Your Eminences, The Bishops
Excellencies,
Honorable Delegates,

I am greatly privileged and honored to be here with you at this 18th General Assembly of Caritas Internationalis. I am also humbled to share a message to such an esteemed gathering. I wish to thank the organizers of the meeting and especially the Secretary General, Mr. Duncan MacLaren, for the excellent arrangements and warm hospitality.

I have been impressed by your great work and the wonderful network of so many committed members and associates, from over 200 countries and territories. Your compassion and solidarity with the marginalized, vulnerable and poor has been exemplary.

I have met members of Caritas in the field and I feel that I am sharing thoughts with colleagues in service. During my youth days I served in the Legion of Mary both through prayers and actions of charity towards the sick and the poor. I therefore, feel at home as we seek for even more effective ways to follow our calling of service to those in need and to restore human dignity.

I founded the Green Belt Movement 30 years ago to respond to environmental challenges, which I observed both during my childhood and while working at the University of Nairobi and the National Council of Women of Kenya. These challenges included loss of indigenous forests and local biodiversity, soil erosion, lack of clean drinking water, malnutrition and lack of firewood. I realized that to live in a clean and healthy environment ought to be a human right.

I worked with women because it is them who fetch firewood, look for water, food and feed the family. A degraded environment is more visible to the women than men who can escape into urban areas in search of jobs and opportunities. Sometimes the men get lost in the urban jungle but the women continue to take care of their families the best way they know how. It is the women who are left behind to deal with an environment no longer able to sustain livelihoods.

Even when it became clear that women would have to establish tree nurseries and plant trees on their farms to address their felt needs, there was a major challenge to make them understand that the degradation of the environment was a symptom and that they needed to know the cause.

Identifying the causes of the problems they faced became an important part of our work. We would have seminars where we would ask ourselves the following basic questions:
1. What problems do we face in our community?
2. Where do these problems come from?
3. What are their solutions?

We needed to go through this process for the participants to understand that many of the problems we face in our communities are as a result of our not taking appropriate action, that we are often the cause or many of our problems and that many problems can be solved by us if we can empower ourselves and believe in ourselves. This process became an important part of our work and we called it civic and environmental education. It was the first thing we did whenever we reached a new community.

One of the major concerns of Caritas Internationalis is reducing poverty and giving dignity and respect to all human beings. We all know about the injustices, which afflict the poor and there is no need to enumerate them. As we worked with women in the rural areas, we discovered that it was often the poor women who came to work with us, because we made tree planting an income generating activity. However, they needed to understand that they need to take care of their environment, not only because they needed the finances but also because it was in their interest to take care of their environment.

Some have said that the poor will always be with us, that perhaps we cannot eliminate poverty altogether. What we know for sure is that we can greatly reduce dehumanizing poverty that denies human beings a sense of self-respect and dignity. To do so it is important to have a holistic approach to our work. That is why in the Green Belt Movement we take care of the environment but we also deal with governance issues, human rights and issues of equitable distribution of resources.

When I started environmental work I was not thinking of poverty. I was thinking about the environment and I did not make the linkage between environmental degradation and poverty. However, I quickly realized that the rural women I was working with were talking about basic rights and those without such rights are the poor.

Because I had grown up in the same countryside, I was perplexed by the rapid impoverishment of our people at a time when they were supposed to have developed and especially after the colonial era. They now had tea, coffee, dairy animals and were governed by their own. Why were they women poor in a country, which has so much to offer? In the course of time I came to realize that poverty is a symptom of injustices, which become entrenched in the governance systems we adopt. I came to realize that a lot of poverty is man-made.

Often, those in power invent excuses to justify the causes of poverty. They create governance systems that exclude, exploit, oppress and humiliate those who are perceived to be weak and vulnerable. That is what colonialism, apartheid, occupation, dictatorships and other unjust forms of governance are about.

Unless the victims of such systems understand why they are so governed, they can easily succumb and make little efforts to challenge systems that deliberately impoverish them. One of the most important responsibilities we have is to empower victims of such injustices so that eventually they can liberate themselves.

In the course of my work with the Green Belt Movement I came to realize that poor people tend to over-use and degrade their environment. Unfortunately, a degraded environment does not support livelihoods. As the environment degrades and resources become scarce, communities compete for the same and often, conflict and wars ensues. I made the linkage between sustainable management of resources and conflict by observing the tribal clashes at home. These were often instigated by political leaders, who took advantage of the vulnerable communities so that they could manipulate voting patterns. If certain communities were displaced during elections, certain politicians had a better chance of being elected to Parliament. Peace can always be restored after the elections. In the meantime, the internally displaced are at the mercy of humanitarian groups like Caritas!

