Bringing light where there is none
With the price of solar panels and batteries in rapid reduction, solar energy is becoming less expensive but we are a long way from guaranteeing energy for all. It will be very difficult to reach the United Nations target of guaranteeing a supply of electricity to the entire world population by 2030. However, the International […]
Bolivia: Good Living from periphery
Sumak Kawsay or ‘Good Living’, has its roots in the indigenous traditions of the Andes. And it is the dream of all human beings. The concept ‘Good Living’ has spiritual and mystical roots. With great wisdom, these native peoples cultivate their “ability to think, feel and know everything that exists: cosmo-feeling, cosmo-knowing, cosmo-living, as an […]
Eritrea: Under Siege
Many Eritreans have been forced to seek refuge in Europe, but little is known about the dictatorial and oppressive regime behind the forced migration that has placed many of them outside their ancestral home. The current wave of draconian regulations has been targeted against the Catholic Church in a bid to silence her. Ostensibly, it […]
Ecumenism in Africa: Dialogue in the Continent of Diversity
In ancient times, the word ecumene denoted the whole known world and defined that portion of the earth that was inhabited, in contrast with the lands as yet unknown. Later, the concept of ecumenism attained a religious meaning referring to the movements within Christianity that aimed at unifying their various denominations, separated by questions of […]
Burkina Faso: and the Desert Blooms
He has transformed sterile land into a forest by digging trenches in the hardened earth that hold water and other nutrients, allowing the growing crops to resist drought. This is an ancient unconventional technique known as zaï. The land is different in the province of Yatenga in the northern region of Burkina Faso, a few […]
Kenya: The Blood of the Lamb
The Gabbra are a nomadic people who live in the north-west of Kenya and the south of Ethiopia. An account of the celebration of ‘The Lamb of the Sacred Enclosure.’ “Orjale, you who were born on the mountains of Ethiopia, come to the feast with your spouse Bimbirra and your son Dida.” With these words […]
Oral Literature: What the Squirrel Saw
One very hot day, a small green grass-snake had made a good meal and looked about for a comfortable place to rest. He found some long, soft grass underneath a tree and curling himself up, he fell fast asleep. Now there was a squirrel up in the tree, and presently he noticed the sun shining on […]
Uganda: Educating the Heart.
A Catholic nurse dedicates her life to Meeting Point International, an association that takes care of more than two thousand orphans and HIV positive women. Kireka is one of the slums of Kampala, the Ugandan capital. It’s an enormous area of housing made of iron sheets where around 70,000 people live. It’s there that we […]
Nicaragua: Journey into Myths and Legends in the Land of Volcanoes.
Every town and city has its own tales, myths, and legends that make up part of the culture of Nicaraguans. León is the second largest city in Nicaragua, after Managua. It was founded by the Spanish as Santiago de los Caballeros de León. The city is located along the Río Chiquito (Chiquito River), 90 kilometres […]
India: the Other Side of Tea Plantations
Black Assam tea is famous worldwide but the plantations of the north-east do not deal only in tea. Human traffickers take advantage of the poverty of many families here to traffick children. A sea of green, luxuriant bushes borders the road through the tea plantation. Outside some small mud houses two teenage girls are laughing […]
