On World Environment Day, Stephanie Beech talks about the people she met on a recent trip to Nicaragua as part of the Step into the Gap programme. Stephanie is based in the Good Shepherd Parish in Pendle.
CAFOD partner John XXIII supports a cooperative in El Caimito and the surrounding region. It was set up two years ago and now has 53 members. As a group, they learn about the environment, how to best look after their animals, how to preserve water and many other skills. They also have opportunities to share ideas and initiatives with other communities. Although each family may grow their own food or have their own animals, they come together to learn from each other how to make the most of what land and opportunities they have. Once a year they also have the opportunity to sell their produce together as a cooperative in the capital city, Managua.
Jose and Marcelina now have their own families and talk about how much better life is with the cooperative; "We are now able to feed our families, sell to market and send our children to school".
Hi! I'm Olivia, and I'm one of the CAFOD Young Leaders at St Joseph's. I've been invited to be a guest editor for the blog this month, and want to share some news about CAFOD's work in Nepal, and also the interfaith lobby of parliament that I was involved with as part of the One Climate One World campaign.
Watch this film to find out how CAFOD partners are responding to the Nepal earthquake.
This man has been sleeping in a tent since his house was destroyed by the earthquake in Gorkha.
You will probably have seen the terrible news already, that a second major earthquake hit Nepal yesterday, just over two weeks after the first earthquake claimed more than 8,000 lives. I can't even imagine how frightened everyone must be, desperately trying to contact their families to make sure they're safe, staying outside in case more buildings collapse.