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Voices from Jesuit Refugee Service/USA Welcome to Voices at Jesuit Refugee Service/USA. Here you can read first-hand accounts from refugees and forcibly displaced persons, as well as from staff and volunteers as they reflect upon their accompaniment of and service to refugees and forced migrants. |
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31 years of accompaniment, service and advocacy (Washington, D.C.) November 14, 2011 — JRS, an organization that began as primarily a pastoral response to a particular population now finds itself an international NGO providing professional services across multiple faiths and cultures, and seeking for grants to fund schools and disaster relief projects. Read more >> |
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Kenya: Gary Smith reflection from Kakuma (Kakuma, Kenya) October 28, 2011 — Fr. Gary Smith, S.J. writes from Kakuma refugee camp, sharing his latest reflections about his pastoral accompaniment at the sprawling home to more than 85,000 refugees. “I am simultaneously a veteran and rookie in this world of refugees with all the confidence and terror that those two appellations evoke.” Read more >> |
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Thailand: Preparing for resettlement (Bangkok) September 9, 2011 – "I won’t believe I am truly leaving until I am sitting on the plane," Az said, just days before leaving Thailand in July for resettlement in the United States. His trepidation is understandable. After fleeing Pakistan nearly three years ago Az Bhatti has been waiting for something concrete. Read more >> |
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Video: Refugee students from Darfur (Goz Beida, Chad) August 26, 2011 — Student refugees from Darfur attending a Jesuit Refugee Service school at Djabal Refugee Camp in eastern Chad talk about their hopes for the future. Jesuit Refugee Service built the secondary school in eastern Chad with a grant from the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. Read more >> |
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UN and NGOs plan the road ahead (Washington, D.C.) August 5, 2011 — The theme of this year’s consultations between UNHCR and the Non-Governmental Organization community, “60 Years of Partnership – The Road Ahead,” highlights the dual purpose served by the meeting, first to examine past achievements and areas in need of improvement, and then to plan for future initiatives. Read more >> |
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They Come Back Singing: Reflections on Safe Return and Resettlement (Washington, D.C.) July 28, 2011 — Jesuit Refugee Service/USA National Director Fr. Michael Evans, S.J. reflects on a powerful journey to the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where two primary schools built by Jesuit Refugee Service Southern Africa were inaugurated. Read more >> |
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Seeking a bright future for children (Washington, D.C.) July 14, 2011 — Ester and her family fled the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo eight years ago and eventually migrated to Johannesburg. Her three children, 11, eight and five, are now attending a private school in South Africa after encountering endless difficulties at public schools. The children have hemophilia, a bleeding disorder that slows the blood clotting process. Read more >> |
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International Director reflects on World Refugee Day (Masisi, DRC) June 20, 2011 — This year's World Refugee Day commemorates the 60th anniversary of the 1951 UN refugee convention in Geneva. This document was truly ground-breaking in its support for the rights of refugees, as well as its assertion of the international community's responsibility to care for refugee populations. Read more >> |
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Kenya: pastoral care among refugees in Kakuma (Kakuma, Kenya) June 15, 2011 — Fr. Gary Smith, S.J. notes that in the Kakuma refugee camp, with all of its cultures and languages and its hopes and disappointments, the experience of the pastoral arm of JRS is one of contrasts: small group sharing and booming liturgies and participating in both the sadness and joy of many hearts. Read more >> |
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Reflections on the Governance of JRS (Washington, D.C.) June 14, 2011 — I have recently returned from spending three weeks at Jesuit Refugee Service headquarters. Because the work with refugees, internally displaced people and migrants/detainees is a global problem, the response from JRS must also be one of a similar nature. There are ten JRS regions and JRS/USA has a strong relationship with all of them. Read more >> |
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Ethiopia: Fleeing pain and hopelessness (Addis Ababa) June 13, 2011 — Hawa and her four children, who range in age from four to 12, are but one family of an estimated 160,000 undocumented Somali refugees and asylum seekers living in Addis. Like many of them she fled war-torn Somalia in search of safety. Here, she shares the traumatizing experiences that made her flee her home country. Read more >> |
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Finding a future in South Africa (Pretoria) May 23, 2010 — The Income Generating Activities office of Jesuit Refugee Service South Africa helps refugees by providing small business grants, vocational skills training and assistance with transferring educational qualifications from the refugee's country of origin to the South African system. Read more >> |
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Lost Boys of Sudan raise awareness in Ohio (Washington, D.C.) May 13, 2011 — Recently I had the opportunity to join St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland for Refugee Awareness Day. Two Sudanese 'Lost Boys' joined us for the event and shared their journeys with students. As both men humbly offered their experiences of fleeing home at the mere ages of five and nine years old, I noticed the students’ body language change. Read more >> |
