Terrorism, deforestation, global warming, consumerism, violence, war, fear.
In this world today, it’s easy to forget that there are countless thousands of people working for a better way.
I’m going to start posting items that have caught my eye under the self-explanatory category “Hope”, using this lovely image of candles. Probably most Sundays, and we’ll see how that works out.
To start with, here is an item about a novel idea of spreading the joy of reading among children in remote parts of Venezuela.
The communities are poor, and access through the Andes is very difficult. Except for mules. So the University of Momboy came up with the idea of getting mules to carry an unusual cargo: Chiquito and Cenizo transport books to the remote village schools. This describes the excitement when the Book Mules arrive:
“Bibilomu-u-u-u-las,” they shouted as the bags of books were unstrapped. They dived in eagerly, keen to grab the best titles and within minutes were being read to by Christina and Juana, two of the project leaders.
“Spreading the joy of reading is our main aim,” Christina Vieras told me.
“But it’s more than that. We’re helping educate people about other important things like the environment. All the children are planting trees. Anything to improve the quality of life and connect these communities.”
If you happen to be reading this having recently come across a similar story of ingenuity and hope, it would be great if you were to add it to the comments. Don’t be shy!
(And if anyone’s wondering where the Sunday Collection is, I’ve decided to make them monthly, so look out for the next one the last Sunday of August.)
Have a wonderful week everyone.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I love this! How cool is that.
wonderful!
i have always been a big fan of henri nouwen who spent the last decade of his life at the l’arche community called daybreak in toronto. below is the link to a recent podcast (written copy is also available) talking about the l’arche communities. i found it very HOPEFUL. their theme is “beauty in brokenness.”
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/larche/index.shtml
Thanks, both of you, and Lucy this is a great podcast about l’arche. I’ve long been an admirer of Jean Vanier and have his book, the prose/poem The Broken Body on my desk at the moment.
Because my brother has Down’s Syndrome, and now Alzheimer’s, this is a subject very close to my heart.
From the book:
It is clear from his life
that Jesus feels most at home
not with the intellectuals nor with people of power
but with the poor, the needy, those in pain
with those children his disciples wanted to keep away.