Spirituality

Her childhood dream was to become a medical doctor. However, like the dreams of many Cambodian children of her generation, it was cut short by the brutality of the civil war which devastated much of the country.

Martin Luther King’s speeches gave release to the yearnings of a people for freedom from a tortuous history of oppression in the United States. The martyrdom of the poor and their church leaders in Latin America helped to bring down structures that kept the rich, rich and the poor, poor.

I have been involved in the broadly defined social apostolate from the time I studied philosophy during formation. I worked in a shelter for homeless women in Krakow, and later did my regency at the Jesuit Refugee Service in Berlin.

The detainees in the only Slovenian 'close detention centre,' which I visit once or twice a week, arouse my deepest feelings and move my heart. My visit is always a special moment for me. The detainees are persons affected by Slovenian laws and European directives on migration in Slovenia, which is one of the Schengen (so-called) countries of Europe.

I work in Camden, New Jersey. It is America's poorest and most violent city of its size and this year we are on course to set a new homicide record. Put in perspective, if New York City were to have the murder rate of Camden this year, it would mean that close to 6000 people would have been killed already.

For last two years I have worked in Centre Avec, the research and social action centre in the South Belgium-Luxembourg province. Our mission is to raise the public's awareness of social issues of a local and global nature, giving people the means of working towards a more just society.

At the end of August in 2011, I boarded a plane to Jeju Island, the largest island located in the southern part of South Korea to go to a small village called Gangjeong. Who would have imagined that my simple journey to a small village in an island will end up being in the jail?

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.