Zero Poverty
responder a newsletter@zeropoverty.org
para "brunoluisrodrigues@gmail.com"
data 6 de Abril de 2010 15:50
assunto Zero Poverty April Newsletter
enviado por carinet.de
Dear friends of the Zero Poverty campaign,
We hope you have all had a refreshing and reinvigorating Easter. This seems to be a time of great energy all around Europe, perhaps because spring is perceptibly coming closer. People seem to be gradually shaking off the famous ‘winter blues’ and there is great optimism about what the coming months will bring.
As far as the Zero Poverty campaign is concerned, March has seen its fair share of exciting events and we can only hope that like the weather, this campaign will heat up more and more in the near future.
* Launch Event in Malta
* Zero Poverty video
* Zero Poverty Events in March
* Coming up in April
* Petition
* Final Words
Malta has one of the most exciting campaigns in the Caritas Europa network, involving a new, specially commissioned song by the composer Philip Vella, sung by Annabelle Debono (pictured), a specially commissioned TV series on poverty, a national blood donation drive and much, much more.
Their launch event was a great success and was covered widely in the local media, including the Times of Malta. Present at the meeting were H.G, the Archbishop Mgr. Paul Cremona O.P., the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Social Affairs the Hon. Mr Edwin Vassallo, the General Secretary of Caritas Europa Mr Marius Wanders and the Director of Caritas Malta Mgr Victor Grech.
More recently (30 March), the Times of Malta dedicated an editorial to the Zero Poverty campaign and asked for a ‘Community effort to fight poverty’. It seems the message of the Zero Poverty campaign is reaching a wide audience and we can only hope to hear more exciting things from Malta as the campaign goes on.
For more on the campaign in Malta, please contact Paul Vella Haber at dhollies@waldonet.net.mt
Those of you who are curious to hear what Malta’s anti-poverty song sounds like can check out the new video produced by the Zero Poverty team in Brussels. The video lists some of the shocking statistics about poverty in Europe and acts as a call to action – all backed by the music of Philip Vella. None of us who produced the video are professionals (far from it!), and the video is admittedly very basic, however we hope that it makes a clear statement that poverty is unacceptable. Versions in other languages are also being prepared. Give us your feedback!
One of the most important events to happen in March was Caritas’s major Capacity Building Seminar on HIV/AIDS Helping People Living with or Affected by HIV and AIDS, which was held in Sofia on 15-16 March. The Seminar, which was financed with the generous help of Renevabis in Germany, brought together Caritas HIV/AIDS experts from Ukraine, Russia, Albania, Georgia, Armenia and Italy. One of the main issues the Seminar tackled was how to mainstream the issue of HIV/AIDS, i.e. how to integrate HIV/AIDS into the wider work of the network, such as homecare or childcare.
Just a few of the other events that happened across Europe are listed below.
In France, Caritas participated in the ‘France pour l’Europe’ (France for Europe) week from 4-7 March. In the discussions that week, Caritas discussed how to better coordinate transnational poverty-fighting measures and the extent to which there should be greater European level involvement in the fight against poverty.
In Moldova, Anton Cosa, Bishop of Chisinau, visited Caritas Stauceni and their night shelter for destitute and homeless people in order to show solidarity with the poor and socially excluded and listen to their stories. In Croatia, the homeless shelter ‘Roses of St. Frances’
commemorated 3 years of its work by holding a week of events, including a football tournament for people who are homeless.
In Luxembourg, Caritas organised a 10-km run around Luxembourg City. Caritas Europa’s President (pictured) was one of the many people who gave his time and energy to support this event and raise money for charity.
This is just a selection of events that happened in March however. To find out more about Zero Poverty events, please contact your local Caritas organisation or browse the Zero Poverty website
If you live in Switzerland, or are just passing through, mark 24 April as an important date in your diary, as this will be a national ‘Action Day Against Poverty’ organised by Caritas Switzerland. Each of the regional Caritas organisations in Switzerland will present motions to their local parliaments and there will be many events organised to accompany this event. Some organisations will organise exhibitions, others public games and still more stands in public places to raise awareness about poverty and Caritas’s work to combat it. For more information on Switzerland’s ‘Action Day Against Poverty’ please go to their website.
Smaller scale Zero Poverty events will also happen across Europe, such as Italy’s round table discussions with major stakeholders on both the financial crisis and sensitising young people to poverty. Malta will participate in the Anti-Poverty Federation conference. For more information on Zero Poverty events in your country, please refer to our website or your local Caritas organisation.
The Petition Against Poverty is now available in 12 languages: Bulgarian, Croatian, Dutch, English, French, Galician, German, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovenian and Spanish. More are being currently prepared. Please remember to ask you friends, family, colleagues, random passers by in the street etc. to sign the petition!
Yet again it is worth remembering that at the same time as Caritas is campaigning across Europe, the work of millions of volunteers and Caritas staff members is the very essence of Caritas in Europe’s work. Our sympathies go out to the families of those killed in the recent terrorist attacks in Moscow as well as to the millions of Europeans who are daily affected by loss, despair or poverty. We wish our volunteers courage and moral strength in alleviating the distress of those who are suffering.
Warmest regards,
The Zero Poverty Team