Helen Odong of Uganda lost her husband to rebel fighting in 2000, leaving her alone to care for their seven children. Labor vouchers provided by Catholic Relief Services and our Caritas Gulu partners helped her hire people to clear some of her land three miles from Opit camp, where she now lives. With profits from her small harvest she bought a sow that bore six piglets her family can now eat or sell. Photo by Debbie DeVoe/CRS

Residents from the Chhatisdebil village in Orissa, India, hold a mock drill on disaster preparedness. Chhatisdebil is one of 75 villages along the highly vulnerable coastal belt of Orissa. The Community Based Disaster Preparedness Project, supported by Catholic Relief Services, assists villages in a comprehensive flood preparedness program. Photo by Amiran White for CRS

Nestled along the Sierra Madre forests in Chihuahua, Mexico, the Tarahumara face numerous struggles. Their land rights have been challenged, their forest depleted by logging, and they face increased malnutrition and scarcity of food supply. The Farmer Justice Campaign, sponsored by Catholic Relief Services Mexico, has partnered with the local organization, Frente Democratico Campesino or The Farmers Democratic Front, to provide product development resources as well as legal services. Photo by Hilda M. Perez for CRS

Community leader Edwin Roblero Barios prepares rations of oil for a food distribution in the Sanajaba community in the northern highlands of San Marcos, Guatemala. Expectant women and mothers with children under three years of age receive supplemental food rations and attend workshops that promote proper childhood development. Photo by Sara A. Fajardo/CRS

Bunson Ngozo of Malawi works on farmland that he has cultivated using irrigation equipment and technical expertise provided by Catholic Relief Services and our partner agency, the Catholic Development Commission. Teaching farmers better growing techniques helps them to improve their crops and make them resistant to drought and other natural emergencies. Photo by David Snyder for CRS.

The Makuach Water System in Bor County of South Sudan provides the surrounding community and health clinic with access to clean, fresh water. CRS rehabilitated an overhead tank and existing borehole. A solar panel provides electricity to pump water from the borehole to a holding tank, which releases water to local taps twice daily. Photo by Debbie DeVoe/CRS

Dr. Kazadi Mwayabo, a coordinator for the CRS-led AIDSRelief program in Zambia, is leading an HIV program that’s transitioning from CRS to a local partner control. According to UNAIDS, 15.2 percent of Zambians between the ages of 15 and 49 are HIV-positive. In the fall of 2009, Dr. Kazadi spoke at the St. Kilian Catholic Parish in Chicago on HIV treatment and care in Zambia. Photo by Jesus Huerta/CRS

Today the Great Lakes Cassava Initiative, led by Catholic Relief Services and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is helping farmers in Kenya and five other countries in Africa’s Great Lakes grow disease resistant cassava plants and monitor their crops with mini, hand-held computers designed by Microsoft. Photo by Debbie DeVoe/CRS

Deported migrants arrive after a chartered flight from Houston, Texas, and proceed to El Centro de Atención al Migrante Retornado (Attention Center for the Returned Immigrant) located in the Toncontin Airport in Honduras. Catholic Relief Services initiated and funded the deportation processing center eight years ago to assist migrants upon their return. The center also helps prevent children from being trafficked. Photo by Hilda M. Perez for CRS

This detail of a table cover is an example of hand-decorating in the traditional churma style. With help from Catholic Relief Services, Afghan refugee women in Pakistan learn to make elaborate stitching. They also take part in a small business development program in the city of Quetta in southwestern Pakistan. The income earned from these businesses allows them to contribute significantly to their family’s income. Photo by Joe Lapp for CRS.