“How long do you expect to be in Niger?” I asked Abdul Hamid, a refugee from Mali. When I interviewed him last summer, he predicted that his family would remain displaced for “months or years”. Returning was not an option, so long as violent fundamentalists continued to terrorize his community. Where is he now, nearly ...read more

Most of what we hear about Africa is about poverty. We hear about famine, droughts and civil war. But Africa is a continent with over 50 different countries. Poverty cannot be the reality for everyone in the whole continent! It is true that many Africans face daily crises and hardship, but there are also signs ...read more

In the summer of 2012, a food crisis struck West Africa in a region called the Sahel. Salt + Light’s Kris Dmytrenko travelled to Niger to learn about the crisis. Why was it happening? What were Nigeriens doing about it? And how was the world trying to help? Dmytrenko witnessed the efforts of Caritas Niger, ...read more

S+L announces the premiere screenings and broadcast debut of its documentary A New Leaf. Screenings will take place in five cities across Canada and the world broadcast premiere will air exclusively on S+L TV. In the summer of 2012, a food crisis struck West Africa in a region called the Sahel. S+L’s Kris Dmytrenko travelled ...read more

UPDATED: Tonight’s new episode of Perspectives: The Weekly Edition is now streaming online above. There’s a food crisis in Africa right now, but odds are you probably don’t know about it. The Sahel region of West Africa is suffering the consequences of a drought that devastated farmers’ crops. Many communities have used up all their ...read more

When you first heard about the food crisis in the Sahel — if you’re not learning about it now, for the first time — you probably felt a sense of déjà vu. Wasn’t it just last year that a major famine struck Africa? Yes, but that was the Horn of Africa, consisting of Somalia, Ethiopia, ...read more

After an overnight flight to Paris and another flight to Niamey, we are finally on the ground here in Niger. When we reached Paris early this morning, we met up with Kelly Di Domanico, our Development & Peace representative who joined us on our flight to Niamey. It was quite surreal for our team, and ...read more

Slavery could seem like something from the past, but taking a good look at the reality of the world today we find that there are 27 million slaves. That is more than in any other period in human history. The Universal Declaration of the Human Rights says: “No one shall be held in slavery or ...read more

Catholic social teaching is an essential element of our Christian heritage and faith. Not only is it built on a commitment to the poor, but it is a commitment that arises from our experiences of Christ in the Eucharist. With that in mind, how can we make a life-long commitment and live out our baptismal ...read more

On Wednesday, the Canadian bishops addressed one of the more controversial topics of the CCCB Plenary Assembly: the ongoing process of renewal of Development and Peace (CCODP). According to Bishop Fred Henry of Calgary, the bishops are continuing to revision Development and Peace in light of Benedict XVI’s social encyclical Caritas in Veritate. The reform ...read more