By Jos de Voogd, Caritas Communications Officer It’s Saturday, the day after my arrival in Pakistan. Goal for today is Swabi, a district in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) situated directly south of the district of Swat, where most of the fighting between the Pakistan army and the Taliban is taking place. The districts of [...]
Entries from May 2009
May 29, 2009
Migration just a one way street?
By Michelle Hough, communications officer with Caritas Internationalis When I was 5 years old, my dad went to work in Nigeria for a year. He mended big earth moving machines, and there were very few jobs in this line in England in the late 1970s. He could have either stayed in the UK, where he [...]
May 29, 2009
Conflict in Pakistan: First impressions
Jos de Voogd arrived in Pakistan on Friday 29 May. He will work there as a communications officer for Caritas. I arrived in Benazir Bhutto International airport at around 04.00 hours and the first thing that struck me of course was the temperature. At the moment it’s hot in Pakistan, at least in Islamabad. During [...]
May 29, 2009
Violence is not the answer in the Niger Delta
Statement by His Excellency, Archbishop Felix A. Job, Catholic Archbishop of Ibadan and President, Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, on the Current Military/Militant Clashes in the Niger Delta in Nigeria. We, the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria view with grave concern the current sustained clashes between militant groups in the Niger Delta, especially in the areas [...]
May 28, 2009
Preview to Bonn climate talks
by Christine Campeau, Caritas Internationalis Representative The Poznan meeting on climate change in December marked the mid-way point in international discussions to agree on a new global climate change framework. The 2009 workplan was agreed upon at this meeting, which included a timeline to have a negotiating text prepared by the Bonn II meetings in [...]
May 28, 2009
Haiti: One year later
By David Snyder Through my work with agencies like Caritas Internationalis, it is a rare chance to return to countries I have visited around the world to see the progress made in the wake of natural disasters, like the hurricanes that struck Gonaives, Haiti, in August and September 2008. But today, that is what I [...]
May 26, 2009
“Déjà -vu”: Learning about HIV and AIDS in Congo
Read this article in French By Rev. Msgr. Robert J. Vitillo, Head of Caritas Internationalis Delegation in Geneva and Special Advisor on HIV/AIDS During my recent visit to Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, I thought that I had been parachuted 20 years back in time as I witnessed the situation of [...]
May 26, 2009
UN and the big issues: “Swine Flu” and maternal mortality
Rev. Msgr. Robert J. Vitillo Head of Caritas Internationalis Delegation in Geneva CI Special Advisor on HIV and AIDS The outbreak of A-H1N1 Influenza Virus (or “Swine Flu”) dominated the official and unofficial discussions at the 2009 World Health Assembly, held in Geneva on 18-22 May 2009, at which I served as a member of [...]
May 24, 2009
Bomb blast in Church in Nepal
By Josh Niraula, former Caritas Asia Regional Coordinator As I am writing this note, my heart bleeds with the victims of the bomb attack in our church on Saturday 23, 2009. Two have died and 5 are critical and more than dozen wounded. My wife were singing Gloria along with the choir and other 200 [...]
May 20, 2009
Respecting strangers, replacing fear with welcome
Photo exhibition: raising awareness of refugees through art Rome, 19 May “Looking into the faces of forcibly displaced migrants, I see their dignity and courage. Their faces do not provoke fear. These are ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, driven by economic and political interests, far removed from their own lives”, said JRS International Director, Peter [...]
