Fwd: CWs in Africa asking for help...

[Catholic Worker]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Jerry Windley-Daoust <he...@catholicworker.org>
Date: Thu, Aug 21, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Subject: CWs in Africa asking for help...
To: <catholicw...@gmail.com>

Catholic Worker friends, 

The Catholic Worker community in Kenya and the Catholic Worker in Uganda have both reached out to me asking for help securing ongoing support from international donors and, potentially, partnerships with other CW communities. 

I have been in touch intermittently with Japheth (Kenya) and Michael (Uganda) over the past year and a half; I first got to know them when I interviewed them for profile stories on catholicworker.org and the Roundtable newsletter. In Uganda, Michael has been supported for the past 13 years by a handful of individual donors, including at least three different Catholic Workers (at different times). In Kenya, the community has been self-funded by community members, but has also received support from a mental health organization in Canada. Japheth and Michael say that without outside support, they may have to cease activities.

I am reaching out today to see whether folks on this list are interested in discussing the question of supporting these communities. I know this raises a lot of philosophical questions (e.g., how this intersects with the anarchist spirit of the movement, decolonization, personalism, etc.), but on a more practical level, I'm wondering whether any individuals or communities even have the time, resources, and heart for supporting these African CW communities.

If you are interested in learning more and/or getting together for a virtual meeting of interested CWers to discuss practical and philosophical issues around supporting these communities, please drop me a line: je...@catholicworker.org. Please mention Africa in the subject line, as I get a lot of email and this will help your email to stand out. 

Again, I'm not looking for a commitment one way or another at this point; I'm mainly asking whether anyone is even interested in getting together to discuss the question.

Peace and all good,

Jerry Windley-Daoust

Winona CW