Volunteers Archives

‘COMMUNAL ACTION OF CHARITY’ AND FRATERNAL SOLIDARITY KEY TO RECONSTRUCTING JAPAN ONE DECADE ON SINCE FUKUSHIMA DISASTER

14/10/2022 Climate Change, Disaster Preparedness, Japan, Volunteers by daniele piccini

In light of the lasting impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake which triggered a powerful tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Caritas Japan has a profound understanding and experience of the urgency to live in the spirit of integral ecology as one human family. It has been over a decade since the disaster yet ...

Venezuela crisis: Caritas volunteers restore health and hope

2/09/2018 Emergencies, Food, Health, Latin America, Malnutrition, Migration, Refugees, Venezuela, Volunteers by Francesca Frezza

Monitoring children at risk of malnutrition Maria Mendoza opens the doors to her driveway in Punta de Mulato, Venezuela in early July. She’s preparing for a weekly growth monitoring session for children under five. Caritas volunteers who have been inspired to help during the Venezuela crisis carry chairs and tables from the Church grounds. A ...

“I am a walking miracle.” Caritas is a mission

19/10/2015 Asia, Career, Domestic servitude, Female face of migration, Labor exploitation, Lebanon, Middle East & North Africa, Migration, Sri Lanka, Trafficking, Volunteers by Caritas Communications

Caritas is a mission, not a job. Nirmala Wijesinghe who runs a Caritas safe house in Beiruit is one of the many staff and volunteers around the world who illustrate this through their constant dedication and hard work.

Caritas Lebanon celebrates its young volunteers

29/05/2013 Blog, Career, Lebanon, Middle East & North Africa, Volunteers by Caritas Communications

Cardinal Sandri invited young men and women to be “protagonists of history” and reminisced the night vigil that took place in Bkerkeh during Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI visit to Lebanon, saying: “The intensity of this prayer was like a beam of light directed towards the Middle Eastern sky, a sky that many wish to see full of dark clouds of violence and war.

A decade in Darfur: Call me Actcaritas

6/02/2013 Africa, Blog, Career, Conflicts and Disasters, Disaster Preparedness, Emergencies, Emergencies in Darfur and South Sudan, Peacebuilding, Sudan, Volunteers by Caritas Communications

Seldom has a joint programme between aid agencies made such a personal impression on an employee, but the partnership of ACT Alliance and Caritas—Protestants and Catholics helping Darfur–struck a cord with an aid worker in the region. Here, he describes why he likes his nickname. My real first name is Abakar. But everyone calls me ...

Volunteers in Jordan help with influx of Syrian refugees

10/05/2012 Blog, Career, Conflicts and Disasters, Emergencies, Emergencies in Syria, Jordan, Middle East & North Africa, Peacebuilding, Syria, Volunteers by Caritas Communications

By Caritas Internationalis and Caritas Jordan staff “I like to help others,” said Madleen Qandah, a 21 years old mathematics student in Mafraq. She is volunteering with Caritas Jordan as it aids Syrian refugees fleeing violence in their own country. “I just put myself in the refugees’ shoes and treat them how I would like ...

Tsunami Zone: A Day in the Life of a Caritas Japan Volunteer

9/03/2012 Aid Success Story, Asia, Career, Conflicts and Disasters, Emergencies, Japan, Volunteers by Caritas Communications

Interview with Ms. Seiko Ise More than 2500 people have volunteered for Caritas Japan programs helping survivors of the March2011 tsunami. Here, a Caritas coordinator describes what the volunteers do–and what motivates them. How do people get started volunteering for Caritas Japan? People find out about volunteering with Caritas through the internet or from friends. ...

Pope says volunteering sign of God’s love

11/11/2011 Career, Volunteers by Caritas Communications

Pope Benedict XVI says that through volunteering “we also become visible instruments of his love in a world that still profoundly yearns for that love amid the poverty, loneliness, marginalization and ignorance that we see all around us.” The pope was addressing 160 bishops and representatives of charitable organisations from 25 countries here in Rome ...

Caritas volunteers aid Japan’s tsunami survivors

26/09/2011 Asia, Career, Conflicts and Disasters, Emergencies, Japan, Volunteers by Caritas Communications

The tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011 was one of the most destructive and terrifying disasters of modern times. Over 15,000 people died; many more saw their homes swept away. Along Japan’s east coast, towering piles of debris stand near the cement foundations of whole neighbourhoods that are now gone. Caritas Japan immediately began ...

Volunteering for better communities

6/09/2011 Blog, Career, Volunteers by Caritas Communications

Caritas Internationalis Delegate Joseph Cornelius Donnelly reports from Bonn. More people everywhere are falling further into poverty and many into extreme poverty. Social situations where we live demand we respond as individuals with clear role to build up communities. People are needed more than only dollars and sense. Civil society organising is natural product of ...