SJES ROME

London Jesuit Volunteers is a recent initiative of the Mount Street Jesuit Centre in London. Members commit to volunteering for 2-8 hours per week, working alongside people in prisons, hospitals, and homeless shelters; also with communities of people with learning disabilities,

Most of my workdays are spent in front of a computer. This is not a complaint; merely a mere statement of fact. As a policy and advocacy officer for JRS-Europe, my tasks are more research- and policy-intensive than people-intensive. Of course, part of my job is to meet policymakers.

My arrival in Chile, on the way to theology studies, could not have been more “earth- shaking” than it was. Two hours after I arrived, there passed from this world Renato Poblete SJ, who bore witness of the social apostolate to this province as it was meeting to reflect on the apostolic frontiers to which we are all called.

Kandhamal is deadly beautiful. A tropical forest, but with close mountains and deep valleys, and a climate that can get alpine in winter, without the snow. The topography of this plateau in the middle of the Indian province of Orissa may have saved the lives of tens of thousands of Christians who fled to the forests as mobs with murder, arson and rape on their minds, attacked 300 villages on 25 August 2008.

We left Santo Domingo for Haiti and on the way we decided to ask the donation trucks, which that day were going to Barahona, to drop us off in a boat from the industry to accompany us.

A forest in agony, that’s what Brazil’s Amazonia is. Called the “lung of the planet,” that name may cease, at any moment, to be an appropriate description. No longer can we drink its waters or fish therein for they are poisoned.

My life has been one continuous apprenticeship. And my best teachers have been the poor and the young people of Andalusia and Latin America, especially those of Paraguay.

I’m at a women’s cooperative near Bauchi, Nigeria. It’s 1996. Participants have just described to a group of us from Canada the lengthy production process of locust seed bean cake. It’s used to flavour soups and stews.

In mid-May, Fr. Pablo and I headed out for a 4-week long journey to China. For more than a year we had been searching for an opportunity to lend our services to people with AIDS.

Life in the Congo is not easy. The Jesuit Refugee Service has a health project in the area of Wanie-Rukula, near Kisangani. Recently I found myself passing through that place, visiting a site where a health centre was being built. I was able to speak to the team and enjoy the company of the local people.