In addition to strengthening our relationship with Caritas Monze, which I discussed in the previous blog post, Rafael and I met with a potential future partner on our recent trip to Zambia, Caritas Livingstone. Caritas Livingstone, like Caritas Monze, is the development arm of a Catholic Diocese and works with people regardless of their faith. The Livingstone Diocese stretches along the Zambezi River west from Livingstone to boarder with Angola.
Rafael and I were warmly welcomed by Father Clemens, Gabriel, Bryson, and Mulenga of Caritas Livingstone at their office. There, we learned that Caritas Livingstone’s current main project concerns land justice in rural areas, though staff had recently completed a gardening training program in communities across the diocese. After discussing KWH’s work, we traveled out to a nearby community where Caritas Livingstone completed gardening training. While we didn’t meet with community members, we did see a line of great looking gardens, and further discussed the range of communities we work with.
Unlike Caritas Monze, Caritas Livingstone does not have field workers embedded in communities throughout its working area. Instead, Caritas Livingstone relies on its network of participants from past projects and information from parish priests to identify communities that might benefit from a particular development project. Numerous potential communities that could benefit from our work are located within a few hours’ drive of Livingstone.
After a productive day with Father Klemens, Gabriel, Bryson, and Mulenga, we were optimistic that Caritas Livingstone could make a strong partner in the future. For their part, Caritas staff resolved to think about which communities in their area might have groups which could benefit from our work. We agreed to stay in touch and see what we can do together.
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