Back up Volunteer assembly for Primary Schools

Slide 1: Introduction Good morning/afternoon everyone. My name is ........and I have come today to talk about CAFOD’s work around the world and how you can be part of it. [If you have not been to this school before or if you know they have not done much with us you may want to spend a little more time on our name and the logo.] Slide 2 : CAFOD logo and strapline (May be hidden or deleted where you don’t need it) Who can remind me what CAFOD stands for? [Invite responses from the children.]At CAFOD we believe in a better world, where no one lives in poverty and each of us can become the best person we can be. In a world without poverty, people have clean, safe water to drink and enough food to eat. Everyone has a safe home, children can go to school, and anyone who is sick can visit a doctor or nurse. CAFOD works together with poor communities around the world to end poverty.Slide 3: Who has ever needed help with something and someone helped you? [take some examples from the children] Have you ever seen someone who needed your help and have gone and done something to help them ? [Take some examples from the children] Jesus said that we should do everything we can to help people who needed it. He said this was a very special thing to do and when we help our brothers and sisters who are in need we are doing it for Him.

Invite volunteers to come out to front to hold the names of the different corporal acts of mercy on cards

Slide 4: Here are Santos and Joel. They live in Bolivia a country which is part of South America. They live high up in the mountains of the Altiplano. Growing food on the Altiplano is very difficult. Getting water is difficult and rain is unpredictable. There are a lot of hailstorms and frost which can wipe out people’s crops. The soil is generally very dry and of poor quality.

Slide 5: CAFOD’s partner has helped Joel and Santos’ parents to learn to grow more food in these conditions. They have been helped to build a greenhouse to protect some of their crops.

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NB This assembly is designed for CAFOD education volunteers only where the school has already used the Fast Day or World Gifts assembly . Themes: Works of Mercy, Food, Water, Care of Our Common Home, RefugeesResources: Word Cards, PowerPoint, Script

Slide 6; They have learnt how to build a wormery so that they have good fertiliser for their soil so that they grow more and better crops. Now not only does the family grow enough food for themselves but there have extra of some crops such as onions, chard, potatoes and beans which Elizabeth takes into the nearest town to sell at market. Modesto also sells some of the fertiliser form the wormery, because people can see how good it is.

[Invite the children to suggest which of the actions it is – Feed the hungry]

Slide 7: Nadopun lives in Uganda. Her family gets all the water they need from a pump close to their home.

Slide 8: Here are Nadopun’s mother and sister washing up. When their local pump broke, her mother and oldest sisters had to walk a long way to get water. Sometime they couldn’t get to other pumps so they collected water from the river. Napudo’s mother says the water from the river was “awful”. Her brother got sick from drinking the river water. CAFOD helped them fix their local borehole and now they have clean water near their home.

[Invite the children to suggest which of the actions it is – Give drink to the thirsty]

Slide 9 : In his letter Laudato Si’ pointed out that Climate Change affects everyone but it hits the poorest communities hardest. CAFOD is working with communities across the Developing World to help them to respond to the changing climate.

Slide 10 : This is Svondo with his father. Their family has been able to sell some of the extra vegetables which they grow with CAFOD’s help. With some of the money, the family have bought a solar panel. This means the family now has lights so Svondo can do homework in the evenings. By getting a better education, Svondo will have a brighter future. Slide 11 : In England and Wales, CAFOD is encouraging people to do things such as using renewable energy and recycling which will help slow Climate Change. We also ask people to write to people in power like MPs to get them to take action on climate change.

Slide 12: Yazem is a refugee. Her family fled from Damascus in Syria to Lebanon. Yazem’s school, supported by CAFOD, gives emergency education to Syrian children who are not in school, or need extra help.

Slide 13: CAFOD works with refugees all around the world, providing them with the basic things like food, clothing and housing. Some refugees have fled from their home countries because of war and others because of things such persecution and climate change.

[Invite the children to suggest which of the actions it is – NB it is two – Welcome the outsider and Give clothes to those who need them]

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Slide 13: There are 3 of our cards left. [Ask for some volunteers to come out and act out a mime- hand the volunteers a piece of paper with “heal the sick on it” and give them a moment to prepare. When they have acted it out, ask for guesses as to which it is]

Slide 14 : Yes it’s “heal the sick” CAFOD works in many countries to help people who have illnesses live normal lives.

Slide 15: What your money can buy slide £33 buys a clean water for a family, £10 buys seeds and tools for a family to grow a vegetable garden, £20 buys a solar lamp and £46 provides a safe place for a refugee family

Slide 17: Let us finish by praying.

Slide 18: Thank you for asking me to come and visit today. Can you do me something special ? Can you tell someone at home tonight something which you have learnt in assembly today. Please remember all the children we work with in your prayers. You can find out about how CAFOD is working throughout the world by visiting our new children’s webpages. [point out the web address at the bottom of the slide]

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Give

Drin

k to

the

Thirs

ty

5

Care

for o

ur

Com

mon

Ho

me

6

Bury

the

Dead

Wel

com

e th

e Ou

tsid

er

7

Bury

the

Dead

8

Heal

the

Sick

9

Visit

thos

e in

pr

ison

10

Give

clo

thes

to

thos

e wh

o ne

ed th

em

11

Feed

the

Hung

ry