days worth of food per month, and she has no relatives abroad who can send her a few extra dollars.
“A free lunch is a life-saver when a pound of pork costs more than $1,” says Maria Antonia. “The church to me is not just a temple or a mass. It is a way of surviving.”
Read the full story on CRS Newswire.
Posted
March 15th, 2012 in
by:
John Lindner |
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Malian refugees in Niger seek help from communities already weakened by a severe food crisis affecting large areas of the Sahel region following last year’s poor rains and harvest. Photo by Jean-Philippe Dubus/CRS
CRS and our partners are mobilizing emergency water, hygiene and sanitation facilities to meet the urgent needs of the thousands of people now living in makeshift camps. This gallery shows how you are helping to make this work possible.
Posted
March 14th, 2012 in
by:
John Lindner |
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To prevent the risk of life-threatening diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation in rural El Salvador, CRS is tackling a water crisis. Listen to the CRS World Report.
Posted
March 14th, 2012 in
by:
Patrick Carney |
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The following response to the Kony 2012 video is posted on the Catholic Youth Ministry blog. A link to the full text is posted below. Hat tip to CRS Newswire.
The social media firestorm that this video has created has raised some important questions for me about how well my parish youth ministry is engaging these same teens.
How is our parish youth ministry offering the teens opportunities to engage in changing the world?
Teens want to be engaged in changing the world. For most of us in youth ministry this isn’t a surprise. We’ve seen how compassionate teens can be and how much time and energy they are willing to give to something they believe in. Most of the world (or at least, most of my parish), however, doesn’t see this.
They believe teens to be self-centered adolescents who care only about their immediate circle of friends and family and frequently make poor decisions. The Kony 2012 campaign serves to remind all of us of the incredible capacity for empathy that teenagers have and how hard they are willing to fight (even in the face of criticism) for a cause they believe is worthy.
Read the full post here.
Posted
March 14th, 2012 in
by:
John Lindner |
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Many in the United States are learning about Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army through an internet video that has attracted tens of millions of views. Catholic Relief Services has been working for years to help the victims of Kony and the LRA.
CRS officially opened an office in Uganda’s capital Kampala, Uganda, in 1996 to help those displaced by LRA actions. Working with the Church, CRS began providing assistance to children known as the Night Commuters. These youngsters would walk from their rural villages every evening, seeking safety in larger towns in northern Uganda where they would often shelter at Churches in order to escape the threat of abduction by the LRA.
Read the full article at CRS’ Newswire.
Posted
March 12th, 2012 in
by:
John Lindner |
2 Comments »
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