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Accompanying refugees in Kenya and Sudan (Washington, D.C.) April 5, 2011 — Jesuit Refugee Service/USA National Director Fr. Michael A. Evans, S.J. shares his reflections of a "very powerful, moving visit" to Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya and several sites throughout Southern Sudan. Read more >> |
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Colombian refugees face stark choices (Washington, D.C.) March 18, 2011 — Prospects for local integration in cities and towns in the region surrounding Colombia have become so grim for refugees from that troubled country that they consider returning to possible death at the hands of their persecutors over the continued neglect and assaults on human dignity they suffer in their countries of refuge. Read more >> |
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Serving others at the Kino Border Initiative (Nogales, Mexico) March 11, 2011 — "Thank God that we have many people in both Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, and Nogales, Ariz., who are committed to this service of migrants," says Sr. Lorena Leyva. "These volunteers are involved in serving food, preparing meals at home and taking them to the KBI's dining facility. Others prepare the meals and they are delighted to receive a thank you, a smile and a hug from the migrants." Read more >> |
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God knocked on my door again (Nogales, Mexico) March 3, 2011 — I felt the call to be where life was leading me, where the God of the poor has a compassionate and softened heart that hurts because of the pain of those who have nothing ... It was through the migrants that God knocked on my door again, "taking me to the desert, talking to my heart." Read more >> |
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Accompanying migrants in detention and afterwards (Washington, D.C.) February 4, 2011 — Jesuit Refugee Service/USA National Director Fr. Michael A. Evans shares reflections on his visit to several detention centers where JRS/USA provides chaplain services to detainees, and on his visit to the Kino Border Initiative on the Arizona — Mexico border. Read more >> |
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Hospitality fosters reconciliation (Rome) A message to Jesuit Refugee Service on its 30th Anniversary from Jesuit Superior General Adolfo Nicolas, S.J. – I am sure that the many collaborators and Jesuits who have spent time with JRS will join me in thanking the Lord for the transformation that our service has produced in us. We wanted to help, but in the end, we realize that those whom we served and with whom we served taught us so much more and changed us deeply. Read more >> |
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On Assignment in Ecuador, Part 2 (Quito, Ecuador) November 11, 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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On Assignment in Mexico (Washington, D.C.) November 8, 2010 – Nogales straddles the border of Mexico and Arizona, directly in the crosshairs of the immigration debate. But, most surprising to me was the realization that the residents of Nogales are not polarized – they have lived as neighbors for years. The border wall that divides the town in half is a fairly recent phenomenon. I could not help but be reminded of the Berlin wall. Read more >> |
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On Assignment in Ecuador (Quito, Ecuador) November 8, 2010 – While Ecuador has by far the most advanced asylum system in Latin America and a progressive new constitution that should afford Colombian refugees many of the rights enjoyed by Ecuadorian nationals, all is not well for many of the Colombian refugees who have crossed into Ecuador. Read more >> |
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On Assignment in Panama, Part Two It has been four years since I last visited the refugees of Jaque, and I must say conditions have not improved – in fact they have gotten worse. The refugee community is comprised mainly of refugees from the Choco region of Colombia, most of whom crossed over into Panama ten years ago or more, fleeing targeted attacks on their villages by the guerrillas and the paramilitaries. Trapped between these vicious groups, many of the refugees lost loved ones to massacres and were thus driven from their mineral rich land. Read more >> |
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On Assignment in Panama (Panama City, Panama) November 2, 2010 – This jungle region of Panama is impassable by car, the only way to get from one village to another is by boat. Children have no access to secondary school education, health care is minimal and many of the children suffer from parasitic diseases. Eight hundred sixty-three of the Colombian refugees living in this jungle region are under a special state of confinement imposed on them by the Panamanian government called Temporary Humanitarian Protection. They are not allowed to leave their village, to work, to access even the most basic of services. These refugees have been living in this state of legal limbo, confinement, and social exclusion for 10 to 13 years. Read more >> |
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Seeing Christ in the faces of migrants Christ’s humble entrance into this world as an “illegal alien” mirrors the often overlooked struggles of millions of immigrants continually turned away from every inn and “in” to acceptance and legal status (or at the very least, recognition of their human dignity) in this country. Read more >> |