I also became curious about why people living on fertile lands such as I knew in Kenya, surrounded by forested mountains and with plenty of rainfall would complain about resources that should have been bountiful?

It was then that I realized that while Governments have a responsibility to take care of the commons like forests, rivers, mountains and to protect such important resources from being degraded and polluted, they can decide not to and decide to share them as if they own them. They stop being custodians and become exploiters. When Governments fail to protect such common resources and instead start privatizing them, they are no longer being responsible custodians and Citizens should hold them accountable and punish them especially at the ballot box.

But only informed and empowered citizens can hold their leaders accountable. Leaders who know that their citizens cannot hold them accountable tend to be irresponsible, abuse power and abuse their citizens. . They mismanage the resources, with a little help from friends and supporters, and in the process cause much poverty and suffering. I realized then that in fighting poverty it was essential to empower communities.

That is when we intensified the work of the Green Belt Movement. Its success has been largely due to the empowerment of rural communities through a participatory process called civic and environmental education.

The aim of the process was to make communities understand why they did not have clean drinking water, firewood and nutritious foods. Once they understood, they became actively involved in the restoration of their environment, but also in seeking of changing the political and economic system to bring about justice, rule of law and respect for human rights.

We learnt that it is important for beneficiaries of charity and solidarity to be empowered so that they can take advantage of the opportunities created and especially avoid the dependency syndrome. Eventually they may be able to emerge from the state of marginalization and exclusion. This is important because far too many poor people become dependent on charity and refuse to face the challenges of self-reliance.

In my opinion, our work of charity and solidarity must also include building of leadership. To do so requires that we address some of the critical areas such as lack of education, general ignorance, lack of skills training and tools to create wealth from the available resources. It also calls for investment in women and youth so that they can take advantage of the available opportunities and stop others from taking advantage of them.

In many parts of the world economic and political systems are inherently unjust and ensure that there is an ever-increasing number of poor people and an ever-increasing gap between them and the rich. This is true both in the rich industrialized countries and in the developing and non-industrialized economies. This is because such political and economic systems do not facilitate equitable distribution of wealth.

We have experienced both lack of leadership and irresponsible leadership. I can talk about my experience in Africa where the majority of the poor are found. We should find it unacceptable that dehumanizing poverty is so prevalent, especially in Sub- Sahara Africa. How can we explain such poverty in a region so endowed with men and women who work very hard, where there is so much wealth of gold, diamonds, oil, sunshine, forests, water, wildlife, land and horticultural products? Why are her people so poor?

In my opinion, until a critical mass of Africans are sufficiently empowered, especially through education, to hold their leaders responsible and accountable the resources in Africa will continue to benefit others while poverty continues to be the dominant feature. In the meantime, those of us struggling to improve governance in Africa need organizations like Caritas Internationalis, the United Nations and governments like the G8.

Of particular importance is the environment.

At this point allow me to draw your attention to the historic decision by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which decided to give the Nobel Peace Prize to me in 2004 and recognize the need to make linkage between sustainable management of resources, good governance, equity and peace.

I am privilege to carry the label, but I know that this was in recognition of all people and organizations, who work for peace by working for sustainable management of resources, justice, respect for human rights and the rule of law. The Committee wanted to emphasize that we need to work for political and economic systems of governance that help to pre-empt the many causes of conflicts and wars. Without such a sys tem people will continue to compete over scarce resources.

Indeed throughout history people have caused untold suffering as they fight over scarce resources or in order to satisfy their greed and selfishness. They have fought over watering holes, livestock, grazing land, trade routes, fish stocks, spices, sugar, gold, and diamonds. This brings to mind many of the wars being waged even as we speak.

The challenges are likely to get worse due to global warming. It is suggested that weather patterns will be less predictable, prolonged droughts and desertification processes will get worse, rainfall patterns will change and crops failures will be more frequent. Under such difficulties the fate of the poor will only worsen. As resources degrade, become scarcer and no longer able to sustain livelihoods conflicts, wars and displacements will be increased. The poor may not have contributed much towards climate change but it is predicted that they will suffer most.

It is also for this reason that we appeal to the G8 countries to do everything they can to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gasses. We have been to them before on behalf of the poor with the unpayable and illegitimate debts, with the issues of fair trade, with the % of Development aid and other promises made to help countries meet the millennium Development goals. We need for them to provide the leadership needed and encourage other governments like India and China.

