this month inside World Mission


Vol. XVIII × No. 1
JANUARY 2006

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This Month inside World Mission

WEAPONS

A growing business

The world military expenditure in 2004 was estimated to have been $1.03 trillion. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, there was, lately, a 6% annual increase in the arms trade. That remains a highly profitable business worldwide.

FILIPINO FOCUS

Coconet is a big help

Turning coconut fiber into ropes that form what is called "coconet" is changing the life of many Mauraro farmers. It is also helping to prevent erosion around the world. The discovery was made by Justino Arboleda, a Filipino agricultural engineer, and it has been adjudged the best environmental grassroots project in the world.

WM SPECIAL

CLIMATE
KEEP IT COOLER!

- By Manuel Giraldes

The lifestyle that rich countries have spread throughout the world, greatly based on the burning of fossil fuels and in the waste, is changing the climate. Global warming affects everybody and everything. It can already be seen in extreme and catastrophic phenomena like the typhoons that hit the Philippines and the hurricanes that destroyed New Orleans. Yet, scientists affirm that the worst is still to come.

EDUCATION

Laptops for poor children

The prototype of a wind-up laptop, which costs US$100 at most, has been unveiled; it will be distributed towards the end of this year and it is geared for children in developing countries.

SOCIETY

The Child-God of Xochimilco

- By José António M. Rebelo

Comboni Missionary

The ancient symbol of European medieval Christianity – a cross flowering on Easter Sunday – was given beautiful local expression in a remote corner of Kenya. The concurrence between traditional culture and Christian symbolism once more came alive as, for the Turkana, the green leaves of the ′ephuu′ tree symbolize life beyond death.

TODAY

Mission in Arabic
By Msgr. Camillo Ballin

Bishop of Kuwait

Ordained priest, I was sent immediately to Syria and Lebanon. Afterwards I went to Egypt and Sudan. Now I am the Catholic Bishop of Kuwait. And I am very happy to be a Comboni missionary. My congregation prepared me to meet my adopted country, the Arabic World, and taught me respect for other mentalities and especially other religions.