DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Friday 2nd March - Lent Fast Day

Tuesday 27th March 5pm—7.30pm - Thirst for Change

Campaign Event at Romero House

Ms Lemlem Tsegay, Water and Sanitation Engineer for CAFOD‟s partners in Ethiopia, will speak about CAFOD‟s work in Africa.

Contact marana@cafod.org.uk or 0207 095 5417 to book by 20th March

Saturday 26th May 10.30am—4pm - Supporters Retreat

Woldingham School, Marden Park, CR3 7YA

This will be a day for reflection at Pentecost, with a focus on Thirst for Change and Hunger for Justice. Contact Southwark Office to book.

Also, don’t forget that Fairtrade Fortnight has now kicked off! It is running until the 11th March – check out the previous post for details and to see how you can get stuck in with doing your bit!

FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT IS APPROACHING…

This year Fairtrade Fortnight takes place from  27th February – 11th March…what will your step for Fairtrade be?

Thousands of people up and down the country will be taking a Step for Fairtrade in 2012. They’ll be baking cakes, holding coffee mornings, pledging to drink Fairtrade tea for a year, persuading their office to switch to Fairtrade beverages and taking a step to buy more Fairtrade cotton clothing. Last year more than 5,000 events took place around the UK.

Did you know that…

• 60% of Fairtrade farmers and workers are based in Africa. Thanks to them we can buy Fairtrade cotton clothing, cosmetics, wine, fruit, coffee, tea, chocolate and many other products;
• You can buy Fairtrade wines in most major retailers and selected wine merchants;
• Three of the top chocolate brands in the UK are now Fairtrade. Look out for bars with the FAIRTRADE Mark;
• Three out of 10 bananas sold in the UK are Fairtrade;
• You can buy Fairtrade and Fairmined certified gold mined by small scale artisanal miners in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia…?

Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. By requiring companies to pay sustainable prices (which must never fall lower than the market price), Fairtrade addresses the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest, weakest producers. It enables them to improve their position and have more control over their lives. 

Don’t forget that along with others around the UK, you will be able to register your own steps on a special online ‘stepometer’!

Visit cafod.org.uk/fairtrade or fairtrade.org.uk/step for more information on how to get involved!

TODAY’S CHALLENGE: THE OPTION FOR THE POOR & FOR THE EARTH

This Lent’s Lecture is a reflection by Donal Dorr: Missionary, theologian, author and campaigner.  

The  theme is:  ’Today’s Challenge: the option for the poor and for the earth’

When?

Friday 30th March 2012

6pm Reception

7pm Lecture commences

Where?        

Amigo Hall, St George’s Cathedral, London SE1 7HY

To reserve a place email jbarrett@cafod.org.uk or telephone 020 7095 5318 giving your full name and postal address.

 

Photo credit:  Annie Bungeroth

WORLD WATER DAY RAFFLE

Are you running any fundraising events for CAFOD in the near future?

Whether it be a quiz night, a stall or another occasion, our raffle tickets are a great tool for raising funds and for getting new supporters on board with CAFOD’s work.

Getting involved also means that your parish can have a chance to win a special prize of £200 for your community!

Key dates and details:

Theme: World Water Day.

Main draw date: Thursday 22 March 2012

Closing date for entries: Monday 19 March 2012

Raffle prizes:

• 1^st prize: £4,000 or a holiday for two people to Italy
• 2^nd prize: £1,500 or a pair of Pashley bicycles
• 3^rd prize: £500 or a Fairtrade dining set
• 5 extra cash prizes of £100 each

If you think that you’d like to sell raffle tickets at your upcoming event, get in touch at southwark@cafod.org.uk!

WHAT LIT YOUR FLAME?

As we mark our 50th Anniversary, CAFOD invites you to look back and share your story of what it was in your life that first made you want to fight against poverty and injustice.

For some of us, it was a news broadcast, a photo, a speech or an inspirational person. For others, it was a film, book or a story from the Bible, or even a personal experience.

So please share your stories with us, and let us share them with CAFOD supporters and partners throughout the world. To tell us what lit your flame, email flame@cafod.org.uk!

TAKE A STEP IN 2012

STEP 1: Buy a Fairtrade coffee on the way to work…

Six out of ten consumers in the UK believe their own shopping choices can make a real difference to the lives of farmers and workers in poorer countries.

Four out of five people say that they look to companies they deal with to help reduce poverty through the way they do business.

Fairtrade Fortnight 2012 (27 February – 11 March 2012) is your chance to take a step for Fairtrade, whether choosing to buy a Fairtrade coffee on the way to work, or making sure your weekly shopping baskets contain one or two more Fairtrade products like Fairtrade tea or bananas, or encouraging your friends and family to switch to Fairtrade.

