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On Assignment Welcome to On Assignment at Jesuit Refugee Service International Office. Here you can read in-depth accounts of the experiences of staff in the field as they reflect on the delivery of services and the accompaniment of refugees and other forcibly displaced persons. |
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All that is not given is lost Chennai, 10 January 2013 – Pierre Ceyrac SJ died early on 30 May 2012 in Chennai at the age of 98. Pierre served with JRS in the camps of Cambodian refugees in Thailand from the early 1980s, indeed since the beginning of JRS. When Pierre died, a former JRS worker wrote, "an era of compassion without borders ends". Read more >> |
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Colombia: life is stronger than death Buenaventura, 27 December 2012 – First day... 29 June 2008: A wonderful Sunday afternoon. Children ran in every possible direction on the football pitch and community grounds of San Francisco district in Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca. Men and women bustled around, preparing activities to celebrate life as a community, with music, singing and laughter. It was an occasion worth celebrating: the closure of an intensive process of formation and exchange of ideas, of identifying ways to live in such an adverse environment. Read more >> |
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Jordan: when education is more than just learning Amman, 15 October 2012 – For eight months former Jesuit Refugee Service volunteer, Grace Benton, worked in a team of volunteers trying to offer refugees and their children the support they need to build a future. The courses went from strength to strength; but as she learned, the results were about more than learning curricular subjects, there were about building community and making refugees safer. Read more >> |
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Democratic Republic of Congo: lives hanging in the balance in North Kivu North Kivu, 28 February 2012 – Emmanuel Mirimo Mateene used to own a house and a small piece of farm land. His life was peaceful and it was relatively easy for him to put food on the table for his family. But that was before broke out war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Read more >> |
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Ecuador: invisible Colombian refugees, discrimination and an uncertain future Quito, 02 February 2012 – Javier González* was teaching his nine-year-old son Miguel how to play chess when Miguel's mother, Rosa, interrupted their game to ask him what had happened at school today. Read more >> |
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Portugal: going the extra mile, a focus on mental health Brussels, 01 November 2011 – JRS Europe Media Assistant Cathal Foley speaks to mental health counsellor Sr Maria Jose Rebelo who explains the importance of addressing psychosocial needs of forced migrants. Read more >> |
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Jordan: Iraqi family mourns loss of daughter Amman, 20 April 2011 – Wafi Youssif recalls asking his daughter Raghda not to go to church because they had become targets for bombing attacks. She told her dad: "If I have to die, I don't mind dying in church". Unfortunately, a few hours later she did. Read more >> |
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Ecuador: effects of the Colombian conflict hit women refugees Quito, 11 November 2010 – I am haunted by our delegation’s visit to the border town of Lago Agrio, Ecuador, haunted by the stories of desperation from the refugee population, haunted by the lack of security offered to the residents, haunted by the lack of civilian state presence and the lack of UN presence besides UNHCR, haunted by the abuse suffered by the people at the hands of Colombian armed groups, the local police and even the Ecuadorian military. Read more >> |
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Democratic Republic of Congo: building schools, Bringing hope Washington DC, 9 September 2010 – It’s always a happy moment to accompany refugees as they return home after years of living in exile. For nearly 10 years Jesuit Refugee Service had cared for Congolese refugees, driven by war from their homes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Mwange Camp in northern Zambia. Although the camp was not far from the border with their home country, the ongoing conflict in the DRC made return impossible. Read more >> |
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Haiti: planting hope in Koujol "Jesuit Refugee Service has been more than a father to us all!" With these words Clauden and Damais, the president and treasurer of a local community group in Koujol, Haiti, summed up the role that JRS has played during the past year in helping a group of 200 local farmers begin an innovative farming project in this small community just a stone’s throw from Haiti’s northeast border with the Dominican Republic. Read more >> |
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USA: meeting spiritual needs in immigration detention centres John Krambuhl worked with JRS USA, focusing on the religious needs of immigration detainees in US government-sponsored detention facilities. Afterwards, John joined the faculty of Jesuit High School in Tampa to teach Theology and Ethics. John offered these reflections on his time spent with JRS USA. Read more >> |
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USA: affirming human dignity in detention centres I asked myself, “How can one celebrate the freedom that Christ brings us in a detention center?” Still, I knew that ‘Christ the King’ was with these three hundred men. When the words of Gospel of Matthew 25 were proclaimed, a number of heads nodded in understanding. They knew Jesus was speaking about them: ‘When I was in prison, you came and visited me. . . . Whatever you have done to the least of my brothers, you have done to me.” These men knew what it means to be hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, what it means to be a stranger. Some of them had crossed the border long ago; some had crossed it only days before; all of them sought work in the US and a brighter future for their families. The poverty in their home countries — Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico — had forced them to move North. Read more >> |
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Burundi: you have not forgotten us, a goat programme In 2008 the government of Burundi and the rebel armed forces finally reached a negotiated peace settlement that marked the end of nearly two decades of conflict. During the past two years more than 95,000 Burundians have returned home after having spent nearly twelve years as refugees in Tanzania. In the face of this large influx of poor refugees, we asked ourselves how we could help create an environment that ensured adequate food for them as they return to Burundi. Read more >> |
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Democratic Republic of Congo: quality indicators of JRS accompaniment Bujumbura, 18 June 2010 – ‘Quality’ and ‘impact’ have become key words in humanitarian discourse. Although it is easy to discuss these issues, it is not easy to assess the quality of our work. It is simpler to assess the quantity of services we provide: the number of schools built, books distributed, children in schools. However, when we talk about ‘accompaniment’ – the first word in the JRS mission – it is more complex to assess quality. Read more >> |
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Thailand: A new way of being present Mae Hong Son, 6 December 2010 – When I was a novice in Scotland many years ago, our novice master faced the challenges of directing young men in the Jesuit way of life, but at a time when the world and the Church were going through profound changes. The end of the 1960s brought the Paris revolution of the young, and the Church was still grappling with the implications of its engagement with the world after Vatican II. Read more >> |
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Nepal: difficult decisions, resettlement or the possibility of repatriation In comparison to many other refugee camps I have visited, there is a surprising lack of international presence in the Bhutanese camps. Camp administration is carried out by Camp Management Committees composed of the refugees themselves, with half of the positions occupied by women. Refugees carry out such functions as food distribution and provide the teaching staff for JRS schools, receiving only a small "incentive" payment as return for dedicated volunteer service. Read more >> |
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Sri Lanka: destruction and suffering in 'post-conflict' society In December 2007 Fr Ken Gavin, JRS USA Director, and Ron Ferreri, Development Director, visited the Mannar, Vavuniya and Batticaloa areas of Sri Lanka. Read more >> |
