“Oh God, grant us a safe and smooth journey; destroy any obstacles on our way, so that when we return home safely after the day’s work, we shall have cause to give you thanks and praise – Amen”.

Staring in the driver’s face, I asked him the following rhetorical questions: As we embark on this journey, if we crash and you break a leg and I break an arm, do you realize that we will still have to give thanks and praise to God? And do you realize that even if we die in the crash our relatives and friends will still have to give thanks to God for our lives? The driver was dead silent. I concluded saying, “There comes a time we’ve got to say thank you no matter what” as Lucky Dube an African musician said in one of his songs. We must be thankful and grateful to God for every moment and situation in our lives.

- Thomas Awiapo
As a child in Ghana, Thomas Awiapo was a beneficiary of CRS school feeding programs. Now, as an adult, he works for CRS Ghana and travels to the U.S. annually to tell his inspiring story to American Catholics at schools, parishes and communities. Thomas will be a featured guest blogger and will be reporting from Ghana about the issues he witnesses firsthand.

Watch the video: Empowered for Life: The Thomas Awiapo Story.

Excerpted from the story:

“These rigs are good for about 100,000 people a year over their 20-year lifespan,” Jerry Stanton, CRS Northeast major gifts officer noted. “Two of the machines are brand new. One of the machines is three years old and that’s already provided water for 250,000 people. But 50 million people have no clean water in Ethiopia. We’re trying to chip away at that.”

Read the rest of the story here.

For an Ethiopian’s perspective on what wells mean to her, see this short story.

At the end of today’s general audience, the Holy Father recalled the fact that Friday 20 November marks the United Nations Day of Prayer and Action for Children, called to mark the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“My thoughts go”, said Benedict XVI, “to all the children of the world, especially those who live in difficult conditions, and suffer because of violence, abuse, sickness, war or hunger.

“I invite you to join my prayers. At the same time I make an appeal to the international community to increase its efforts to offer an adequate response to the dramatic problems of infancy. May a generous commitment on everyone’s part not be lacking, so that the rights of children may be recognized and their dignity given ever greater respect”.

Matthew Hay Brown, the religion reporter for The Baltimore Sun, reports on Archbishop Dolan’s address here.

Thank you, Lord, for dedicated workers who help restore communities that have experienced disasters.

Thank you, Lord, for inspiring ordinary people to perform extraordinary acts of love.

Let us pray that vulnerable people are protected from harm as they struggle to make the best of life in refugee camps.

Thank you, Lord, for sparing Haiti and Cuba from another devastating hurricane season.

Let us pray that Our Father in heaven instills in us a sense of profound gratitude as we approach Thanksgiving Day.

“Hunger is the most cruel and concrete sign of poverty. Opulence and waste are no longer acceptable when the tragedy of hunger is assuming ever greater proportions. … The Catholic Church will always be concerned for efforts to defeat hunger; the Church is committed to support, by word and deed, the action taken in solidarity – planned, responsible and regulated – to which all members of the international community are called to contribute. The Church does not wish to interfere in political decisions: she respects the knowledge gained through scientific study, and decisions arrived at through reason responsibly enlightened by authentically human values, and she supports the effort to eliminate hunger.

“This is the most immediate and concrete sign of solidarity inspired by charity, and it brooks neither delay nor compromise.”

Read the entire speech at the Vatican website.

Schoolchildren in Laos learn the proper way to wash their hands. Photo: CRS Staff

In the U.S., parents are clamoring for H1N1 vaccines for their families.

In Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, parents don’t have that option–the vaccine isn’t there yet.

But Catholic Relief Services is drawing on its experience teaching children about bird flu (H5N1) to make sure they protect themselves against swine flu (H1N1). Both diseases—virulent strains of influenza—are present in Southeast Asia. In Vietnam, over 10,000 people have H1N1, and several people have died from it.

Compounding the problem is a lack of sanitation facilities in certain poorer regions. “Some communities and schools don’t have running water,” says Greg Auberry, CRS Southeast Asia Representative. “And handwashing is not widely practiced.”

CRS started teaching children in Southeast Asia about hygiene four years ago, when deadly bird flu first appeared. Now, CRS is partnering with schools to making sure elementary students avoid spreading swine flu.

Using songs, games, and handwashing contests, the CRS programs encourage children to keep their hands clean, avoid transferring germs when sneezing, and to stay home when they’re sick.

“We’d love it if the vaccine were available here, but with or without it, handwashing is key to avoiding flu outbreaks,” says Auberry. “We hope our programs will keep kids happy and healthy.”

Laura Sheahen, CRS regional information officer for Asia and the Pacific Rim

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Issac Boyd, left, CRS’ Emergency Response Team Shelter Advisor, and Kirtimaya Mishra, program manager for CRS’ Disaster Risk Reduction project in India, were in invited to participate in a shelter innovation competition sponsored by the World Bank. Photo by Emily Ardell/CRS

Two creative shelter design projects piloted by Catholic Relief Services in India and Peru have been selected as finalists in a prestigious competition sponsored by the World Bank in Washington, D.C. The CRS proposals were two of only 100 selected as finalists from a pool of nearly 1,800 submissions. The goal of the competition is to identify 20-25 innovative, early-stage projects addressing climate adaptation and its impact on the world’s poorest countries and most vulnerable people.

The winner could receive a two-year grant of nearly $200,000.

CRS India has been piloting a model of flood-resistant shelters in the states of West Bengal and Orissa, areas prone to flooding from typhoons and monsoons. Families are often forced to evacuate their homes, only to return to a house made uninhabitable by the water. Many are forced to move to temporary shelters. It’s a cycle that happens every year.

Emily Ardell, left, CRS technical advisor in Bolivia, and Romina Sanchez, CRS advocacy coordinator in Peru, present a shelter design that was selected to compete in a grant program sponsored by the World Bank. Photo by Issac Boyd/CRS

The CRS proposal focuses on training impoverished homeowners, local artisans & tradespeople to construct low-cost, flood-resistant houses, using locally available materials and adapting local construction techniques. The CRS model uses materials such as compressed earth block, and reinforced concrete pillars, along with a raised plinth design. The project targets the poorest most vulnerable households in the communities.

CRS Peru, working with our Caritas partners, has been piloting two simple home improvements high in the Andes region, 12,000 feet above sea level. There, impoverished Quechua families live in adobe homes with straw roofs. They burn unprotected indoor fires for heating and cooking during increasingly longer winters.

The CRS shelter project selected for the World Bank competition proposes the installation of trombe walls—homemade solar panels affixed to the north side of the home—that would increase indoor temperature and keep families warmer. The proposal also includes the installation of cooking stoves that channel smoke to the outside of the home via a chimney. These two simple home improvements could decrease firewood consumption by about 75%, decrease black carbon emissions and increase the quality of life for families in the region.