Justice

Since high school, my favorite book has been Third & Indiana by Steve Lopez. The novel is about a teenage boy who gets caught up selling drugs in Philadelphia

Any reference I make to my life as a Jesuit these past 42 years inevitably refers to the mission of faith and justice, and to friendship with Jesuits in my province

Economically, the country was experiencing run-away hyper-inflation that set a new world record. There was shortage of basic goods in shops, and when they were available their prices simply prevented the majority poor from accessing them, especially given that many had been rendered jobless by the closure of several companies.

Two years ago this March, we installed in our office of the Ecology Program of Jesuit Service Cambodia in Phnom Penh, a solar power system to provide for the electrical requirements of the entire office. With only 3 laptops, 1 printer, 3 fans, a couple of lights for working at night, and the periodic charging of phones and other devices, it isn’t a very big office. Nevertheless, we decided to disconnect the electrical lines of our office from the main building in which we were located and to try, from then on, to be fully dependent on the sun’s radiation.

Thank you for being here this week. I am very conscious of the great effort behind a meeting like this. That is why I thank every one of you. I also thank Xavier and Rossana for all the coordination they have done to prepare the meeting.

Although I was born and raised in Haiti, I was not fully aware of the dire realities of my own people until I left my country in November 1993 for Panama, where I lived for two years as a novice.

Père Stanislas’ concern is to make the children and youths living on the streets understand that children are not born of the streets, that life continues to be sacred, that family continues to be the basic unit of society and that each person has a unique value in the eyes of God. May Mgr. Munzihirwa intercede for the centre, which carries his name, so that we may give renewed spirit, joy and love for life to the so-called street children.

Shantha Ram is accused of rape and murder of Kanchan Kumari, a 8 year old girl, his neighbor in the jhopari-patti (cluster of huts) along the railway track near the Bihar State Secretariat, Patna. The incident took place on 16.12.2007. Ram went absconding, but was arrested on 07.08.2011 and is in Patna central jail since then.

Miyashita Park is a park located in Tokyo’s Shibuya ward, a major commercial center. Many people experiencing homelessness have stayed in Miyashita Park in small cardboard or other structures since the late-1990s.

In 2016, I found myself elected delegation leader to two foreign business trips on behalf a huge government corporation with interest in a variety of business sectors. This came about following my appointment to sit on the Board of Directors of the same the corporation.