On one side of the world:
8 billion people, around 1 in 6 people, drinks water contaminated with faeces.[1]More people have access to mobile phones than working toilets. Only a third of the population of India has access to adequate sanitation.[2]
In 76% of households, women and children bear the primary responsibility of collecting water.[3]...
This is Indrakhala. She lives in the beautiful country of Nepal. She has her home next to the mud homes of her extended family.[1]
Yet the key word here is ‘next to’. In this photo she gently smiles, but, in reality, her life is far from beautiful. Years ago, she was forced to stay in a shelter made out of mud and bamboo leaning...
Ireland has been officially neutral in terms of international conflict for around 8 decades, since the 1930s.
Yet it has not been...
Sunday was International Women’s Day. It adopted the strapline “Make it Happen”. It’s a clear statement that enough talking has been done – it’s time to ensure gender...
In May 1991, the member states of the World Health Assembly (WHA), the governing body of the WHO (World Health Organisation), promised to ‘eliminate leprosy as a public health problem’ by the year 2000. The 1991 resolution was, in effect, a promise by WHO to the United Nations,...
Climate Change. What comes to mind? Protesters tying banners on factory chimneys? Radical environmentalists? Al Gore? When one sees the issues of the world, from child soldiers to mass oppression to even genocide, why do we need to worry about whether the summer is going to be a little hotter next...
The 1952 polio epidemic killed 3,145 and paralysed 21,269 men, women and children in the US. Two years later, on 23 February 1954, Virologist Jonas Salk brought a glimmer of hope to Pittsburgh. On this day, 61 years ago, the first...
It looks to a bright hope of a future in which all people, regardless of race, gender, religion, nationality, age, background, or disability, have equal prospects to flourish. It looks to a society in which no person is treated as...
27th January 1945 was a momentous day in history. 70 years ago today, Soviet forces liberated the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp. The liberation of Auschwitz was a...
Volumes and volumes have already been written about the events in Paris last week. There is little I can add to the discussion. But, I prayerfully remember God’s command, through the writings of St. Paul in his letter to the early Christian community in Rome, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” (Romans 12:15) True love and solidarity is to...
Let me pose an unusual question: What do cats, avocados and oil tankers have in common? Answer: All three have become threats to the unique environment of the Galápagos...
180 years ago today, 7th January 1835, HMS Beagle dropped anchor on the Chonos Archipelago. Charles Darwin was on board. He would spend the next...
In UK, more than one third of adolescent girls, and one fifth of boys, have self-harmed.[1] In USA, suicide kills more young people than cancer.[2] Countless people have such a low sense of self worth that they think life no longer worth...
Today is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The precise title of the day is important. It represents a progressive move in language and understanding: no person is fundamentally ‘disabled’. There are, more correctly, ‘persons with disabilities”. There are many things I can’t do. To start that list, let’s just say any...