The Mining Industry and COVID-19
A new report by an international coalition of non-profit groups shows how the mining industry has taken advantage of the pandemic to boost profits. We look at some countries in Africa and Latin America. Since March, the mining industry has been declared ‘essential’ in many countries worldwide, enabling it to operate amid government lockdowns with […]
Reflection: The Racism that Surrounds Us
The world is seeing once again the upsurge of a vicious “virus” that has spread to every corner of the world. This time, the “virus” is that of social, cultural, economic, political, institutional, legal and religious discrimination against people of different skin colour, social status and historical origins. Racism is everywhere and people around the […]
Witnesses: Brother Roger Schutz, Taizé “That little springtime”
He founded the Taizé Community, an ecumenical monastic community in Burgundy, France. He was killed during evening prayers in Taizé on August 16, 2005. It was to young people that Brother Roger devoted his life, and in whom he saw the greatest hope for the future. Roger Schutz was born in the Jura, the north-western […]
Oral Literature: The Herons and the Tortoise
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful lake, near a big mountain. There lived many animals in the water and on the banks of the lake. Among those animals lived two herons, who had a little tortoise as their friend. All three of them were very good friends. They played together all day long, […]
Andean Calendar: The celebration of the Sun
The Andean calendar is based on the observation of the sky. It is a luni-solar calendar, which tracks both the moon and the sun. The Andean calendar is divided into thirteen cycles of time made of 28 days each, with four weeks of seven days corresponding to the four lunar phases. In total 364 days […]
Africa: Schools are closed, but learning goes on
Countries use radio, TV and internet to keep students engaged. Globally, school closures due to COVID-19 have affected 1.29 billion students in 186 countries, which is 73.8 per cent of the world’s student population, according to the UN Education Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Across the African continent, an estimated 297 million students have been […]
Botswana’s Bishop Nubuasah mourns George Floyd, a friend
Botswana’s Diocese of Gaborone Bishop, Frank Nubuasah has written a “farewell letter” to George Perry Floyd Jr., whom he met in the 1990s. George, who was unarmed, died May 25 after being pinned to the ground by a Minneapolis police officer during an arrest. His death triggered protests and riots in the United States. Below […]
Witnesses: Sister Emmanuelle, the nun of the rag dealers of Cairo
“To live in a hut in Egypt to share the life of the poorest: to eat what they eat and to live like them in a makeshift hut; in a nutshell, I shared their experience of radical poverty.” Madeleine Cinquin, better known as Sister Emmanuelle was born in Brussels on November 16, 1908. Her father […]
Oral Literature: The Water-Buffalo and the Tiger
Once there lived a hard working farmer in a small village who had a water-buffalo. Every day, with his plough on his shoulder, he led his water-buffalo to the field. In the month of July there was heavy rain and because of this the mud in the field was soft and sticky. The buffalo was […]
The Catholic Church in Kyrgyzstan: a seed sprouting up slowly
A small community that lives its faith through testimony. One of the great challenges is the dialogue between Catholics and Muslims. This landlocked country is mainly mountainous, and the Tien Shan and Pamir ranges occupy 65% of its territory. Kyrgyzstan borders the Chinese province of Xinjiang to the east, Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to […]