Kalikinkar narrating his story
As darkness descended over the Choto Sehera village on that fateful day of 25 May 2009, Kalikinkar Das had an unique experience that he would treasure as long he lives. People came to him in numbers, handed over their life’s savings in a packet or wrapped in cloth with their respective names tagged on it, and said ‘please keep this secured, we fear theft and robbery’.
Asura Bibi at Panchayat office
Asura Bibi, entered silently and went and stood beside the table of Kalikinkar Das. She had two papers in her hand. She passed one to Kalikinkar, mumbled something and stood there motionless. There was a sudden silence in the office room of Kalikinkar, the Deputy Chief of Sehera Radhanagar Panchayat. He was immersed instantly in the content of the paper handed over to him. The whirling sound of the electric fan took over the room.
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The right approach
Home sweet home
By Pascale Palmer
There were a lot of rumours flying round the G8 yesterday as world leaders fought it out at the negotiating table. China left due to the riots at home, and with them exited a major player on climate. But despite the conflicting whispers, most of what we were hearing sounded pretty grim at the half-way lunchtime mark.
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By Jacques Dinan Executive Secretary of Caritas Africa
At the invitation of the World Bank, I participated on 1st and 2 July 2009 at Accra, Ghana, in a high level meeting of religious leaders on service delivery, poverty and development. The meeting, jointly organized by the World Bank’s Development Dialogue on Values and Ethics and the World Faiths Development Dialogue, was funded by the World Bank and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID). Read the rest of this entry »
The Italian government is seeking to promote a new assessment instrument at the G8 – a ‘whole of country’ approach to development. This would include other contributions to international development that come from G8 countries, from other sources like the private sector and civil society ranging from trade and investment to remittances.
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The full text of the pope’s letter (care of an National Catholic Reporter translation from the original Italian)
To Silvio Berlusconi, President of the Council of Ministers of Italy
Honorable Mr. President:
In view of the upcoming G8 meeting of the Heads of State and Government of the group of most industrialized countries, which will take place at L’Aquila July 8-10 under the presidency of Italy, I’m pleased to send cordial greetings to you and to all the participants. I gladly take this occasion to offer a reflection on the themes of the meeting, as I’ve done in the past. I’ve been informed by my collaborators about the commitment with which the government over which you have the honor of presiding is preparing for this important appointment, and I also know how much attention it’s given to the reflections which, with regard to the themes of upcoming summit, the Holy See, the Catholic church in Italy and the Catholic world in general, as well as representatives of other religions, have formulated.
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Caritas yesterday issued an appeal to provide for the basic needs of hundreds of thousands of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo. An upsurge in fighting since the start of the year in eastern Congo has left over 1.3 million people without homes and in acute need of food, shelter, protection, medical help and counselling. Patrick Nicholson is the Head of communications for Caritas. Here he speaks with Vatican radio about the situation in the Congo.
By Joseph Cornelius Donnelly
Elena Chaves served as a distinguished volunteer delegate for Caritas Internationalis Office at the UN from the late 1980s through to 2006.
Through the decades she worked with many Caritas staff from Msgr Robert Vitillo to Joseph Donnelly – and numerous others through the years with the growing advocacy agenda of the Confederation.
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