St Laurence’s has had a long-term relationship with CAFOD and is a LiveSimply parish. The Hands On Colombia launch evening on Saturday January 25 saw a sell-out attendance.
We started with Jess Michelmore, Communications Officer for CAFOD South America giving a very interesting talk and slide presentation about Colombia in general and more specifically on the Magdalena Medio region which we will be supporting. Jess herself was there in November last year so was able to explain in detail and show us the people she met.
The people there have been involved in the conflict between Government troops, guerrillas and paramilitaries for many years. This is about to change and CAFOD with local partner PDP and our support, plan to educate and empower young people to resolve conflict peacefully. Young leaders like 16-year-old Rosana have plans to bring about change in their communities and I am sure they will.
This gave us all something to think about and discuss as we tucked into a wonderful supper of Colombian black bean stew with rice and an interesting salad mix. We then had a pudding of Colombian alcohol laced chocolate cake, all accompanied by an amazing Colombian cocktail I did not ask what was in it?
The fun is over, so now we must start our monthly collections and make lots of money for Hands on Colombia in the coming year.
Pictured above is Rosana and her mum. Picture by Louise Norton/ CAFOD.