CAFOD's mission is to use funds from the Church, the government and donations to help people in need regardless of their race, gender, religion or politics, to bring about change through development and relief programmes overseas. They also work to raise public awareness of poverty and injustice. Cafod raise about £30,000,000 every year which they use to help people in poverty. This money pays for things like fish to stock a village pond, an emergency kit following a disaster, a bicycle, counselling and support for a family living with HIV/AIDS or exercise books for people, to help improve literacy.
CAFOD works in over 64 countries. One of the many places that CAFOD works is Rwanda. The country was damaged by a war between the two main ethnic groups in the country, the Hutu group and the Tutsi minority. During this war in 1994, Hutu militias massacred 800,000 Tutsi civilians. This has caused many problems in the country. Many children have grown up looking after young siblings and they still do not know if their loved ones were killed or where they are buried. The genocide caused two million Hutus to flee the country in fear of Tutsi revenge. In Rwanda 70 per cent of the population live below the poverty line and so establishing a livelihood is hard. It is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa. However things are improving and CAFOD are supporting the Great Lakes Trauma Program Project and in 2007 CAFOD spent £219,000 in Rwanda.
CAFOD has around 235 people working for them around the world to ensure that their work is completed. Their work includes raising awareness of poverty and the charity to schools, parishes and to individuals. They have many offices in England and Wales to coordinate their work. Individuals and communities can help CAFOD through fundraising, prayer and raising awareness of the charity and its work.
The Church approves of the work that CAFOD do, as the teachings of the Bible become actions, an example of this would be: Leviticus 25:35 ‘If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you.’ CAFOD funds organisations that are Church-based or led by Catholics. CAFOD also works in partnership with organisations linked to the Buddhist and Islamic faith. CAFOD has a considerable number of Catholic staff, but also employs staff at most levels of the organisation who are not Catholic but who share CAFOD’s ideals. As CAFOD are a Catholic charity they agree with the Bible and want to follow in Jesus footsteps. However this is not always easy. The spread of HIV/ AIDS can be stopped with the use of condoms, however the Church does not believe in contraceptives. As CAFOD is the official agency of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales it has to be respectful of Catholic teaching and beliefs, CAFOD does not fund the supply, distribution or promotion of condoms.
