Ghanaian is living proof CRS' Operation Rice Bowl is effective

Published: 2006-02-28

PORTLAND, Ore. (CNS) -- Thomas Awiapo is living proof that the coins and bills Catholics stuff into cardboard rice bowls each Lent can cultivate hope out of hardship. As an orphan in the village of Wiaga, Ghana, young Thomas survived by begging and becoming a child laborer. He would move from farm to farm, offering to work for food. He had never even considered going to school. The idea was beyond his world -- until he heard that students got lunch. School was for him, he decided. Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops' international relief and development agency, provided the food that drew Awiapo. He sat through classes mostly for the meal of wheat and sorghum cereal and milk powder. "The crux of the matter is that if there had not been that snack at school, which was paid for by Catholic children and adults from the U.S., my life would have been much different," Awiapo told the Catholic Sentinel, newspaper of the Portland Archdiocese. "I am grateful for their sacrifices." Today Awiapo works for CRS in the northern Ghanaian city of Tamale, and he recently toured U.S. cities on behalf of CRS and Operation Rice Bowl.

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