Female head porters are unskilled, uneducated migrant women, usually from poverty-stricken families of northern Ghana who move down to southern Ghana for work. They generally live in very poor conditions and lack social protection; they are exposed to all forms of sexual and physical exploitation, resulting in unplanned pregnancies and children being raised on the street. Because their job involves lifting and carrying heavy goods for long distances, most of them suffer physical ailments.

"Promoting migrants and refugees essentially means a determined effort to ensure that all migrants and refugees — as well as the communities which welcome them — are empowered to achieve their potential as human beings, in all the dimensions which constitute the humanity intended by the Creator."

I'll never forget the moment I first laid eyes on my niece, Lucy. I'd been following the updates all day, and now I was standing before a few-hours-old baby. 

See for Yourself - I unwrapped the early Christmas present that was part of a Secret Santa gathering. The gifts were fairly inexpensive because it was just the fun of opening everything that increased the chatter.

"The mountains, deer, pines, gorges, mountain lions, birds and air spoke of sacredness and the thumbprint of the Creator writ large as the Book of Romans passage speaks: 'Since the creation of the world God has made known invisible qualities of wonder and love.' So what excuse do we have not to protect these areas?"

GSR Today - We received hundreds of comments from our readers to help us make our award-winning online publication even better. We want to share some of the survey results and how they will help us shape our coverage, as well as share highlights of our annual planning meeting Nov. 27-29 in Kansas City, Missouri.

GSR Today - Global Sisters Report talked to Sr. Pat Murray, executive secretary of UISG, Sr. Teresa Maya, president of LCWR, and Sr. Joan-Marie Steadman, executive director of LCWR, as part of our annual planning process for topics to cover in the coming year. "It's not about numbers. We're learning in this process that we are enough for the Gospel," Maya said.

Global Sisters Report recently held a discussion with Loreto Sr. Pat Murray, , executive secretary of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG); Incarnate Word Sr. Teresa Maya, president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR); and Holy Cross Sr. Joan Marie Steadman, executive director of LCWR, on topics related to the global sisterhood and the outlook for 2018 and beyond. Below is an edited version of that conversation.

In the two years since Dominican Sr. Barbara Reid launched the Wisdom Commentary series, a groundbreaking project offering feminist interpretation for every book of the Bible, 13 volumes have been published already, with more on the way.

Salesian Sr. Ana Maria Mainero describes life in Delft, a South African township ripped apart by murders, as "a constant feeling of being alert, because even at lunchtime, the morning — any time is good to shoot." With the Don Bosco Skills Training Center, now under construction, she hopes to provide an alternative to the pull of gang life.