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Source: http://feeds.crs.org/CatholicReliefServicesBlog

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<itunes:summary>World Report from Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is a new weekly radio bulletin from CRS aired on Catholic radio stations across the United States. CRS World Report brings listeners stories on the global mission of the Catholic Church to assist impoverished and disadvantaged people. World Report tells real stories of hope and faith that shape the lives of our brothers and sisters overseas.</itunes:summary>
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<itunes:subtitle>A weekly radio bulletin from Catholic Relief Services aired on Catholic radio stations across the United States</itunes:subtitle>
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<item>
<title>Volunteering With Farmer to Farmer—A Family Affair</title>
<link>https://www.crs-blog.org/volunteering-a-family-affair/</link>
<comments>https://www.crs-blog.org/volunteering-a-family-affair/#respond</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 02 Apr 2018 15:17:58 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[John Lindner]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.crs-blog.org/?p=19636</guid>
<description><![CDATA[by Ryan Ringuette Volunteering has (accidentally) become my family’s tradition. Both my father and mother are Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (Morocco and Nepal), and both my sister and I are current Peace Corps Volunteers (Paraguay and Uganda). Additionally, my recently retired father volunteers with the USAID Farmer-to-Farmer program (F2F). F2F leverages the expertise of US […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_19508" style="width: 410px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/farmer-to-farmer-Uganda-DSC_0454.jpg"><img src="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/farmer-to-farmer-Uganda-DSC_0454.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="267" class="size-medium wp-image-19508" /></a>Ryan Ringuette stands with fellow farmers in Uganda where he volunteers for Farmer to Farmer through CRS. Photo courtesy Ryan Ringuette</div>
by Ryan Ringuette
Volunteering has (accidentally) become my family’s tradition. Both my father and mother are Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (Morocco and Nepal), and both my sister and I are current Peace Corps Volunteers (Paraguay and Uganda). Additionally, my recently retired father volunteers with the USAID <a href="http://farmertofarmer.crs.org/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Farmer-to-Farmer program</a> (F2F). F2F leverages the expertise of US volunteers to respond to the needs of farmers and farmer organizations around the world. And as a third year Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) with Catholic Relief Services’ (CRS) F2F Uganda program, I ensure he and others like him can do just that.
I say ‘accidentally’ because I never dreamed about becoming a PCV. When I was growing up, academics were the driving force, farming the family tradition, and volunteering an occasional undertaking. I wanted to help people, be helpful to them, and thought academics were the best way to learn how to do this. However, being the son of RPCV and teacher parents, every summer we would travel. Sometimes domestically, usually internationally, but always as budget traveler’s places with different geographies, cultures, and histories than Hawai’i. At some point I realized I was learning more from these experiences than I was at school, which led me to apply for Peace Corps in my Senior year of college.
I arrived in Uganda as an Agribusiness Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) in June 2015. After training with 46 other PCV’s-to-be, I paired with NilePro Trust, a local NGO and F2F host organization in Arua, Uganda. With NilePro, I was a field supervisor for their Vegetable Oil Development Project, promoting oilseed crops (sunflower, soybean, sesame) to farmers and developing farmer groups capacity to link to markets. During my time with them, NilePro received three volunteers; two helping to develop farmer groups into cooperatives and one assessing the feasibility of a sesame processing plant with NilePro. The volunteer’s different practices, perspectives, and experiences with their assignment and in development work enhanced my own understanding of how people try to help other people.
During my first two years, my Dad and I met twice on or after a F2F assignment. The first was after his assignment in Tanzania; we trekked to the gorillas in Bwindi forest and watched lions laze in the trees of Queen Elizabeth National Park. The second was during the last week of his soil conservation assignment in Mbale, Uganda. This is the only time I have seen him in action and how much he enjoys working with farmers from a different part of the world. Making compost piles was something we were taught in Peace Corps, but conveying that message to a farmer so they understand and potentially use it is something I learned from watching him.
Near the end of my first two years, third year positions were developed by the Peace Corps country program with the goal of providing interested PCV’s the opportunity to work in international development. One of those positions was as a program officer with CRS’s F2F Uganda program. My previous, positive experiences with the program and the opportunity for professional, international development made my decision very easy. And allows me to continue the new family tradition.
<a href="http://www.acdivoca.org/2018/04/a-family-affair-father-and-son-volunteer-for-farmer-to-farmer/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Read David Ringuette’s guest blog on ACDI/VOCA’s website</a>.
]]></content:encoded>
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<item>
<title>Prayers for Peru</title>
<link>https://www.crs-blog.org/prayers-for-peru/</link>
<comments>https://www.crs-blog.org/prayers-for-peru/#comments</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 31 Mar 2017 16:10:23 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Edward Hoyt]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Emergencies]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Prayer]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.crs-blog.org/?p=19598</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Peru as they endure hardships brought about by heavy rains, flooding and mudslides. Light a candle and join us in prayer at the CRS Virtual Votive Chapel.         There are significant needs in the Diocese of Chulucanas (Province of Piura)—made worse by the continuing rain. A […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Peru as they endure hardships brought about by heavy rains, flooding and mudslides.
Light a candle and join us in prayer at the <a href="http://prayers.crs.org/" target="_blank">CRS Virtual Votive Chapel</a>.
<a href="http://prayers.crs.org/" target="_blank"><img class="wp-image-19599" src="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Screen-Shot-2017-03-22-at-1.05.13-PM-400x99.png" alt="Screen Shot 2017-03-22 at 1.05.13 PM" width="202" height="50" align="center" srcset="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Screen-Shot-2017-03-22-at-1.05.13-PM-400x99.png 400w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Screen-Shot-2017-03-22-at-1.05.13-PM.png 412w" sizes="(max-width: 202px) 100vw, 202px" /></a>
 
 
 
  
There are significant needs in the Diocese of Chulucanas (Province of Piura)—made worse by the continuing rain. A local coordination body—including the local government, the diocese, local community based organizations, and private enterprise—is carrying out assessments of the nearby communities. While CRS is not working in that area, we are supporting Caritas Peru and the diocese in their response.
