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Commentary

By Liz Quirin

CRS: Giving Hope in Times of Need

When I was a child and my mother gave me food I didn’t want to eat (like liver), she told me I should eat it because babies were starving in China. This was undoubtedly true, and I would have been more than happy to send them the liver, but we never got that far with the discussion.

These days, we receive requests to donate money to a host of agencies that care for others both nationally and internationally. This week, check the back page of The Messenger for the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) advertisement. Ordinarily, I don’t talk about these agencies because I don’t know that much about them, and I certainly wouldn’t endorse giving money to them if I don’t know them. In this case, I do know people at CRS — personally.

I’ve seen the incredible work they’ve done in at least two different countries: Bosnia in the 1990s and Kenya in February. In both instances, CRS staffed the offices with few Americans; the majority of those working in the field are educated, competent, committed citizens of that country.

For example, when postelection violence ravaged Kenya in 2008, local people in the Diocese of Eldoret in the Rift Valley poured onto the cathedral compound, fearing for their lives. The bishop and diocesan staff opened the doors, and 10,000 people rushed in. Soon after, CRS staff followed to provide water, sanitation and a way for the bishop to feed the people. They didn’t take over, force an American solution to the problems they found but collaborated with the diocesan staff to make sure a terrible situation didn’t deteriorate into a more tragic one.

CRS doesn’t get involved in politics, trying to oust one political system for another; they don’t side with anybody; they don’t sit around blaming one group or another. Respected by the church and the government, they distribute funds from this government, from large foundations and small, and from private donations like the money we are able to give.

They are action-oriented, motivated by the need to serve others in a way that will be beneficial without losing sight of a person’s or community’s dignity.

In Eldoret, the diocese has directed all of its resources to saving people from violence that surrounded and engulfed them. They were able to continue to operate because of the help they received from CRS. At this point, CRS is watching and listening to see if they can offer more assistance in Eldoret and elsewhere in Kenya where needs seem almost insurmountable in some locations.

No longer threatened by meals with liver or other equally unappealing foods, I can choose what I will eat, not whether I will be able to afford or to find food to eat or clean water to drink. CRS has made that possible for others far less fortunate than I am. The least I can do is try to make sure they continue to do what they do so well: give hope.