Bishop Albert LeGatt of Saskatoon signed the action card for Development and Peace’s Fall Campaign on mining as part of the Saskatoon Diocese’s October 23 kick-off of the 2008 campaign. The event was organized by members of the St. Thomas More Just Youth group, which has set a goal of returning 750 signed Action Cards this year.
Tor Iorapuu of Development and Peace’s Nigerian partner YARAC is currently visiting the Atlantic provinces in a tour organized by young leaders of local Just Youth groups. In his presentations Tor will describe how theatre and sport can be used as tools for healing, social change and responsibility, and how YARAC pushes the boundaries of theatre to organize communities.
The young leaders were part of a solidarity trip to Nigeria in August 2008, where they were hosted by YARAC.
Click here for more information on Tor and how to contact him. youth-programs-solidarity-visitor-fall-20081
Ottawa members took the lead in presenting this year’s Fall Action campaign at their Eastern Ontario mini-regional this autumn.
Larry Martin, Joan O’Connell and Paul McGuire had attended the Development and Peace education staff’s day of Fall Action preparation at their August team meeting in Arnprior.
They used this experience and the Formation materials to prepare a full day of training for 12 member-leaders from the Diocesan Councils of Ottawa, Pembroke, Kingston and Alexandria-Cornwall. According to their recently-hired animator Ann-Christina Gamillscheg, “They did a great job!
Members training members in just this way is one of the objectives of the Membership-Leadership program. Congratulations to this team for taking it on. The training was held at Waupoos Farm near Ottawa.
Today is World Food Day, and according to the FAO, nearly one billion people will go hungry. Food shortages throughout the world earlier this year, paired with unusual flooding in Haiti and Southeast Asia and the current economic crisis have increased the challenges that the poor face in order to feed themselves.
This is particularly relevant in the context of this year’s education campaign. The activities of some Canadian mining companies lead to lower agricultural production in countries in the Global South, as they take over fertile land and contaminate water sources. As Fidel Mutumbo, a consultant for Development and Peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo, warns: “Mines run out, but the earth can feed us forever, if we treat it with care.”
Holding Canadian mining compagnies accountable for their overseas activities will go a long way to ensure that next year, less people will go hungry on World Food Day.
Animator Roberta Gramlich reports on a successful Fall Action meeting in Northern Manitoba, revitalizing the Development and Peace network in that area. “The members have decided to reform their DC and already have their own DC blog!” she says. Under the leadership of June Haybittle of Keewatin-The Pas and Mary Lemaitre and Verden Jeancart of St. Boniface and Winnipeg DCs, this inter-diocesan collaboration was made possible by the membership-leadership program. Members organized the event, the agenda and delivered presentations.
Just as impressive was the commitment and experience of participants. “One participant drove 10 hours to get to the meeting,” says Roberta, “A priest who came in from Northern Saskatchewan was the director of Caritas Columbo in Sri Lanka.” Benefitting from the support of Archbishop Sylvain Lavoie (third from left in the photo), Development and Peace certainly has a committed and enthusiastic group to work with in Keewatin-The Pas.
Practicing an invitation to sign the postcards.
On the last weekend of September Prince George DC members enjoyed sunny weather and spectacular scenery as part of their Fall Action formation workshop at Camp Emile, Mobile Lake.
Participants found the timeline exercise, the Wall of Justice, to be one of the workshop’s highlights. Adding their local actions to the national ones gave them a sense of pride in what they’ve achieved in the past two years, and helped them feel part of a truly national campaign. Many good ideas for future local actions came out of the process.
It was also an occasion to say good-bye to their temporary animator, Paul Corcoran, whose contract is coming to an end.
The Wall of Justice activity is described in this document: c_social-justice-workshop-pdf1 To access the full workshop, members are invited to use their password to find it under Fall Action 08 in the Workshops section of the Formation website. Or contact your animator.