If you would like to support Caritas Peru through CRS, you can call 877-435-7277 (8am to 11pm Eastern), specifying that you want your donation routed to Peru flood relief, or mail a check or money order (with “Peru” in the subject line) to:
Catholic Relief Services 
P.O. Box 17090 
Baltimore, MD 21297-0303
]]></content:encoded>
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<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
</item>
<item>
<title>The Visual Aids of Salvation</title>
<link>https://www.crs-blog.org/the-visual-aids-of-salvation/</link>
<comments>https://www.crs-blog.org/the-visual-aids-of-salvation/#respond</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 24 Mar 2017 19:39:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Edward Hoyt]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.crs-blog.org/?p=19605</guid>
<description><![CDATA[By The Most Rev. Thomas Wenski Editor’s Note: At the recent meeting of the CRS Board of Directors—the USCCB-appointed group of bishops, religious, and laity tasked with governing and supporting the work of CRS—Archbishop Thomas Wenski (Miami) celebrated mass for his fellow bishops, board members and CRS staff. What follows is his homily. The “Charmaine” he […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[By The Most Rev. Thomas Wenski
Editor’s Note: At the recent meeting of the CRS Board of Directors—the USCCB-appointed group of bishops, religious, and laity tasked with governing and supporting the work of CRS—Archbishop Thomas Wenski (Miami) celebrated mass for his fellow bishops, board members and CRS staff. What follows is his homily. The “Charmaine” he refers to is fellow board member Charmaine Warmenhoven.
<div id="attachment_19607" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img class="wp-image-19607" src="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/CRS2015103164-267x400.jpg" alt="Photo by Philip Laubner/CRS" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/CRS2015103164-267x400.jpg 267w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/CRS2015103164.jpg 533w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />Photo by Philip Laubner/CRS</div>
A picture speaks a thousand words—which is why, today, we are most effective when we can accompany words with images. That’s why we use PowerPoint—and incorporate photos, graphs, maps and other visuals into our presentations. Last night, at dinner, weren’t Charmaine’s words about her trip to Guatamala enhanced by the visuals? Homilies might be more effective— and certainly more interesting—if we could figure out how to effectively incorporate audio-visual resources into them. Some liturgical purists might object, but in today’s Gospel, Jesus does just that. He didn’t have laptop to project a PowerPoint presentation, but he did have miracles—they were powerful “visuals” that illustrated what he was preaching about.
Jesus talked about the Kingdom—in the miracle, there was the Kingdom breaking into the world. Well, those miracles still do happen every day in many different ways, because of Catholic Relief Services—and while I don’t say CRS makes them happen—for the glory belongs to God!—CRS is in the miracle business. Even a goat given to family—a goat that might eventually pay for a child’s schooling—is a miracle that gives glory to God.
This is why we care about “Catholic identity”—because what CRS does is Jesus’ work. It might not be “churchy” work, but it is nonetheless God’s work. Remember, Jesus was not only about “soul salvation,” he was about “whole salvation.” As Saint Iraeneus said, the glory of God is man fully alive.
Of course, Jesus performs this miracle on the way to Jerusalem, and we know what awaits him there. He is involved in a cosmic struggle: This is the struggle of life versus death, sin versus grace; God versus The Devil. He expels a demon who has made a man deaf and dumb. Jesus heals him—as Jesus healed us when, at Baptism, the priest also performed an exorcism on us, touching our ears and our lips so that we might hear the Word of God and proclaim it.
<div id="attachment_19608" style="width: 410px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="size-medium wp-image-19608" src="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/PHI2013086402-400x267.jpg" alt="Photo by Jim Stipe/CRS" width="400" height="267" srcset="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/PHI2013086402-400x267.jpg 400w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/PHI2013086402-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/PHI2013086402.jpg 800w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" />Photo by Jim Stipe/CRS</div>
Today, of course, people are more skeptical. We have a harder time believing in miracles or in exorcisms. But in the Gospel today, even those opposed to Jesus didn’t question the fact of the miracle. It was obvious: The dumb man speaks!
The Pharisees don’t question the miracle, but they question the source of Jesus’ power. He casts out devils, they say, by the power of Beelzebub. And so the Pharisees here are engaging in a tactic—still quite common today in politics. It is called “poisoning the well.” They try to put down Jesus by associating him with something commonly repulsive. Beelzebub, for the Jews, is “The Lord of the Flies”—that is, the lord of the dung heap. Here, in the conduct of the Pharisees, we see something of the mystery of iniquity. There is something demonic about their opposition—for if Satan had rendered that man literally deaf and dumb, they are figuratively deaf and, dumb—and blind!
<div id="attachment_19609" style="width: 410px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img class="size-medium wp-image-19609" src="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/CON2014097686-400x267.jpg" alt="CRS Global Fund Project Manager Albert Rushingwa speaks to mothers during an awareness program focused on preventing bites from mosquitos at the Shaloom Health Centre, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo on November 12, 2014. CRS is an implementing partner of the Global Fund Malaria Program, working in 22 out of 119 targeted health zones across the western part of DRC. The goal of the program is to contribute to 50% reduction in morbidity and mortality rates due to Malaria in the DRC by 2016. The program targets 223,128 direct beneficiaries, particularly pregnant women, and children under five years of age. Major planned and ongoing activities include the distribution of Long Lasting Treated Nets (LLTNs), anti malarial drugs, and rapid diagnostic tests." width="400" height="267" srcset="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/CON2014097686-400x267.jpg 400w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/CON2014097686-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/CON2014097686.jpg 800w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" />Photo by Sam Phelps for CRS.</div>
Isaiah says, “Woe to those who call good evil and evil good.” So, if the opponents of Jesus say that he cast out demons in the name of Beelzebub, we should not be surprised that our opponents say something similar about the Church and about CRS and the miracles we help bring about every day.
