Spain – Presence on the Southern Border
Nador is a Moroccan city located on the Mediterranean coast, a few kilometers from the Spanish town of Melilla. This strategic position has made it a key point on the migration routes between West Africa and the European Union. Young men and women from countries such as Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Guinea or Senegal come to this land in the hope of continuing their journey north and carving out a better future for themselves. The difficulties they encounter make their stay in Nador last longer than expected.
For several years a group of Jesuits have been living and working in this part of the Southern Border. Today there are three companions whose work falls within the scope of the Migration Delegation of the Diocese of Tangier, and is made explicit in accompanying the migrants, alleviating their suffering by providing material, medical and psychological help, informing them, advising them and, above all, listening to them. And at the same time, in this encounter, they welcome the human values that they bring with them and which they would have so much to contribute to Western society: hope, creativity, resilience, solidarity, sense of community... and often a deep trust in the God in whose hands they feel themselves to be.
In addition, this community has two other tasks in Nador: the management of the Baraka Center, a vocational training school that offers courses of social and labor insertion for young people, as well as language teaching and workshops aimed at the promotion of women, and pastoral care, through the parish of Santiago, to the small group of Catholics in Nador. Likewise, together with CLC-Spain and the Jesuit companions of Almeria, they are trying to offer a proposal of itinerant experience (in the form of a Spiritual Exercises "on the road" to be practiced individually or in small groups) that seeks to favor the encounter with God in the midst of the reality of the Southern Border.
Migrants, young people, retreats... The presence of the Jesuits and their daily commitment in Nador offers a space for integration, in the heart of life, of the Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus.
Source: Jesuitas Provincia Españas
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