Author Archives: Nola B
One Happy Student
Kamungo is 8 years old and in second grade. He has reason to smile. Two years ago he was found wandering the streets, hungry and dirty. Today he’s attending one of the best schools in that area of Kenya — Freinademetz Primary School, one of our partners. Kamungo and three of his cousins live together … Continue reading
Meet Frederick
Eighteen-year-old Frederick lives with his impoverished grandmother. He’s now a senior at Mbarara High School in Kenya, thanks to our ministry partner, St. Francis Family Helper, who has helped put him through school for the last six years. Frederick says he has learned from St. Francis about how to cooperate with different people, how to … Continue reading
Maria
Although leprosy may have been nearly eradicated from Filipino society, its stigma remains. Now referred to by its medical name, Hansen’s Disease, it still affects a group of Filipinos, many of whom live in Tala – a location designated as a ‘leper colony’ in the past. Most of the community is now composed of the … Continue reading
Happy Homework
Homework time in Maputo, Mozambique. These studious students are all AIDS orphans who weren’t always able to go to school. No parents, no food, no money for books or school clothes. Then our ministry partner, Reencontro, found them, befriended them, made sure they had a place to live, food to eat, clothes to wear—and covered … Continue reading
Good news from Guyana
I just received good news from Guyana about a girl we’ve been helping there named Faye. She’d grown up in a really remote area of the country, several days journey from the city of Georgetown where I met her. Her poor single mom had died just two years earlier. At age 20 she was all … Continue reading
Remembering
When Cross International Catholic Outreach was launched more than a decade ago in South Florida, we began much of our overseas ministry in Haiti—only 90 minutes from Florida’s shore, yet the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Today we continue to work with many of the same partners we first sponsored in those fledgling years. … Continue reading
Planting in Zambia
These kids are learning to grow veggies. It’s one of their before/after school activities, along with study time, sports and a snack they get from our ministry partner in Zambia—the Namaacha Program. What the photo doesn’t reveal is the abuse and trauma each child has experienced. Hopefully the seeds of kindness, counsel and Catholic values … Continue reading
Catholics in Vietnam pray for America
When America remembered the tenth anniversary of 9/11 last weekend, I recalled something a nun in Vietnam said to me several years ago. I had been shadowing her as she visited very poor children in rural areas, as well as children with AIDS, deaf children, and undocumented children of migrant workers who have the odds … Continue reading
Touching Expressions of Gratitude
A diploma from St. Catherine Academy in Belize is a VIP pass to good jobs and a living wage; but the prestigious Catholic high school is totally out of reach to poor kids. That’s why a Cross Catholic scholarship to St. Catherine’s is the chance of a lifetime to escape poverty. Enjoy reading excerpts of … Continue reading
Caribbean Dream
“I dreamt Jesus was walking with me and told me, ‘It’ll be okay,” said smiling 66-year-old Aura, mother of six children and caretaker of 19. “So I know my God will always supply my needs.” Out of Christ-like compassion for the needy, especially homeless mothers and their children, Aura keeps taking them into her own … Continue reading