Despite those that would try to “poison the well”, the Kingdom is breaking into the world. In this miracle and in all of Jesus’ miracles, including the miracle of his Passover, we can see that there is that cosmic battle being waged between good and evil; but Satan is being defeated. “If I drive out demons by the figure of God, then the Kingdom of God has come to you.”
We have to see ourselves as part of this cosmic battle—and we have to make sure we’re on the right side; in any case, there is no room for neutrality. Lent calls us to walk with Jesus along his way, the way to Jerusalem. We are either on the way with him or we are in the way.
The Most Reverend Thomas Wenski is the archbishop of Miami.
 
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</item>
<item>
<title>A Critical and Sacred Mission</title>
<link>https://www.crs-blog.org/a-critical-and-sacred-mission/</link>
<comments>https://www.crs-blog.org/a-critical-and-sacred-mission/#comments</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 29 Dec 2016 21:25:54 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Edward Hoyt]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Message from Sean Callahan]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[sean callahan]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.crs-blog.org/?p=19583</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Friends, Never has the Catholic Relief Services mission been more critical to Americans and, particularly, to American Catholics. As I assume the leadership of CRS, it is a time of great uncertainty in our country and around the world. More families than ever are displaced from their homes; there is greater and greater inequality in […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-19584" src="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Sean-Voices-Banner.jpg" alt="Sean-Voices-Banner" width="590" height="150" srcset="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Sean-Voices-Banner.jpg 590w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Sean-Voices-Banner-400x102.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 590px) 100vw, 590px" />
Friends,
<div id="attachment_19589" style="width: 410px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="size-medium wp-image-19589" src="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/SRB2015111592-400x267.jpg" alt="New CRS President Sean Callahan holds 11 month old Siad from Kobane in Syria, as he and his refugee family cross the border from Serbia into Croatia. Photo by Andrew McConnell for CRS" width="400" height="267" srcset="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/SRB2015111592-400x267.jpg 400w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/SRB2015111592-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/SRB2015111592-1024x683.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" />New CRS President Sean Callahan carries Siad as he and his family cross the border from Serbia into Croatia. Photo by Andrew McConnell for CRS</div>
Never has the Catholic Relief Services mission been more critical to Americans and, particularly, to American Catholics. As I assume the leadership of CRS, it is a time of great uncertainty in our country and around the world. More families than ever are displaced from their homes; there is greater and greater inequality in the global marketplace; and many of us are frightened that our lives can be irrevocably altered by a single, senseless, violent act.
And yet, remaining faithful to our mission, we have seen tremendous successes, including: significant reduction in deaths and negative economic impact from malaria in West Africa; more opportunities for families to support themselves through the creation of viable livelihoods; better capacity of local communities and organizations to respond to crises; and a real chance for people to achieve peace and reconciliation that upholds the sanctity of every human life.
At CRS we are blessed with a mission that searches for the best in humanity. We are inspired by the Holy Father, who said, “Each one of us is called to be an artisan of peace, by uniting and not dividing, by extinguishing hatred and not holding on to it, by opening paths to dialogue and not by constructing new walls!”
He calls us to join together in communion with our brothers and sisters around the world—regardless of their religion or ethnicity—to ensure that human dignity is respected and that every individual is seen and treated as a child of God.
<div id="attachment_19587" style="width: 410px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img class="size-medium wp-image-19587" src="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/PHI2013086004-400x267.jpg" alt="Visiting the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan, Sean prays while attending Mass at the Cathedral of Transfiguration Palo, Leyte. Photo by Kent Truog for Catholic Relief Services" width="400" height="267" srcset="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/PHI2013086004-400x267.jpg 400w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/PHI2013086004-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/PHI2013086004.jpg 800w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" />Visiting the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan, Sean prays during Mass at the Cathedral of Transfiguration Palo, Leyte. Photo by Kent Truog for Catholic Relief Services</div>
We work closely with the local Church, communities and governments in the countries we serve, and we recognize the opportunity we have to spread the Gospel through our actions and deeds. We know that, throughout the world, we represent the Catholic Church in the United States, and we take our responsibility seriously.
Next year, CRS will celebrate its 75th anniversary as the official overseas humanitarian agency of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. As we reflect on our founding and our original mission—to assist refugees in the midst of war in far-off lands—we are struck by the courage, vision and calling of the Church in America in 1943, and the knowledge that it could not be bound by national borders. The Church’s boundaries were—and remain—only our own imagination and the capacity of the human heart.
Our anniversary calls us to remember those who selflessly put others first during a time of great need. I am humbled by this gift of selflessness that I see in my colleagues every day throughout the world. Their spirit is a source of strength and hope. I am also humbled by our generous donors who join our mission of serving others. Like our founders, you have an indomitable and bold spirit that ensures the vibrancy of the Catholic Church in the United States.
<div id="attachment_19585" style="width: 360px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="wp-image-19585" src="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/ITA201618089.jpg" alt="ITA201618089" width="350" height="233" srcset="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/ITA201618089.jpg 800w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/ITA201618089-400x267.jpg 400w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/ITA201618089-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" />Sean addresses the Second Vatican Conference on Impact Investing: Making the Year of Mercy a Year of Impact for the Poor. Photo by Remo Casilli for CRS</div>
It is your spirit, your commitment, your support—your relentless and faithful belief in the good of humanity and in the mission of CRS—that continue to move us forward during these times of great uncertainty.
