For whom the bell tolls
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDV79rCnTd4&feature=plcp[/youtube] Can you finish this: “Every time a bell rings ______.” A classic Christmas movie will have one answer, students at the end of recess another and St. Joseph the Worker clients yet another. Since mid-August or so, every time a bell rings at the job service agency on Maricopa County’s Human Services Campus steps […]
Africa trip — Educating Burkina children
There’s the so-called “school of life.” Then there’s going to school to maintain your livelihood. It seems most of the African children in Burkina Faso fall in the latter category. We learned this after spending a day at local schools. We managed to visit a campus at every level (I hoped for an honorary diploma […]
Children turn to gold mining after drought leaves few options in Burkina Faso
SEGUENEGA, Burkina Faso — Thirteen-year-old Zale Moumouni has been living 12 kilometers down the road from his village, searching for gold. He spends his days at the bottom of a meters-deep hole, shoveling sand to be sifted. There are 250 miners on site — 150 of them are children. Moumouni started mining because he didn’t […]
Arrived in Burkina Faso
I haven’t finished processing our visit to Niger, and now I’m sitting in the Palm Beach Hotel lobby in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.There’s so much left to say about our visit to Niger, much of which Ambria and I will write about in the November issue of The Catholic Sun. We’ve arrived here, though, and the Catholic […]
A priest in a Muslim country
Yesterday, Catholic Relief Services hosted a reception for us at their Niamey headquarters in Niger. It was a lovely celebration. My favorite part was following local custom and pulling mutton meat right off the bone with my fingers. The whole sheep was there, and we all partook of it. Messy, but delicious. During the reception, […]
Africa trip — Family moments
Someone once told me that the Catholic world starts to feel quite small as soon as you meet a person or two. In other words, as you start meeting those working in the Church, you quickly find connections you never thought possible. And you quickly feel at home with each other, like they’re family. […]
The marketplace in Niamey
I don’t like to bargain. I just want to know a price and make a decision, not play the negotiating game. So, when we went to the market today in Niamey, Niger, I was out of my comfort zone. Ambria Hammel and I are on a trip to West Africa with Catholic Relief Services. Today, […]
Africa trip — Random facts
Three planes, two days and too many hours (plus an eight-hour time difference) to calculate, we are here in West Africa. Approaching and landing at the airport looked a lot like flying over and landing somewhere near Our Lady of Solitude Monastery in Tonopah . . . lots of open and natural desert (for those […]
‘Sun’ picks up nine awards from Arizona Newspaper Association
The Catholic Sun took home nine awards in writing, photography and design during 2012 Arizona Newspaper Association’s Better Newspaper and Excellence in Advertising contests. More than 50 newspapers entered the contest, submitting more than 1,000 entries. The newspaper finished third in the Reporting and Newswriting category. The Catholic Sun competes in the non-daily, circulation greater […]
In West Africa with Catholic Relief Services
Last night’s dinner, in many ways, helped me appreciate that I was in Africa. The group we’re traveling with, John Feister of St. Anthony Messenger and Ambria Hammel are the two other journalists, sat down in a jetlag stupor for dinner at our hotel in Niamey, Niger. We ordered, and then we waited. And waited. […]
