Peru. The Asheninka Calendar
Although the Asheninka, an indigenous ethnic group, who live in the central forest of the Ucayali department in the Atalaya province of eastern Peru, follow the Western calendar, they give an Amazonian meaning to each month. The year begins in January, when the waters of the rivers overflow due to the heavy rains, the tangerine […]
DR Congo. A Light at the End of the Tunnel
Thousands of children are deprived of a future in the cobalt mines of the Congo. The commitment of a group of Sisters is giving them hope. Denise feels her way down the stony slope. Close to a huge mine runs a stream. The ten-year-old girl looks around shyly. Women immerse themselves in muddy brown water […]
Pope to WYD participants: Lisbon 2023 a chance to grow in hope
Pope Francis has sent a video message to young people registered for World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal, on 1-6 August, and urges them to prepare themselves to encounter others and grow in hope. In his video message, the Pope praised the excitement the young Catholics must feel as they prepare to travel. “I can […]
Myth. The Creation of the Universe
Before the universe was created, there existed only a vast expanse of sky above and an endless stretch of water and uninhabited marshland below. Olorun, the wisest of the gods, was supreme ruler of the sky, while Olokun, the most powerful goddess, ruled the seas and marshes. Both kingdoms were quite separate at that time […]
India. The Sacred Rivers
From the beginning of recorded history, India has honoured her rivers, both for their beauty and their blessings. Seven of these rivers were singled out for recognition as goddesses, not for their hydrological profile but for the sacred and cultural associations surrounding them. First on the list is the goddess Ganga (the Ganges River). Her […]
Sudan violence forces South Sudanese refugees to return to the country they fled
Tens of thousands of South Sudanese refugees are returning home to escape the violence in Sudan, but many find themselves stranded in remote border areas. Alekiir Kaman Dau Ayuel, 25, sits under a tree outside a transit centre in Renk County, in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State, with her mother, aunts, and brothers. They have […]
Reflection. Quiet Prophecy
Christian discipleship calls all of us to be prophetic, to be advocates for justice, to help give voice to the poor, and to defend truth. But not all of us, by temperament or by particular vocation, are called to civil disobedience, public demonstrations, and the picket lines, as were Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, Daniel […]
Saints and Nature. Hildegard. The healing food
Hildegard of Bingen, who lived from 1098 to 1179 in present-day Germany and was declared a saint and a doctor of the Catholic Church by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012. She can be considered one of the first environmentalists in written history (the oldest of these handed down orally are often lost): even before Francis […]
Oral Literature. How iGola, the cat, comes to live with the man
A man was sitting in his comfortable cave. The fire just outside the entrance was burning brightly, its flames dancing up from the crackling wood casting moving shadows across the walls and lighting up the serious faces of the animals who were sitting listening to what the man was saying. “We have been friends for […]
Kenya. Savings and Credits in Cooperative
An initiative of the Huruma Self-Help Group, it makes credit accessible to that segment of the population excluded from formal economic circuits. It all started in the Christian communities of Kariobangi, a suburb of Nairobi. In 1991 Verona Huruma Savings and Credit Cooperative (VH Sacco) was founded. It is an informal savings group made up […]