Together, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we will not waver from our mission to ensure that every child has the opportunity to flourish physically, mentally and spiritually; that every mother and father have the confidence to make decisions that will strengthen the health and unity of their family; and that every community will be able to reap a harvest of peace and prosperity.
Guided by our sacred mission, I look forward to seeing the many ways we can change the world together.
Peace and light,
Sean L. Callahan 
President & CEO
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<item>
<title>May Blessings Overflow</title>
<link>https://www.crs-blog.org/may-blessings-overflow/</link>
<comments>https://www.crs-blog.org/may-blessings-overflow/#comments</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 28 Nov 2016 19:47:30 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Edward Hoyt]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Message from Dr. Carolyn Y. Woo]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.crs-blog.org/?p=19557</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Dear Friend, It was 5 years ago that we began this conversation, and now, this marks my last letter to you as president of Catholic Relief Services. Thank you for joining CRS to rebuild livelihoods, restore hope and make God’s promises real for many who have lost much. You have given me energy and inspiration […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[Dear Friend,
<div id="attachment_19559" style="width: 410px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="size-medium wp-image-19559" src="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/IRA2014096389-400x267.jpg" alt="Carolyn visits with children from northern Iraq in 2014, part of a population of Iraqis fleeing the onslaught of ISIS. Photo by Rawsht Twana/Metrography for Catholic Relief Services" width="400" height="267" srcset="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/IRA2014096389-400x267.jpg 400w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/IRA2014096389-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/IRA2014096389.jpg 800w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" />Carolyn visits with children fleeing ISIS in northern Iraq in 2014. Photo by Rawsht Twana/Metrography for CRS</div>
<a href="https://www.crs-blog.org/new-year-new-president-continued-commitment-2/" target="_blank">It was 5 years ago that we began this conversation</a>, and now, this marks my last letter to you as president of Catholic Relief Services. Thank you for joining CRS to rebuild livelihoods, restore hope and make God’s promises real for many who have lost much. You have given me energy and inspiration to be worthy of our mandate, of the people God entrusts to us for our care. Thank you for making us part of your faith journey.
I have learned so much about myself in my time at CRS. As I have told you, like so many of those we serve, I was an immigrant. I came to this country from Hong Kong to attend college.
While I was raised in relative comfort, there was always uncertainty. My father battled a gambling problem, and as early as the age of 13, I knew we lived on a precarious financial foundation. It was clear I would need to provide for my parents someday. Plus, Hong Kong was going to be turned over to the Chinese by the British. We did not know what the future would bring. My siblings and nanny helped me scrape together enough money to come to the United States for 1 year of college. I did not know then that scholarships and fellowships would take care of the rest, all the way to my Ph.D.
I worked and worked and worked. I worked as if the devil was chasing me. What I came to realize is that so much of my drive was to find the security that eluded me as a child. And I achieved that. As an academic, when you get tenure, you get security. Other promotions and awards reinforced that. It felt good. It felt solid. I had grabbed my brass rings and I kept a tight grip on them.
When I faced the prospect of coming to CRS from Notre Dame, it meant I had to give up tenure, give up my standing in the academic world, give up the security that had been my goal. I can tell you now that I was scared. I can also tell you that it was one of the best decisions I ever made. It challenged my family to define what was “enough.” It invited me to trust God. It opened the world to me, and it connected me to a strength that I did not know I have. Most precious, it allowed me to become a part of the works of mercy of the Church.
<div id="attachment_19562" style="width: 410px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img class="size-medium wp-image-19562" src="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PHI2014086813-400x263.jpg" alt="Carolyn talks with a neighborhood in Tacloban, Philippines, where CRS programs were hard at work helping one of the areas most devastated by Typhoon Haiyan. Photo by Laura Elizabeth Pohl for CRS" width="400" height="263" srcset="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PHI2014086813-400x263.jpg 400w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PHI2014086813-768x505.jpg 768w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PHI2014086813-1024x674.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" />Carolyn talks with children in the Philippines in 2014, where CRS programs were hard at work helping communities devastated by Typhoon Haiyan. Photo by Laura Elizabeth Pohl for CRS</div>
The last 5 years have made me realize the meaning of the phrase “let go and let God.” All over the world, I have met people who taught me this lesson.
Among them was a group of women in Afghanistan who, through a CRS program, <a href="https://www.crs-blog.org/afghan-women-find-a-way-out-of-poverty%E2%80%94through-cookies/" target="_blank">started a bakery business</a>. They specialize in butter cookies. CRS provided the oven and enough butter, flour and other ingredients for their first 3 months.
I tasted their cookies. They were to die for! That 3-month inventory sold out in 1 week! One reason: their CRS business training led them to find a market for their product. In this case, that was the local police, who loved their cookies too.
The leader of the project was nursing a baby. I asked her how many children she had. This was her only one. “I had another one,” she told me, “but he died of malnutrition because I didn’t have enough milk.”
Such moments made me realize that the security I always sought was an illusion. That woman did not have much security. But because of the bakery, she had a better life.
None of us ever knows what tomorrow will bring. That is in God’s hands. We can only work to try to make tomorrow better than today—for ourselves, for our loved ones, for everyone in God’s family, wherever they live.
That is what we try to do at CRS. We cannot wave a magic wand and reconstruct Haiti after its earthquake, after Hurricane Matthew. We cannot make fields in Ethiopia suddenly fertile in the midst of years of drought. But we can become the hands of God, at work to make their tomorrow better than today.
