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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CRS’ Sister Pauline Acayo of Uganda spoke to the Catholic Review about how the Church continues address conflict and help child soldiers.

“The Catholic Church has been very strong – they don’t shy away,” Sister Pauline said. “They go on the radio, hand out press releases and flyers telling about the things going on there. We’re lucky that in Uganda we have freedom of speech. That has given a lot of opportunities for our religious leaders to talk openly.”

Cross-border dialogue with political and religious leaders in nearby South Sudan and with rebel leaders provides some optimism, said Sister Pauline, who gets to see former rebels enjoy the childhood that was almost snatched from them. Since 2005, she estimates that more than 5,000 kids have been helped with the support of CRS.

“I feel so happy when the kids are happy where they’re at and when they’re doing well in their communities,” she said. “When they’re able to open up and share freely – some of them used to sit there and not talk at all. The little we’re doing, it’s bringing a bit of peace in the community and making these kids be normal human beings.”

Read the full story from the Catholic Review.

Malian women cooking near their makeshift shelters in the village of Sinégodar, Tillabery region, Niger. Photo by Souradja Mahaman/CRS

What is happening in the Sahel?

A drought is threatening millions of people in the Sahel, the swath across Africa bordering the Sahara desert. Millions of people are at risk of severe food shortages unless there is a major humanitarian response.

How many people, and in what countries, are affected by this food crisis?

Up to 12 million people, including nearly three million children, are at risk of hunger in parts of Chad, Niger, Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Gambia, Cameroon and northern Nigeria.
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A Malian refugee receiving her hygiene kit from CRS in Kizamou, Abala district. Photo by Jean-Philippe Debus /CRS

Thanks to your support, Catholic Relief Services and our partners are mobilizing emergency water, hygiene and sanitation facilities to meet the urgent needs of thousands of Malian refugees in neighboring Niger.

Fighting in northern Mali between the army and a rebel group has forced more than 100,000 people to flee their homes. Nearly half have stayed in Mali, and the others have crossed borders seeking refuge in neighboring countries. According to the United Nations, around 25,000 people have crossed into Niger since the end of January—two-thirds of them Malian refugees and a third, Nigeriens. An estimated 500 people are arriving every day.
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For the third time in a decade, a drought is threatening millions of people in the Sahel, the swath across Africa bordering the Sahara desert. Up to 12 million people, including nearly three million children, are at risk of a severe food crisis without a major humanitarian response to help those affected.

“There’s already 40 percent malnutrition in some areas,” said Bill Canny, CRS Director for Emergency Operations, who recently traveled to Niger to see first-hand the effects of the drought. “It’s a disaster for millions of families.”

In the coming months, CRS plans to help those caught up in the Sahel food crisis with food distributions and the provision of animal feed vouchers in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. Plans are also in place to assist farmers to better manage meager water resources. Closer to the rainy season, there will be seed distributions for planting as well as cash and food-for-work programs to keep people employed and productive.

Read the full story here.

How you can help: Please keep the victims of those affected by this disaster in your prayers. Make a secure, online donation to Catholic Relief Services to help fund our efforts in responding to this emergency, as well as programs that help the poor in nearly 100 countries.

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 Renee 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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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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A young girl in Somalia carries a jerry can full of water provided by CRS and a local partner. Photo courtesy of CRS partner staff

By Muzaffer

I have a daughter of my own who is now studying architecture at the University. When I compare her and the future she holds in her hands with that of the children I’ve seen in Somalia I feel deeply troubled. The only difference between my daughter and the sons and daughters of Somalia is that they suffer from the sin of circumstance. The one thing that separates them is that my daughter was born into comfort and they were born into poverty.

Of all the children I met during my last visit to Somalia there are two young girls that stick out in my mind, Fawziya, 11, and Naima, 8. To me they are the anonymous heroes and victims of this terrible drought.

Fawziya has never been to school and is completely illiterate. At the age of four Fawziya took over the care of her older brother, Abdulahi. who suffers from neurological problems that left him bedridden. All of her siblings attend school, but Fawziya was chosen by her parents to care for her brother because of her loving nature and gentle touch.
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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.
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By Kim Pozniak,

This week, the CRS-led AIDSRelief consortium is handing over its HIV care and treatment programs in Rwanda to the local Ministry of Health. After a six-year partnership, and a carefully planned transition period, the local government will fully own and implement those programs that bring lifesaving treatment, care and counseling to thousands of people living with HIV.

This is the first transition of a program supported by the President’ Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to a local government entity. But it comes at a time when PEPFAR and other life-saving aid programs are facing the possibility of drastic budget cuts from the U.S. Congress.
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