The Voice of the Survivors – Diaries of a Vincentian
In 2015, I had the chance to spend Easter with a Vincentian youth group in the community of Palmas del Río, in El Roble parish, Puntarenas, Costa Rica. Each day we would walk twenty to thirty minutes from the church hall into the village, and from there, we would...
Three Months of Vincentian Solidarity Against COVID-19
Vincentians across the world have stepped up to the challenge of COVID-19. From soup kitchens in Peru to preventing the spread of the virus in the slums of the Philippines or offering financial and spiritual support for refugees in Rwanda, Vincentians replied to the...
FHA Conference on Refugees and Human Trafficking
The FHA’s 2020 ‘Conference on Refugees and Human Trafficking’, is due to take place in Seville later this year unless COVID-19 forces us to postpone until spring 2021. As part of the FHA’s endeavor to build global capacity within the Vincentian Family on homelessness,...
First UN Resolution on Homelessness
Earlier in February, before COVID-19 stopped the world, the United Nations adopted the first resolution defining homelessness, after the first debate on the issue in a generation. The resolution incorporates all the key categories of homelessness from the Framework of...
The Vincentian Family Moving Forward
On January 8-12, 2020, more than 200 leaders of the Vincentian Family, representing 91 branches, gathered in Rome (Italy) to reflect upon the realities of collaboration and the future of the Vincentian charism. This event was unique in many ways. It was the first...
“Only the Vincentian Family came to help us”
Latin America is now the epicenter of COVID-19. Like many times in the past, the Vincentian Family has stepped up to the challenge and is continuing to work with the poorest of the poor during this difficult time. The Vincentian Family in Ecuador, who are already part...
Statement of the Vincentian Family in the Face of Racial Discrimination
The Vincentian Family is a worldwide movement made up of more than 4 million believers and more than 160 ecclesial institutions which, for more than 4 centuries, has served the most needy in our world. As members of Vincentian Family, we do not want to nor should we...
The Daughters of Charity prevent hunger among single mothers in Ethiopia during COVID-19
Being a single mother of four is always a challenge, even more during a global pandemic. Letay Kassa, 34, was already used to hardship and homelessness when COVID-19 struck Mekelle, Ethiopia. Letay’s family sent her to the city from their village to escape the hard...
The Passage – Diaries of a Vincentian
A diary reveals much about its writer; especially read in retrospect some time later. It’s not your diary I am thinking of – it’s mine! The hand-eye-brain co-ordination creates a muscular memory of events that is both cathartic and illuminating. A strong...
Striving to be “social poets”, the Famvin Homeless Alliance’s response to COVID-19
In his April 2020 Letter to Popular Movements, Pope Francis says to them: “you are social poets because, from the forgotten peripheries where you live, you create admirable solutions for the most pressing problems afflicting the marginalized”. As States declared a...
Ihor, a life changed amidst the pandemic in Ukraine
Earlier this year in March, Ihor approached Depaul Ukraine Street Outreach project in Odessa and asked us for help. Ihor is 61 years old and has a wife and daughter, but due to a disagreement with his relatives they lost their house a few years ago. Since then, the...
Warde, a story of providence
With a big smile and shiny eyes, Warde welcomes you whenever you visit; a visit she prays for every day, every week, every month. She smiles as if she has no care in the world, she greets as if she has known you forever and she spreads positivity as if she had...