My time at CRS has made me change my daily prayer. I used to say, “Oh God, please help me in my work.” Then one day I realized, “Well, this is not really my work. God, this is your work, and I’m just given the privilege to be a part of it.” Since then, my prayer has been, “God, please lead us, guide us and sustain us for your purpose.”
It is a time of great uncertainty for many of us. Yet, I am certain about the presence of God in this world, even in dark hours and places, and particularly amidst people in profound suffering. He walks among us telling us not to be afraid, inviting us to venture beyond our little boxes, helping us laugh, prying open our hearts, and giving us the gift of one other, as partners in his work.
<div id="attachment_19563" style="width: 410px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="size-medium wp-image-19563" src="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/JOR2014086016-400x267.jpg" alt="Carolyn stops to pray while visiting the Our Lady of Peace Center in Amman, Jordan, where CRS programs were set up to assist Syrian refugees with disabilities. Photo by Sam Tarling for CRS" width="400" height="267" srcset="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/JOR2014086016-400x267.jpg 400w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/JOR2014086016-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/JOR2014086016-1024x683.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" />Carolyn stops to pray while visiting the Our Lady of Peace Center in Amman, Jordan, where CRS programs were set up to assist Syrian refugees with disabilities. Photo by Sam Tarling for CRS</div>
I am excited about the <a href="http://www.crs.org/media-center/news-release/crs-board-names-sean-callahan-new-president-ceo" target="_blank">future leadership of my successor Sean Callahan</a> and of everyone at CRS putting the people they serve before themselves. And for the CRS boards and all of you—our supporters—you have been the family to whom I have turned for help and engagement, the family with whom I am on this journey as the people of God back to God.
As for my future, I look forward to spending more time with my husband and loved ones. Most of all, for a person whose academic discipline, profession and modus operandi focus on planning, I am now eager to make God the plan.
You will be in my prayers, and I hope you will keep me in yours.
May blessings overflow,
Dr. Carolyn Y. Woo 
President & CEO
<a href="https://secure.crs.org/site/Donation2?df_id=8760&8760.donation=form1" target="_blank"><img class="size-full wp-image-19574" src="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/make-blessings-overflow.jpg" alt="make-blessings-overflow" width="549" height="50" srcset="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/make-blessings-overflow.jpg 549w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/make-blessings-overflow-400x36.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 549px) 100vw, 549px" /></a>
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<title>What Is GIS?</title>
<link>https://www.crs-blog.org/what-is-gis/</link>
<comments>https://www.crs-blog.org/what-is-gis/#respond</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 16 Nov 2016 15:29:39 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Edward Hoyt]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[GIS]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[mapping]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.crs-blog.org/?p=19537</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a system designed to allow the user to interact with geographical data, in order to better manage, learn from and present the available information. The technology is used by CRS to make our projects more efficient and effective. The third Wednesday in November (November 16 this year) is recognized by the National Geographic Society […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_19552" style="width: 360px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="size-medium wp-image-19552" src="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/KEN2010039968-400x267.jpg" alt="Photo by Carl D. Walsh for CRS" width="350" srcset="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/KEN2010039968-400x267.jpg 400w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/KEN2010039968-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/KEN2010039968.jpg 800w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" />Photo by Carl D. Walsh for CRS</div>
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a system designed to allow the user to interact with geographical data, in order to better manage, learn from and present the available information. The technology is used by CRS to make our projects more efficient and effective.
The third Wednesday in November (November 16 this year) is recognized by the National Geographic Society as <a href="http://www.gisday.com/" target="_blank">GIS Day</a>. The graphic below demonstrates CRS’ use of GIS to more effectively fulfill our mission of assisting the poor overseas. The graphic is available as a PDF in <a href="http://www.crs.org/sites/default/files/gis-english.pdf" target="_blank">English</a>, <a href="http://www.crs.org/sites/default/files/gis-spanish.pdf" target="_blank">Spanish</a>, and <a href="http://www.crs.org/sites/default/files/gis-french-1.pdf" target="_blank">French</a>.
 
<a href="http://www.crs.org/sites/default/files/gis-english.pdf" target="_blank"><img class="size-full wp-image-19541" src="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/GIS-English.png" alt="GIS-English" width="100%" srcset="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/GIS-English.png 3000w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/GIS-English-267x400.png 267w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/GIS-English-768x1152.png 768w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/GIS-English-683x1024.png 683w" sizes="(max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px" /></a>
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<title>Thanksgiving’s Heart of Gratitude</title>
<link>https://www.crs-blog.org/thanksgivings-heart-of-gratitude/</link>
<comments>https://www.crs-blog.org/thanksgivings-heart-of-gratitude/#comments</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 28 Oct 2016 18:15:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Edward Hoyt]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Haiti]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Message from Dr. Carolyn Y. Woo]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Hurricane Matthew]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Thanksgiving]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.crs-blog.org/?p=19513</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Dear Friend, As I write this month, thinking about how we will gather as families across our bountiful land to give thanks for all that we have received, my desk and inbox are filled with reports about the hundreds of thousands suffering from the effects of Hurricane Matthew. When this powerful storm ripped through Haiti’s […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[Dear Friend,
<div id="attachment_19514" style="width: 410px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="size-medium wp-image-19514" src="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/HAI201619461-400x267.jpg" alt="In Roche a Bateau, Haiti, where few homes remain standing after Hurricane Matthew, a woman receives food, cooking supplies and a hygiene kit from CRS. Photo by Marie Arago for CRS" width="400" height="267" srcset="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/HAI201619461-400x267.jpg 400w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/HAI201619461-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/HAI201619461.jpg 800w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" />In Roche a Bateau, Haiti, where few homes remain standing after Hurricane Matthew, a woman receives food, cooking supplies and a hygiene kit from CRS. Photo by Marie Arago for CRS</div>
As I write this month, thinking about how we will gather as families across our bountiful land to give thanks for all that we have received, my desk and inbox are filled with reports about the hundreds of thousands suffering from the effects of Hurricane Matthew.
