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CAFOD
Lent calendar 20 March

Yani sews a bedsheet in the refugee camp where she lives in Sudan with her family.

If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples.

John 8:31

We all know the importance of having a safe place to call home. But sadly, around the world there are too many people who do not have this security.

Yani is 21 years old and has been living in a refugee camp since 2015. Yani and her family were forced to flee their home in South Sudan because of conflict and undertook a terrifying journey to cross the border into Sudan.

Each morning, she collects water from the tap near her shelter and helps her mother prepare breakfast. In the afternoon she sews bedsheets for sale, to raise money for the family.

Yani misses her home. In the camp, the family’s food is rationed and there is a lack of firewood and charcoal for cooking. She also misses watching TV as she did at home.

When conflict also broke out in Sudan last year, the camp doubled in size, putting further strain on resources. It is not a place any of us would want to call home.

Jesus told those who believed in him that they needed to make his word their home. Home is somewhere that is familiar, where we feel safe and comfortable, somewhere we can be ourselves. Somewhere we feel loved and cared for. Is this our approach to Christ’s word?

Let us open our heart to his word this Lent and consider what it means for our lives. How does it move us to act? How are we called to live out God’s message to us in caring for the earth and our neighbour?

Prayer

God our refuge, watch over all those who have been forced from their homes and who long one day to return to a place of comfort. Lead us to play our part in welcoming those who seek refuge in our communities and in building peace so that all people may have a safe place to call home. Amen.

Act

A third of our work to help people out of long-term poverty is made possible through gifts in Wills. Thousands of CAFOD supporters have shown their care for the earth and their neighbour by leaving a gift in their Will to CAFOD. Find out more about how we use these gifts, download a useful guide to making or rewriting your will, or access our free wills offer.