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Chairman's Report
Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things
The lives of 11-year-old Sok and his family have been
transformed by the loan of an animal from a "buffalo bank." Sok lives in Tachey
village in the Svay Rieng province of Cambodia. With the help of the buffalo, Sok's father
was able to get the most from his paddy field. He paid some of the extra rice he harvested
into the "rice bank", from which all the villagers are able to make withdrawals
when times are hard. Last year, the buffalo had its first calf, a male, which Sok's family
will be able to keep. The next calf will be distributed to another needy local family.
CAFOD began with small groups of Catholic women asking themselves, What
can we as Christians in the comparatively wealthy countries do to express our compassion
for the poor of the Third World? They decided to have a Family Fast Day collection in
every parish during Lent. It was a beautiful and powerful way of bringing prayer, fasting,
and wealth-sharing together.
The buffalo bank in Cambodia is one of the thousand development projects
now supported by CAFOD thanks to these early beginnings, using money collected from at
Fast Days and throughout the year to improve the quality of people's lives in poor
communities throughout the Third World.
The Family Fast Day in Catholic parishes in England and Wales and the
buffalo bank in Cambodia are each an example of a simple but effective idea that allows
ordinary people to express the belief that we all belong to one human family. They are
just two of the development projects overseas and fundraising, education, and campaigning
initiatives at home supported by CAFOD, more of which are decried in this review of the
agency's work in 1997. Together they make something extraordinary: a living bridge between
the Catholic community of England and Wales and people in poor communities in the
developing world.
Bishop John Crowley (Chairman)
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