When this powerful storm ripped through Haiti’s southwest corner, it devastated a peninsula of fertile land, and many homes could not withstand the winds and storm surge. It was after a similarly destructive storm in 1954, Hurricane Hazel, that Catholic Relief Services first went into Haiti. We have been there ever since, working with the poor through our Church.
And we are there now, in your name, in solidarity with the Haitian people, just as we were in 2010 after an earthquake devastated the capital, Port-au-Prince. The recovery from Hurricane Matthew is just beginning.
Many areas that were hard to reach in the best of times have proven almost impossible to get to after the storm. CRS staff was positioned in cities like Les Cayes during the storm, ready to go to work as soon as it passed. More staff arrived from all over Haiti, and from all over the world, as soon as conditions allowed.
Although the recovery is underway, it will take years to rebuild homes and markets, and to replant farmers’ fields in one of Haiti’s most important agricultural regions. Orchards were flattened, crops and topsoil washed away.
Do such challenges—and the thoughts and prayers that accompany them—in any way detract from planning my Thanksgiving celebration? No, on the contrary, they add depth and resonance to it.
<a href="https://secure.crs.org/site/Donation2?df_id=9520&9520.donation=form1&utm_source=crs.org&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=hurricane-matthew&s_src=crs-blog" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-19516" src="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Screen-Shot-2016-10-28-at-2.15.52-PM-400x26.png" alt="Screen Shot 2016-10-28 at 2.15.52 PM" width="100%" srcset="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Screen-Shot-2016-10-28-at-2.15.52-PM-400x26.png 400w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Screen-Shot-2016-10-28-at-2.15.52-PM-768x50.png 768w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Screen-Shot-2016-10-28-at-2.15.52-PM-1024x67.png 1024w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Screen-Shot-2016-10-28-at-2.15.52-PM.png 1598w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" />
</a>
As we gather around the dinner table in late November, it is certainly to give thanks for the harvest that sustains us. But what are we really thankful for? What is it that makes the day so special? We know that it would be special even if we didn’t have a turkey and dressing and sweet potatoes, if we just had a simple meal.
That is, of course, because of our family, the wonder of that intimate community. And that is the real gift from God at Thanksgiving: our family, our ability to love them—and the compassion and empathy, care and concern, joy and celebration that flow from it. Therein lies our humanity, and the spark of divinity that resides within each of God’s children.
Too often we may focus on the sacrifice of helping people living through a natural disaster like Hurricane Matthew, or a man-made one like the civil war in Syria. And this turns acts of charity into a burden that must be borne as we walk along the difficult trail directed by our moral compass.
But do you feel the same way about feeding your family? About sharing the bounty that we celebrate on Thanksgiving with those we love?
Of course you don’t. You do it with joy, gladness and celebration.
God’s Word tells us that people in Haiti, in Syria and around the world are all part of his family—part of our family. When they are in need, we help them—not out of obligation—but gladly, joyfully! This is the special joy that I have felt every day for almost 5 years as president of CRS. It is the joy that all of us at CRS feel, knowing that we are able to touch the lives of so many, just as we touch the lives of our families on Thanksgiving.
So this November, let us give thanks to God not just for the harvest, but also for the great gift that connects us as human beings—happily, gladly, joyfully sharing the bounty of the Earth he created.
May blessings overflow,
 
Dr. Carolyn Y. Woo 
President & CEO
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<title>Poverty and Plenty Affect Intelligent Decisions</title>
<link>https://www.crs-blog.org/poverty-and-plenty-affect-intelligent-decisions/</link>
<comments>https://www.crs-blog.org/poverty-and-plenty-affect-intelligent-decisions/#respond</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 25 Sep 2016 18:51:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Edward Hoyt]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Message from Dr. Carolyn Y. Woo]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Hunger]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Nigeria]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.crs-blog.org/?p=19507</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Dear Friend, I recently came across a fascinating article in Harvard Magazine. Its title, “The Science of Scarcity,” sums up an emerging topic among behavioral economists, the people who study why we make the economic decisions that we do. What they find is that when any of us are poor—indeed when we face scarcity of any […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[Dear Friend,
I recently came across a fascinating article in Harvard Magazine. Its title, “<a href="http://www.harvardmagazine.com/2015/05/the-science-of-scarcity" target="_blank">The Science of Scarcity</a>,” sums up an emerging topic among behavioral economists, the people who study why we make the economic decisions that we do.
What they find is that when any of us are poor—indeed when we face scarcity of any kind—we tend to make bad decisions. Poverty actually lowers our IQ by limiting what these economists call our “bandwidth.” When we are consumed with the problems of poverty—like where our next meal is coming from—we have less of our brain left over to think clearly in a long term fashion.
<div id="attachment_19508" style="width: 410px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="size-medium wp-image-19508" src="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/NIE201617904-400x267.jpg" alt="Ibrahim Nadashi, 66 years old, participates in a reading and writing class in Ruwawuri, Nigeria. The class is helping people learn these skills so they can earn a living with dignity. Photo by Michael Stulman/CRS" width="400" height="267" srcset="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/NIE201617904-400x267.jpg 400w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/NIE201617904-768x513.jpg 768w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/NIE201617904.jpg 800w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" />Ibrahim Nadashi, 66 years old, participates in a reading and writing class in Ruwawuri, Nigeria. The class is helping people learn these skills so they can earn a living with dignity. Photo by Michael Stulman/CRS</div>
Did you know that in this country high school students’ SAT scores correlate consistently with only one measurement: household income? The higher the income, the higher the score, and vice versa. Some say this shows that the wealthy can afford test prep tutors. Others say it proves that our capitalist meritocracy works, that the smart are rewarded.