You’ll be joining thousands of others all over the UK when you take a step for Fairtrade. Make it as inventive, daring, funny or messy as you like. Every step counts for millions of farmers, workers and their communities in developing countries who urgently need a better deal from trade.

Along with others around the UK, you will be able to register your own steps on a special online ‘stepometer’.

Visit cafod.org.uk/fairtrade or fairtrade.org.uk/step for more information on how to get involved!

DID THE UK GOVERNMENT DROP THE BALL AT DURBAN?

Thank you so much for your support with our Don’t Drop the Ball campaign on climate change. You ensured that the UK took a positive stance, but more commitment is needed to deliver long term finance for the poorest people.

What we asked for: UK to provide its fair share of climate finance to help the poorest adapt, and outline where this money will come from.

What we got: The UK reiterated its pledge to give £1bn in short term climate finance until 2012, but has given no detail on long term support. There was no international progress on specific sources of finance and the UK has not made clear how it plans to raise the money.

What we asked for: UK government to champion the setting up of the Green Climate Fund.

What we got: The Green Climate Fund was set up and this was a good step forward. The UK needs to continue to play a role in ensuring this delivers long term funding to the poorest communities.

What we asked for: UK to channel their climate money through the Fund.

What we got: No progress on this as yet.

So what happens next?

Many thanks again for your support. The next step in our climate campaigning will be the UN Earth Summit in Rio in June 2012. Watch this space!

THIRST FOR CHANGE IS LAUNCHED!

Back in November we told you about a new CAFOD Campaign for 2012. We are pleased to say that Thirst for Change has now been launched!

It got off to a great start – with regional fun runs in Liverpool and Shrewsbury, where CAFOD campaigners dressed as water droplets to raise awareness of the campaign.

The campaign urges David Cameron to call on world leaders to end water poverty at the G8 Summit in 2012. We want them to make concrete political and financial commitments to ensure the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on water and sanitation is met by 2015 and endorse the international ‘Sanitation and Water for All’ initiative to turn these promises into reality.

David Harewood, star of the Golden Globe nominated drama Homeland, recently pledged his support for Thirst for Change. While signing his message to the Prime Minister, David explained why the issue is so important to him: “I think it’s an absolute scandal that in 2012, one in eight people in the world does not have access to clean water. Something we take for granted in Britain and America is just a distant dream for millions of people in the poorest countries. I could not believe it when I read that diarrhoea is the single biggest killer of children in Africa – how can we possibly stand back and let something so easily preventable carry on?”

In your Thirst for change action pack you’ll find:

• Thirst for change action card
• Thirst for change community action guide (with activity ideas, a short talk, media tips and more)
• Facts from the taps: all you need to know about water poverty
• Let waters flow prayer cards

To order more action cards and resources, email us at campaign@cafod.org.uk or call us on 0300 011 5680.

Other resources, including an inspiring Thirst for change film and Thirst for change resources for use with young people in schools and youth groups, are available online. Go to cafod.org.uk/thirst

DID YOU MAKE ANY RESOLUTIONS FOR 2012?

Dust off those walking boots and take some time for reflection and a sense of tranquillity…

Did you make any resolutions for the New Year? Or perhaps you decided that you’d do something new, but haven’t yet decided what that will be? We would like to present you with a very special opportunity for 2012…

CAFOD are encouraging supporters to join together and walk the final 100 miles of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, on two dates in 2012. By walking in community, you will be able to share the journey and your reflections along the way.

The ‘route of the stars’, named so because it lies beneath the Milky Way, takes pilgrims along the beautiful and peaceful countryside across the north of Spain, ending at the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. The route has existed for over a thousand years and offers a physical, mental and spiritual challenge to those who take it on.

CAFOD will be supporting groups of walkers who want to do this on two dates, from the 2^nd of June and the 15^th of September. There will also be a training weekend on the 5^th and 6^th of May, giving the walkers a chance to meet each other, talk to past pilgrims and plan together. CAFOD will be supporting partakers all the way – as they help CAFOD to raise funds.

For more information or if you’d like to register to take part, please visit the website.

DOUBLE THE IMPACT OF YOUR DONATIONS

This Lent we have a unique and exiting opportunity to double the impact of our donations.

Under the UK Aid Match scheme the Government will match pound-for-pound, every donation generously given to our Lent appeal.

Any Lent collections & fundraising activity that take place between 17th Feb and 17th May will qualify.

There is a real potential to make a big difference to even more people.

We’ll post this again nearer the start of Lent.

So  it’s time to get thinking caps on for great fundraising activity when we can double our donations.