THE importance of land to poor communities throughout the world will be the focus of this year's Christian Aid week.
Half a million people will take to the streets between May I I and 18 armed with collecting tins in an effort to out-do last year's record fundraising total of £10 million, whilst a hard-hitting television advertisement will he screened nationally before and during the week to highlight the plight of those millions of people who have no land. Organisers are again making use of the successful motto: "We believe in life before death".
The campaign has been welcomed by the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development (CAFOD), which earlier this year launched its own awareness campaign to highlight the scourge of landlessness for the poor in Latin America and the Caribbean.
"The fact that Christian Aid will also be focussing on a major theme of our campaign is good news. It will be the second prong of a two-pronged attack," said CAFOD spokesman Mark Topping.