DOUBLE YOUR DONATION – “Hearts and Homes” campaign
Double Your Donation! Give before Aug 30 and provide housing for widows
An Inspiration to the Community – Overcoming Disabilities
Irfan Salim is from the Puthenjunnu village in Bathery, Kerala, South India. He is a shy but determined man who was born physically disabled and has no use of either of his legs. To help earn a living for the family, his wife Hafsa cleans houses. They have two children; an elder daughter, Tahseen, who […]
Towards Equality
“A woman is now raped in India every 20 minutes…” A statistic from the National Crime Records Bureau of India, which made international news this year with relation to the horrific cases of rape and violence towards women in India. Sources show that rape cases in India have doubled between 1990 and 2008 and that […]
Increasing Food Security in Illikkananam village
Illikkananam is a small, remote village located high in the hills of Kerala’s western ghats. Agriculture is the main occupation in this fertile area. Since some families have only a very small piece of land of their own, many people depend on daily wage labour in local cardamom plantations to support their families. Heavy use […]
Protecting the Forest in Raipur, Chhattisgarh
The SPED III Program acts as a plaform for communities to organize themselves, make connections with local leaders and institutions, and address a variety of poverty-related issues. Here is a wonderful story of a community defending the environment from one of our NGO partners, Raipur Diocesan Social Welfare Society, in Chhattisgarh, India. In the village of […]
Gambling with the Monsoon
India is an agrarian country with 52% of its people employed in the agricultural industry. As I rode the train between some of India’s southern states during my last trip there, there was no shortage of evidence of this. Outside of the major cities in rural areas, you are surrounded for miles by farm crops […]
Understanding Caste in Development
SAFP Canada Staff Cassandra Griffin writes from the field in India. For a foreigner who is an outsider to Indian culture, the concept of caste can be extremely difficult to comprehend. While the effects of this cultural practice may not always be easily apparent, it can be very difficult to reconcile with our own values […]
Grassroots Action leads to Change in SPED III
SAFP Canada Staff Cassandra Griffin writes from the field in India. The road that led to the village had never been paved. It was narrow and rocky, and as our driver navigated it with both skill and courage, we were tossed and shaken around in the jeep. We had already driven many hours like this […]