DOUBLE YOUR DONATION – “Hearts and Homes” campaign
Double Your Donation! Give before Aug 30 and provide housing for widows
Sustainable Change through the Family Development Program
SAFP began with the inspiration of Pope Paul VI at the International Eucharistic Congress in Bombay (now Mumbai), India in December 1964. Monsignor Augustine John Kandathil (Father Gus), a priest from the Archdiocese of Ernakulam, South India, heard the appeal by Pope Paul VI to the world to join him in a non-violent battle against […]
What does poverty look like?
Try to put faces to the many victims in these recent news stories from India… June 2012: A 32-year-old woman in Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu sold her five-month-old twin daughters for a promised Rs 25,000 (CAD$463) and Rs 15,000(CAD$278) respectively. The woman, named Selvi, is a single mother with an eight-year-old daughter. Her husband […]
India Reflections
In February 2011, SAFP Canada Board member, Patrick Mahon, and his son Thomas (who was 18 at the time) travelled with SAFP throughout Kerala and Tamil Nadu. This reflection was written by Thomas Mahon in October, 2011. I remember first arriving in India. It was around 3 in the morning and even at that time […]
India’s Scheduled Tribes
Indigenous people are among the most vulnerable and marginalized groups in India, facing disproportionately high levels of poverty, illiteracy, and poor health. These communities, referred to by the government as “Scheduled Tribes”, make up more than 8% of the country’s 1.2 billion inhabitants. Many have little contact with the outside world and continue to survive […]
The Millennium Development Goals – Heading towards 2015
In the year 2000, all the world’s countries came together and agreed to make a commitment to ending poverty and improving the well-being of the poor and marginalized around the world. They decided on a set of 8 goals, which they hoped would be achieved over 15 years, by 2015. These goals are: Goal 1: […]
Corruption – An Obstacle to India’s Development
Recent protests in India have brought attention to a serious issue that threatens the country’s potential for development – the problem of corruption. Corruption is a deeply rooted issue that penetrates all levels of government and directly affects a great number of people in India. On a large scale, there are reports of individuals and […]
Helping the Poorest
Micro-credit is hailed by many as a “magic bullet” with the potential to eradicate poverty and empower women, and providing the poor with access to affordable credit has become a central plank in development strategies. Important research is emerging, however, which suggests that the “poorest of the poor” are under-represented in micro-credit programs. For example, […]
Sharing in Success – Our Tsunami Families
On December 26th, 2004, the south-east coast of India was hit by a killer tsunami. The massive waves, which were said to have been higher than the tops of the palm trees, took many people living in the costal areas completely by surprise and caused the loss of an estimated 18,000 lives in India. Of […]