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Cape Verde Islands
Population: 403,000 Life expectancy male/female: 64/66 years Infant mortality rate: 65‰	Religions: Catholic 90% Independence: 5 July 1975 (from Portugal) GDP per capita: US$ 960

The islands of Cape Verde, two hours flight from Dakar, make up a country which is very dry and therefore very poor. The population is growing all the time and the country can only feed itself with the help of imports. There are 380,000 people living in the country and another 700,000 abroad. To an extent, the people are able to survive because of help sent back by those who have emigrated.

The events which led to independence from Portugal in 1970, the Marxist campaign and the subsequent social changes, have introduced a new morality, especially amongst the young. Most of the people are baptised, but there is a need for a much deeper evangelisation. The local clergy is coming slowly, but there is a relative abundance of vocations for women's orders.

Spiritans have been in Cape Verde since 1942. Most of them are working on one of the larger islands, Sao Tiago, of which the largest town, Praia, is the capital of the whole country. Two confreres are on the nearby small island of Maio. Altogether, there are 15 Spiritans in the circumscription: 13 Portuguese and 2 Cape Verdians, including the bishop of Sao Tiago. Two young Nigerian confreres have just been appointed to the District.

Spiritans are working at evangelisation from parish bases. They look on themselves as co-responsible for the building up of the local Church. They have many varied activities: the building of small Christian communities, the formation of lay leaders, evangelisation of young people, small development projects, vocations work, formation of the clergy and missionary animation. One confrere has founded a group of women called "The Missionary Animators"; they are not religious, but they are consecrated to an evangelical life in community and to the evangelical animation of people and groups.

The confreres are planning a new missionary project with street children and other young people. It is with this in mind that the two Nigerian confreres were appointed to the District.
The group tries to give everybody the possibility of living in community and they nearly all come together each week. They are looking for Spiritan vocations and are anxious to give them a good accompaniment in the initial stages of their training.

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