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Rwanda: former refugee shares her story I was born in 1979 in the district of Kayonza in Kabare II, a sector of Rwanda’s Eastern Province. In 1994, I fled my country due to the war. After moving to Akagera, I crossed to Tanzania with my parents, one brother and two sisters. We left behind two other brothers: one in Kigali, the other in Cyangugu. They both had to flee to Congo but happily in 1995 they could join us in the refugee camp of Cyabarisa II. Read more >> |
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On Assignment in Burundi 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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On Assignment in the Democratic Republic of Congo 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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On Assignment in Southern Sudan As part of the assembly, Guo Rose Kasara, JRS coordinator for affirmative action programs, recounted her own struggle to earn an education degree as a refugee. Without money for school fees, she earned scholarships and completed her degree. After telling her story, she encouraged the female students to speak with her if they needed assistance with school fees, were victims of rape or became pregnant. Read more >> |
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On Assignment in Mwange Refugee Camp, Zambia For any of us, ten years is a long time, but for many refugees it can be an eternity. In the late 1990s thousands of refugees, who fled a savage war in their native Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), were welcomed by Zambia, their neighbor to the east. Nearly 30,000 found refuge in rural Mwange Camp in northern Zambia, where they have lived in peace for the past decade. Like many refugees, as they were forced from their home country, the Congolese endured the loss of land, home, and livelihood. Many of their children have grown up with little or no memory of the DRC. Read more >> |
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On Assignment with the Kino Border Initiative During my time there it was not uncommon to serve 150 people at any given meal from all parts of Mexico, Central, and South America. The preparation, serving, cleaning up, and planning for the next meal that were involved in a normal day reminded me of all the farming and ranching work Fr. Kino did to help support his missions. Fr. Kino was an expert frontiersman was well as missionary. He was able to claim 70,000 head of cattle from the initial 20 he brought with him from Europe. Many a day I would look at the food we had available compared to the line of recently deported immigrants and wonder how we were going to feed them. Then as if planned, one of the Missionary Sisters of the Eucharist would bring out an unaccounted for pot of food and smile. Read more >> |
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On Assignment in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya Kakuma was first opened in 1992 and continues to this day to be home for thousands of refugee families. On my recent visit to our JRS projects there I mentioned to a staff member how surprised I was at the camp’s well-developed organizational and administrative structure. The JRS team member replied, "Yes, it’s a little New York, with over 50,000 refugees from eleven different African nationalities!" Read more >> |
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On Assignment in a Federal Detention Center 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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On Assignment in Nogales, Mexico A hot Mexican meal after the anxiety of apprehension, detention, and deportation by the U.S. Border Patrol is a simple but very welcome experience for many returning Mexican migrants. I witnessed first-hand the power of companionship and solidarity while accompanying Sr. Robles in her daily diligent efforts of feeding groups of arriving deportees at a migrant care center located just steps away from the border crossing. Read more >> |
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On Assignment: JRS/USA 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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On Assignment in Koujol, Haiti "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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On Assignment: Southeast Nepal 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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On Assignment: Sri Lanka In December 2007 Fr. Ken Gavin, JRS/USA National Director, and Ron Ferreri, Development Director, visited the Mannar, Vavuniya and Batticaloa areas of Sri Lanka. Read more >> |
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Thailand: Sri Lankan refugees left languishing in Bangkok Bangkok, 23 July 2010 – Nathan and his family are recognised refugees. They fled Sri Lanka after Nathan was kidnapped and held for ransom by a paramilitary group known as the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE). Now residing in Thailand, Nathan and his family face a daily struggle for survival in a country that refuses to acknowledge their status as refugees; leaving them exposed to the risks of arrest, indefinite detention and removal to a country where their lives or freedoms would be threatened. Read more >> |
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Ethiopia: I came with empty hands In 2005, I fled the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with my wife and three children because of the civil war. It took us weeks to arrive at the Ethiopian border after having crossed Uganda and Kenya. When we finally reached the capital, Addis Ababa, our clothes were tattered and we were weak. We presented our cases and sought asylum. Read more >> |
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Kenya: someone who really cares When I fled Somalia I did not do so because of the war. You get used to gunshots and shelling. I fled because of personal problems. My stepfather owed money to a certain man who kept asking my mother for it, long after she had been divorced from him. Read more >> |