But it’s clear to me that students living in poverty do not score lower because they are inherently less intelligent. They score lower because the stress of poverty robs them of their intelligence. As the article states, people aren’t poor because they sometimes make bad decisions; people sometimes make bad decisions because they are poor.
Studies show that people who make intelligent decisions when not dealing with scarcity make less intelligent decisions when scarcity is an issue. So, if those same wealthy, high-SAT teenagers were plunged into poverty, their scores would decline.
In this harvest month—October 16 is World Food Day—these insights help bring into focus so much of the work we do in agriculture at Catholic Relief Services.
Our basic strategy is summed up in what we call the <a href="http://www.crs.org/stories/pathway-prosperity" target="_blank">Pathway to Prosperity</a>, a step-by-step approach that helps subsistence farmers, who grow what they eat and eat what they grow, transition into agribusiness entrepreneurs. This way, their crops can feed more people and they can have the resilience to feed their own families, should they face a drought or other hardship.
This article on scarcity makes clear why more successful farming is not simply a matter of providing better seeds or fertilizer or information on local markets. If you are a poor farmer who knows that what your family eats depends on what you harvest, you are not just making calculations about the cost of fertilizer compared to the increase in production, or how much profit you will get when you sell those extra crops on the market. You must also consider where your family’s next meals will come from.
This realization makes me fully appreciate a CRS program in Nigeria that’s helping 42,000 households. Sure, it provides improved varieties of seeds and new technologies to increase farmer productivity, but there’s also vocational training, cash grants, even basic literacy classes.
Take <a href="http://www.crs.org/stories/raising-literacy-improve-harvests" target="_blank">Ibrahim Nadashi</a>, a 66-year-old father of 9, grandfather of 23. Like his father, Ibrahim is a farmer.
“I had no access to school when I was a youth,” says Ibrahim, explaining why he didn’t have the chance to learn to read and write before joining a CRS literacy class a few months ago. It was the science of scarcity in action: If you were a subsistence farmer, would you be more worried about your children’s future education, or their immediate need to eat?
Now, because of this program, Ibrahim’s new skills will put him in a better position to access financial resources and to understand and use new technologies and products that can improve his harvests. And, as he points out, it will help him act as a role model for the children of his village.
Then there’s <a href="http://www.crs.org/stories/transforming-lives-through-agricultural-growth-nigeria" target="_blank">Kulu Asarara</a>, a farmer who used a cash grant from CRS to expand her farm and set up a business selling herbs and spices. With the economic empowerment that the grant and her business gave her, she began to improve her farming, buying fertilizer. Her yield improved. She had crops to sell along with her condiments. Her profits went up. And now she is building a new house.
What are the lessons these hardworking people teach us? When we reduce scarcity, people start thinking more clearly. We don’t have to lead them up the Pathway to Prosperity, they start taking those steps themselves toward the life that God intended for them.
As supporters of CRS, you are taking that journey with them.
May blessings overflow,
Dr. Carolyn Y. Woo 
President & CEO
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<title>CRS Celebrates Canonization of Friend, Saint Teresa of Calcutta</title>
<link>https://www.crs-blog.org/crs-celebrates-canonization-of-friend-saint-teresa-of-calcutta/</link>
<comments>https://www.crs-blog.org/crs-celebrates-canonization-of-friend-saint-teresa-of-calcutta/#respond</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 Sep 2016 11:08:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[John Lindner]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.crs-blog.org/?p=19494</guid>
<description><![CDATA[On September 4, Blessed Mother Teresa became Saint Teresa of Calcutta. Catholic Relief Services had a long and warm relationship with the founder of the Missionaries of Charity, both as an organization and through personal connections with CRS staff. Mother Teresa credited CRS with providing early assistance to the Missionaries of Charity before the order […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_19497" style="width: 410px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="size-medium wp-image-19497" src="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/FullSizeRender1-400x300.jpg" alt="Dr. Carolyn Y. Woo joins Sr. Mary Prema Pierick, Superior General, Missionaries of Charity, in Rome during the canonization of long-time CRS partner Saint Teresa of Calcutta." width="400" height="300" srcset="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/FullSizeRender1-400x300.jpg 400w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/FullSizeRender1-768x576.jpg 768w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/FullSizeRender1-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/FullSizeRender1.jpg 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" />Dr. Carolyn Y. Woo joins Sr. Mary Prema Pierick, Superior General, Missionaries of Charity, in Rome during the canonization of long-time CRS partner Saint Teresa of Calcutta.</div>
On September 4, Blessed Mother Teresa became Saint Teresa of Calcutta. Catholic Relief Services had a long and warm relationship with the founder of the Missionaries of Charity, both as an organization and through personal connections with CRS staff.
Mother Teresa credited CRS with providing early assistance to the Missionaries of Charity before the order was well known. Today, CRS partners with the Missionaries of Charity around the world. For example, in Ethiopia, where the sisters have 18 homes, CRS supports their ministry by providing food, shelter and social services.
Dr. Carolyn Y. Woo president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services represented the agency in Rome during the canonization of long-time CRS partner Saint Teresa of Calcutta.
“Catholic Relief Services has such close ties to Saint Teresa of Calcutta and the Missionaries of Charity. We share a mission and work closely together to serve some of the world’s most vulnerable brothers and sisters. It was an honor to represent CRS in Rome during the canonization. We are privileged to work toward the vision of a peaceful, just world that Saint Teresa of Calcutta exemplifies,” Woo said.
