Meet the volunteer - Alicia J

Alicia took on a short term office volunteering role in our head office, Romero House.

She met staff from our country offices too and supported the Westminster and Southwark CAFOD teams with a variety of tasks including designing invaluable recipe resources for the Harvest Fast Day volunteer briefing, for the Democratic Republic of Congo culture of encounter taste and see part of the day where attendees tasted delicious food from the DRC.

What motivated you to give your time as an office volunteer?

Growing up, it has always been important for me to have a career in a human-centred industry. One which effects change and strives to improve the lives and circumstance of struggling people around the world. Despite being an active member of my local church community it was not until a Geography lesson on the different strategies to reduce the growing inequalities in a globalised world that I was first introduced to CAFOD and the work it does to tackle poverty and inequality around the world.

This being a human centred organisation and also a Catholic one, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to combine two integral parts of my identity. Through my own research, I was able to learn about the different campaigns such as Fix the Food system.

Learning about the work CAFOD did to support small-scale farmers against large agri-businesses was the thing which really pushed me to inquire about potentially getting a deeper insight into the organisation through work experience.

What have you learnt during your volunteering?

During my time here, I have learnt more in depth about the philosophy behind CAFOD such as integral ecology and the myth of perennial growth as well as the humble beginnings of the organisation.