Family Fast Day

This Family Fast Day we are thinking about hunger. Not the kind that comes from waiting too long to eat, but the kind that comes from having nothing to eat at all.

Shorai in Zimbabwe put it simply: “As a father, it will be difficult for you to sleep.” It’s not just the hunger that kept him awake at night, but the guilt and pain of seeing his children go to bed with empty stomachs.

Around the world – despite farmers’ best efforts – crops are failing.

Where Shorai lives, in Zimbabwe, rain is scarce. In parts of Bangladesh and South Sudan, there’s too much water. Either way, the result is the same – seeds fail to grow, harvests disappear, and families go hungry.

But there is hope and there is a solution.

It needs all of us: you, me, CAFOD’s local experts, and families like Shorai’s. In God’s eyes, we are one global family, called to be neighbours – to stand with one another in love and solidarity.

In South Sudan and Bangladesh, where devastating floods destroyed farmland, our local partners helped families develop a remarkable solution: gardens that float on water. Rejoice lives in South Sudan, she was helped by our local experts to build a floating garden to grow food above the floodwaters. She told us: “The yields from the garden help me feed my family.”

In Zimbabwe, where drought threatened everything, Shorai and his family worked with our local experts to build an eco-garden, using drought-resistant crops and a solar-powered water pump. That pump, funded by Fast Day donations like yours, draws water from a nearby dam, turning dry ground into fertile land.

Shorai told us: “A good neighbour is someone who can help me in periods of need.”

By supporting CAFOD's Family Fast Day this Lent, you’re being the good neighbour Jesus calls us to be – loving others as we love ourselves. This Family Fast Day, let’s show love to our neighbours. Let’s eat simply and give generously – so another family can put food on the table. Thank you.