In honor of the saint, CRS offers <a href="http://donate.crs.org/site/PageServer?pagename=saint_quote_book&utm_source=crs.org&utm_medium=hero&utm_campaign=mother-teresa&s_src=mother-teresa&_ga=1.18051833.1375539250.1389383347">this book</a> as a free download. It contains quotes from Saint Teresa of Calcutta as well as other saints.
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<title>Getting Refugee Children Back to School</title>
<link>https://www.crs-blog.org/getting-refugee-children-back-to-school/</link>
<comments>https://www.crs-blog.org/getting-refugee-children-back-to-school/#comments</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 25 Aug 2016 20:50:46 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Edward Hoyt]]></dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Message from Dr. Carolyn Y. Woo]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Catholic Relief]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[refugees]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.crs-blog.org/?p=19485</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Dear Friend, There are many things we take for granted—water from our taps, food from the supermarket, a roof over our heads, a doctor to vaccinate our children. Yet these are often out of reach for the people served by Catholic Relief Services. And there is another precious commodity I want to talk about this […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[Dear Friend,
<div id="attachment_19487" style="width: 410px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img class="size-medium wp-image-19487" src="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/LEB2015101193-b-400x267.jpg" alt="Zainab, 10, (L) Ola, 12, (C) and Evine, 12, Syrian refugees from Idlib and Aleppo provinces, attend a science class at the Good Shepherd Sisters Center in Deir al Ahmar, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. The Good Shepherd Sisters are supported by CRS funds. Photo by Sam Tarling for CRS" width="400" height="267" srcset="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/LEB2015101193-b-400x267.jpg 400w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/LEB2015101193-b-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/LEB2015101193-b.jpg 800w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" />Syria refugees, from left, Evine, Ola and Zainab attend a science class at the Good Shepherd Sisters Center in Lebanon. Photo by Sam Tarling for CRS</div>
There are many things we take for granted—water from our taps, food from the supermarket, a roof over our heads, a doctor to vaccinate our children. Yet these are often out of reach for the people served by Catholic Relief Services.
And there is another precious commodity I want to talk about this month—school.
Every September, as sure as water flows from the faucet, our children and grandchildren gripe as their vacation comes to an end and they must march into the hallways of education once again. But imagine if their school wasn’t there. Imagine if September came and went, and the school doors remained closed to our children.
The refugee crisis gripping our world makes that scenario a reality for so many children today. Millions are fleeing violence in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. Some have left their countries. Some have sought refuge within them. I learned so much about their plight this summer—visiting refugees in Lebanon, Greece and Serbia.
Many of them were young men trying to reach Europe so they could find work and send money back to their families—to their children. More than half of the 16 million people in the Middle East who have been forced from their homes are children.
Most of the children had been in school when they had a home. Now, too many are not. An interrupted education would be one thing if it were a matter of being away for a few months; even a year or 2. They could get back home and catch up. But the war in Syria has been going on for more than 5 years. The most recent violence in Iraq dates back almost as far.
In fact, the reality of refugees today is very different from what it was after World War II, when much of the current legal and humanitarian framework for helping displaced people was put into place. Now, the average refugee will be away from home for more than 20 years. In terms of education, that is a lifetime: the years when each of us builds the foundation that will support all aspects of our lives—economic, spiritual, intellectual.
<div id="attachment_19486" style="width: 410px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img class="size-medium wp-image-19486" src="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/JOR201613664-400x267.jpg" alt="Rakya, 5, is a student at the Latin School of Ashrafieh, in Amman, Jordan. She is from Syria and likes to study math and play on the iPad. Photo by Oscar Durand for CRS" width="400" height="267" srcset="https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/JOR201613664-400x267.jpg 400w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/JOR201613664-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.crs-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/JOR201613664.jpg 800w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" />Rakya, from Syria, likes math. She attends the Latin School of Ashrafieh in Jordan. Photo by Oscar Durand for CRS</div>
That is why so much of our work with refugees focuses on education. The children caught up in turmoil have suffered trauma. They need emotional and psychological support, as well as caring teachers, to help them reclaim their lives. Education plays a vital role in providing structure, a sense of normalcy and a place for children to heal.
CRS is providing assistance to more than 1 million Syrians across the Middle East and Europe, and more than 150,000 uprooted Iraqis. We are supporting more than 64,000 school-aged children in countries throughout the region.
Our work recognizes that children who have experienced violence might not be ready to sit right down in a classroom. So our child friendly spaces in refugee camps provide a safe, secure environment where children can take part in informal education, recreation and counseling. These activities address children’s fears, loneliness and insecurities so they can start to heal. They learn communication and trust, which prepares them emotionally for formal education.
We use puppetry and play to reach children , with videos produced by No Strings International, founded by professionals who once worked with The Muppets. “Red Top,” “Blue Top” and “Out of the Shadows” allow children to face their fears and hopes in a safe space, through a world of imagination.
Many of the refugees we work with do not live in camps. They are often in overcrowded apartments in cities around the region. The local schools are supposed to accept the refugees, and, for the most part, we find that they try to be welcoming. But at times the influx is overwhelming, and refugee children face stigma and discrimination. We help refugee families with the logistics of getting their children into schools, and we provide remedial classes and other support.
Our work in education is a critical investment in the future. One day our prayers will be answered and peace will return to Syria, Iraq and the entire region. We want children to be ready—regardless of when that day comes—to take their place in building peaceful and prosperous nations that will be welcoming to all.
Amar, a Syrian refugee living in Jordan, told us that education for her children is her top priority. When asked why, she responded with an Arabic proverb that means “Learning is light.”
May blessings overflow,
Dr. Carolyn Y. Woo 
President & CEO
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