We are delighted to announce our presence at The World Meeting of Families in August. With an opportunity to have a presence at The RDS (Royal Dublin Society) for the duration of the gathering, MECPATHS will reach out to many new supporters and meet with some of our existing partners during the course of the celebration.
We have also been invited to deliver a workshop at the Meeting, on Thursday 23rd August in Hall 7 at 10.30am: Human Trafficking: “An open wound on the body of contemporary society” (Pope Francis). Our Keynote speaker is Kevin Hyland OBE who will be joined by a survivor of Child Trafficking who will share her experience and explore how this time moulded her adult life. We will have an opportunity to share more about our work at MECPATHS and to deliver a Q&A session for attendees. To find out more, please visit here
MECPATHS has recently secured an awareness opportunity with The International Rose of Tralee Festival. The International Rose of Tralee takes place each August as a celebration of all things Irish. With an International audience and a coming together of communities, families and individuals from all around the world, MECPATHS will work with the team in Tralee to deliver much needed awareness and exposure for our cause. The Escort of the year and his peers will join us to lead MECPATHS into the media and generate some conversation about our work.
MECPATHS will be present at the Young Mercy Leader pilgrimage to meet with the participants and deliver a workshop on our work at the impact young people can make in delivering change.
MECPATHS has been invited to facilitate 5 workshops on Human Trafficking for incoming students at the Shannon College of Hotel Management, as part of a “Skills for Life” course. Each group will have up to 25 students, and each workshop will be two hours in length, from 11am-1pm. JP and Ann will be facilitating the workshops, jointly for the first one and individually for the remaining ones.
Group 1 – Thursday September 20th
Group 2 – Thursday October 4th
Group 3 – Thursday October 18th
Group 4 – Thursday November 1st
Group 5 – Thursday November 15th
As the world celebrates The World Day against Trafficking in Persons on July 30th, we ask you to say the following prayer:
“Let us pray for the victims of human trafficking that a light may shine for their safety, for their courage in darkness and for their families. That their lives may be restored and their freedom delivered. We pray for those who traffick the innocent, that their hearts may be filled with humanity and their minds be free from the shadows of hurt. For all who work to help to liberate the trapped, we pray for continued strength and energy.”
As we continue on our various paths through life, we are reminded each day about the value and strength of connecting. We observe and become more aware that one person cannot do everything, but everyone can do something. We learn to appreciate those around us and we learn to appreciate ourselves; we learn more about our place in the world, each day and we connect. We connect with the world around us, we connect with the communities within and through which we live and we connect with our own sense of being. The valued connections we grow, develop and appreciate through life are significant for many reasons; they deliver our person to person contact, they deliver our professional goals and they develop the innate sense of purpose in life we all look for. MECPATHS continues to appreciate and develop connections and appreciate its own connectedness through all of our work. We place great value on our closeness to the community, our connectedness to each other and our ever-growing need to collaborate with those who carry out similar work to us. We recognise that with a shared purpose, a shared sense of value and a shared desire to help those trapped in worlds of Human Trafficking, we can make a difference. One person cannot do everything, but everyone can do something.
JP O’Sullivan
Network and Communications Co-Ordinator