We also need to encourage individuals to change their own lifestyles and reduce emissions. To make your own meeting carbon free, you may have to plant between 8 (Africa) and 10 trees (Australia). It is partly to raise awareness on climate change, that the United Nations Environment Programme, ICRAF and the Green Belt Movement launched (in October, last year) a campaign to plant a billion trees in 2007.
You may get information from the following website: greenbeltmovement.org. .

I am also concerned about the protection of forests and habitats. I am a goodwill ambassador for the Congo Basin Forest Ecosystem. I am working with governments in the Central Africa region to conserve and protect this forest, which along with the Amazon forest and the South East Asia Forests are the major lungs of the planet. In this connection allow me to thank the British Government, which recently allocated 50 Million BP (100,000 million U$ dollars) to a kitty for the Congo forest. We appeal to governments to protect forests and trees, including those far away from their countries. They are very important for the world’s climate.

It is for that reason that I would suggest that the Caritas family should embrace an environmental agenda (MDG no 7). Planting trees, protecting and conserving forests, slowing down desertification processes are some of the activities Caritas could greatly enhance our capacity to reduce misery. In Kenya I have been holding dialogue with the Church trying to find a convenient time when Christians can embrace the role of being responsible custodians of God’s creation. I have mentioned Easter as a great time for such reflection and action. Planting trees would be a good start. I hope that together we can find an appropriate time to launch this initiative. Taking care of the environment can eventually address many of the other Mugs.

This meeting is very special to me because it is my first time in the Vatican. I hope that it will be a turning point for Caritas Internationalis and indeed the Church, to decide to lead the faithful in being the custodians of God’s Creation. It is essential that we prioritize the environment.

In a light touch I often remind people that, according to the Book of Genesis, God created everything on the first five days. Then on the sixth day, in His infinite wisdom, He created the human species. If He had made a mistake, and created humans on Monday, we would have been dead on Tuesday because we would not have survived. Everything created before us was essential for our survival! We ought to be humbled by the fact that it is we who need the environment to survive, but the environment does not need us.

In conclusion, allow me to share with you one story that inspire me when I deal with disempowerment and poverty situations. Sometimes comes to mind when I watch poverty-stricken, bare feet villagers build yet another stonewalled church, where others are virtually empty. Or I watch poor people guarding the collection box for fear that some poverty-stricken worshippers will remove money from the box, instead of putting their own contribution inside. Africa has so many people but at the rate they build houses of worship, you would not call them poor! Can this change? Should we not be investing more in the Millennium Development Goals?

Such desperate situations remind me of Peter and John in the book of Acts: 3. they went to the synagogue for prayer. As they approached, they encountered a beggar who was crippled since birth. The beggar had all the symptoms of a disempowered person: He was poor, self-effacing, dejected, humiliated, had very low self-esteem and was unwell.

The beggar did not even dare to look up to the people from whom he was begging. He was too ashamed of his status. The Bible says that he bowed his head, hid his face and stretched his hand for alms.

Peter and John, upon seeing him in that dehumanized and humiliated state decided to give him, not coins, but wholeness and confidence. And so Peter ordered him, “Look up”! That must have been a bit startling, because people did not usually talk to him. Peter went on, “Silver and gold we have none, but what we have we give to you. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, Rise up and walk!”

And much to his surprise, he felt his limbs get strong and he rose up and walked forward with confidence and pride. The Bible says, he moved on into the synagogue praising God. He was an empowered man: no longer a beggar, no longer dehumanized. No longer in need of humanitarian aid. Now he could go and take care of himself with dignity, self-respect and confidence.

There must have been many worshippers, who had given him a few coins many times before but never thought of alternatives to alms. But Peter and John decided to empower him, to give him back his sense of pride, dignity and self-respect. They encouraged him to believe in himself and walk with them into the synagogue.

As we work for the poor we need to be inspired by Peter and John. To really help them we need to empower them so that they no longer need us or others.
We may have to work a more sustainable way of managing resources, more equitable way of sharing them and a governance system that respects human rights and the rule of law; a system that embraces diversity and gives a voice to the minorities and the vulnerable. That means we move from the symptoms to the root causes of poverty.

We must remember that Peter and John called on the beggar to rise up and walk. It was not Peter and John who had to do the rising and the walking. It was the beggar.

And the beggar made a choice to respond to the call to rise up and walk. He could have preferred to stay put and continue to beg the rich. But he decided to respond to an opportunity, which presented itself. He was ready for it and his life was changed for the better.

Peter and John were not looking for the opportunity. They already had plenty themselves. It is the disempowered, the disadvantaged beggar who needed to respond to the opportunity. The poor must therefore also make a choice to change their status. We need the wisdom to know when to tell them, ‘Look up!’ In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk!

Thank you very much and blessings to you all.