Essay on Peace and Social Justice

My chosen social action is the Caritas agency. Caritas was founded back on the 9th November 1897 and was formed by a single man from Germany, Lorenz Werthmann as well as now becoming the second largest network in the world following right after The Red Cross. However, being a large agency they strive to carry social justice although their founding name translates to love and compassion displays their whole mission of defeating poverty and attaining peace and development. Caritas works in as many countries as it can and with several offices in the continents, it can support as much as it can. Caritas gains their support with the help of young students like myself by a single donation in their box with the help of donations from young advocates Caritas gain their goals quicker, they are the true definition of the saying ‘kindness breeds kindness’ as a majority of the donations they receive are always put first towards the vulnerable.

The chosen country that I Caritas have put their action towards to is South Sudan. Gaining its independence in 2011 after separating from Sudan, it is still now the least happy and the poorest country in the world. Mainly made up of Christians however the North side is mainly Muslims this is where a cause of conflict and violence occurred in 2013. The conflicts and violence still remain after five and a half years and losing approximately 400,000 deaths however not all of the causes of death were due to the shooting, raiding but also the 2017 famine that lasted about 4 months where 40% of the population had lost their lives due to extreme hunger. Now, there are over 4 million people who are displaced meaning they are without a home and are looking for one to survive, and about 2 million refugees living in camps near borders. One of the main issues for the cause of extreme hunger is the insane pricing for food and basic necessities generally the prices are multiplied 8 times the amount it is here in New Zealand it is truly a privilege to be able to afford these things.

This is where Caritas is able to come in. Caritas has been aiding South Sudan since they have gained independence in 2011. Caritas has about 20 humanitarian organizations and groups that are around South Sudan that respond to emergency aid that is needed. Since 2011 water pumps have been added, and energy food distribution, items are given such as sleeping mats, pots, buckets, salt, sugar, seeds and tools which are used to help the people of South Sudan earn an income from producing fruit and vegetables and finally providing peace and building opportunities such as workshops for dialogue, education, and other things this has been highly respected by others.

“If one member of Christ’s body suffers, we all suffer. If one member is honored, all rejoice” 1 Corinthians 12:12-26. This passage reflects the ethical principle of Solidarity. We stand by each other whenever there is a hardship. Caritas’ solidarity with the people of South Sudan indicates the idea that everyone is not standing without no support. Caritas has shown its solidarity through the immense amount of love and charity with the supplies they are providing to those in South Sudan. One scripture reference in Galatians 3:28 reflects the idea that nor what race, or gender you are as a human being “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you, are all one in Christ Jesus” this verse shows me that everything matters within ourselves and the actions we take to show our love and support for one another.

In Genesis 1:26-27 ‘Then God said, “And now we will make human beings, they will be like us and resemble us… So God created human beings, making them be like himself… God looked at everything he had made and he was very pleased” This bible reference dedicates to the idea that all shall be respected and contain human dignity as it is a right that all human beings have. In South Sudan, they had lost their Human Dignity and are seen to have no respect. Caritas have provided South Sudan the support, love, and charity over the past five and a half years of violence and conflict within the country and they continue to carry out this principle not only in South Sudan but in other countries in need of aid.

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Preferential Protection for the poor and vulnerable is essentially a responsibility that we all were raised to do. As a community, we have a responsibility to look after the poor and the vulnerable as Christ taught us that when we feed the hungry, and clean the poor we are essentially looking after God itself as we are all made in the image of God. It is written in the bible that God has a special place for the poor and that we shall take responsibility to continue our connection with God. Caritas supports this as they are putting the donations that were given straight to those who need it because they are the priority, they are us. This is said in Deuteronomy 15:10 “Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.”

Task three: Evaluation

Principles - human dignity, preferential option for the poor, solidarity

The effectiveness of Caritas’ actions in South Sudan have saved many lives with the food and water they are able to live with the funds they are receiving and putting directly towards the people of South Sudan, their support and hospitality towards the people have shown me that principle of Solidarity as they are always constantly working together as a large agency to maintain the supplies to those in need. Looking back into the stories, and lives of some teens, elders, mothers, and fathers all different groups of ages I noticed that this quote stood out the most “As Caritas partners working together will help us solve many of the problems for us here in South Sudan” told by Angelo Duik who is an Emergency Coordinator in Caritas Yei that is located at the bottom of South Sudan explains that we all need to stand together to show positive results which I believe has worked and I believe can succeed even further with more coverage to young advocates like us who are voices and the future leaders of this generation.

One tradition from the Catechism of the Catholic Church is “The equal dignity of human persons requires the effort to reduce excessive social and economic inequalities. It gives urgency to the elimination of sinful inequalities” This tradition recognizes the idea of Human Dignity that to gain the ultimate success and perfection of values and respect for one being, this also indicates that as we are all made in the image of God we attain a responsibility to provide our present generation and the future generations a living where not only we are respected equally but the environment, our nation, and possibly the world. God has something planned for everyone and to get there we need to do our part, whether is putting a gold coin donation, or wearing a pin that symbolizes a certain disease or country, our role is to speak beyond the issues that are taking place. Our preferential option for the poor and vulnerable should be something that is in our daily lives whether it is volunteering at a soup kitchen, giving money to the poor roaming for a space, or a home, or sobbing our hearts for those who’ve run out of them.

This project of South Sudan being assisted with the help of Caritas has impacted South Sudan immensely as it saved thousands of lives with the aid of food and supplies that were provided. This allows them to barter to others with the excess food they have to those who weren’t able to gain supplies. I believe that this action shows the ethical principle of Solidarity. I believe that this act that Caritas has shown is effective as the Sudanese people are able to become less dependent on the supplies.

Another effective act that Caritas was able

Task four: Wider implications

Since Caritas works efforts to get as much emergency relief to South Sudan using the majority of the funds they receive however Caritas doesn’t put a lot of money towards advertising to gain more efficient money to support aid. This is where Caritas promotes in schools to students like our age. An example of this would be the Caritas challenge that occurs every year, where students sleep overnight in cardboard boxes, I’ve found that this challenge very often changes the perspective of the students who took part and received an understanding of the privileges they are lucky to have like food, water, shelter, clothing. This motivates them to develop more care for others, our environment, our nation, and the country which could be the first step to having a society where some issues aren’t as large. Like the scripture from the bible “And now we will make human beings; they will be like us and resemble us... So God created human beings, making them be like himself... God looked at everything he had made and he was very pleased.” this piece of writing in the bible tells me that God, our creator we are made to be like him, we must cherish this and do acts of justice socially like world network, Caritas.