In the summer of 1974 --- the year before Operation Rice Bowl was started as a response to a drought in Africa --- Mary Oldham was born in Eddyville, Iowa, to parents who had a farm of pigs, corn, soybeans and cows that had been in the family since the 1830s.

The middle child of seven, she remembers giving up soda for Lent and putting the money she would have spent into an Operation Rice Bowl cardboard box distributed by St. Mary's, the local Catholic mission church, now-closed, in the Diocese of Davenport.

Halfway around the world, a child named Thomas Awiapo ---growing up in a remote rural village in Ghana, Africa --- was eating life-saving food thanks to donations from the Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services, which runs Operation Rice Bowl as its official Lenten program in efforts toward alleviating global hunger.

Escaping the starvation that took the lives of his parents and two younger brothers, Awiapo, with CRS' help, was able to attend school and eventually went to work for the U.S. Catholic international humanitarian agency which he credits for saving his life.

The aforementioned American woman and African man appearing together in speaking engagements at archdiocesan parishes and schools this spring would probably never have crossed paths, except for a life-altering decision made by Oldham to resign on the eve of her 33rd birthday from her comfortable corporate career working as a chemical engineer at the 3M Northridge plant to become an overseas CRS volunteer.

The parishioner at Our Lady of Grace in Encino, a lector and member of a small faith community in the parish, was intrigued when she met neighboring St. Mel (Woodland Hills) parishioners Anselm and Pia Varni, who were leaving soon for an 18-month stint as CRS volunteers in Malawi, Africa.

"I had been thinking about how I could get more involved living out my faith as a Catholic in a fuller way," said Oldham. "So, when I read their blog talking about seeing Christ in the people around them in Malawi, I thought 'I want that. I want to have that experience.'"

Taking a leap of faith, she applied for the CRS volunteer program in the spring of 2007. Oldham was invited to Baltimore for an interview where she shared her background in science and math. Perking up at the "math" mention, CRS' volunteer program coordinator felt a good match for Oldham's skills would be participating in one of the agency's overseas microfinancing projects.

"I didn't know anything about microfinance, but I said, 'Sure!' I think that's how the connection was made between a chemical engineer and a microfinance project," laughed Oldham. A few weeks after her interview, she received a volunteer job description for a microfinance project in Uganda.

"The project goal was to start 360 savings groups in one year. I thought it seemed awfully ambitious [at first], but it was doable because I was joining a project working with three different [agency] partners, and each of the partners were to recruit 12 community workers and those 12 people ended up starting an average of 10 savings groups."

Oldham would have a coaching-type role, training the community workers in computer skills and data analysis of the group members' savings and loan collections. She decided to take the plunge, left her corporate job of ten years and many work friends, and signed on for a one-year volunteer post in Uganda followed by nine months of stateside CRS-volunteer work which she is currently fulfilling in the archdiocesan Office of Justice and Peace.

"Accepting the opportunity to go was a big commitment to my faith and a big experience was learning to trust God," she explained.

Importance of relationships
Now that it's been a while since she's been back, Oldham observed, "I've learned some things about myself and one of them is how important relationships are [beginning with] our relationship with God and then also relationships with each other [including] those we know very well or people we meet in our daily lives [as well as] relationships that we have due to globalization that we may not be aware of with people around the world, whether it's in how we vote or how we shop."

Part of her current work is educating people about "fair trade" products such as coffee and chocolate manufactured in underdeveloped countries and sold in the U.S. which provides a living wage to the farmers and workers who produce the products.

"The choices that we make do affect other people," notes Oldham. "Being conscious of that and trying to live in a way that is respectful of others is what I found to be meaningful now that I'm back here in the United States. I think that's a big part of what came out of my experience, both in moving to another culture and being the newcomer, being the stranger and finding the welcome that was there, learning about what this other culture had to offer in terms of how they treat one another and the importance of respect in their culture."

Recently, she has been escorting Awiapo around the archdiocese, while he gives talks about CRS's life-saving intervention in his life and his gratitude for the agency's humanitarian efforts. According to Oldham, American audiences, especially youth groups, benefit greatly from hearing first-hand accounts of what Operation Rice Bowl donations can do to fight hunger.

"We're all interconnected and we're all one human family," said Oldham. "It's important for children to learn that from a very early age [that] the dignity and the love we get from God is more important than what we wear or the music we buy or the coffee we drink."

In a recent presentation she made at a parish youth food fast in El Monte, she had a revelation during Mass pondering how a teenage participant told her she would like to meet people aided by their hunger-fighting efforts.

"It struck me what an honor it was that I was able to go and be there with the people and be a face that they could connect with CRS and with the project," Oldham reflected. "That was one moment that reminded me why I'm doing what I'm doing: to be that bridge and to bring a message…. It reminded me of my responsibility and the beauty of the fact that I am able to bring greetings from Uganda.

"And that," she said as her eyes filled with tears, "is something meaningful to me."

Ed. Note: Mary Oldham will be among several presenters in a workshop for youth ministers on social justice: "A Voice in the Wilderness," sponsored by the Office of Justice and Peace, March 21 at St. Luke Church, Temple City. For information, call Sergio Lopez, (213) 637-7427.