Collaboration

The devastating earthquake that hit Nepal on 25th April affected the lives of about 8 million Nepalese, leaving us with fear, tears and sorrows. But, it's said, "instead of cursing darkness, it's better to light a candle."

Labor migration from the Philippines continues to rise, as employment prospects, both for skilled and non-skilled workers, in the country remain limited. At present, there are roughly 10 million Filipino international migrant workers all over the world.

Father José Ignacio Arrieta is presently living in the province infirmary of the Jesuits of Venezuela. Now 81 years old, he recalls for us the process by which the social sector took shape in Venezuela around the work of Centro Gumilla:

From the moment I was assigned to study theology in Brazil, I knew that it was going to be a challenge: a new culture, a new language, a new way of being Jesuit. And I wasn’t wrong. The first months were difficult and unsettling.

As an earnest young scholastic, and later, as a young priest in Gujarat Province, India, I was reflecting on how to make my commitment more meaningful, in keeping with the magis, 'the fire' of a Jesuit. Finding meaning in my call and articulating it in my own way has been a long struggle.

In the social justice nest I am a cuckoo that leaves its egg and flies away. My ministry has been to teach theology, and more lately to write for Jesuit publications and for Jesuit Social Services.

Bonfim is a small city in the state of Roraima, Brazil, near the border with Guyana. A group of Jesuits has been living there five years now, learning to work with the poor. Of the city's 15,000 inhabitants half are indigenous, mostly Wapixana and to a lesser extent Macuxi.

It was the 24th of November 2007. The Adivasis (indigenous/tribals) from every corner of Assam reached Guwahati, the capital city of the north eastern state of Assam, India, at the invitation of the All Adivasi Students' Association of Assam (AASAA).

It is Saturday night, a night for PEACE PRAYER OUTREACH. We are on a prayerful night-walk through the lanes where migrants and trafficked women await customers at Geylang, Singapore. This is an initiative of the Franciscan Missionary of Mary, endorsed by the Association of Major Superiors of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, to respond to the burning issues of migration and illegal human trafficking, a modern form of slavery.

Since 2006 I have been deeply involved in the work of Instituto Mayor Campesino (IMCA-founded in 1962, a Jesuit centre at the service of rural communities in Colombia) in Valle de Cauca Department in southwest Colombia.