The Rev. Gary Smith worked with several young students at Kakuma Refugee camp, including Luul, a Muslim from Somalia. Photo courtesy Jesuit Refugee Service.

Jesuit Father Gary Smith has dedicated more than 50 years of his life to serving the poor, including the last dozen in African refugee camps in Uganda, South Africa and Kenya. He says that working with the poor in U.S. cities, such as Portland, Tacoma and Oakland, prepared him for his work with the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in Africa.

“It gave me a viewpoint of how the church had moved toward the poor. All the personalities you find on the streets prepare you for all the personalities you find in the camps. Human beings are human beings,” Fr. Smith says.

Now back in the states, Fr. Smith recently spoke with The Oregonian about why he’s drawn to Africa: “There are the poor and there are the poor. My experience in the refugee camp is that people there have no address, no money, no documents. The degree of poverty is very different.”

Fr. Smith also discussed working with refugees from other faiths.  He said working with Muslims was not difficult. “They believe in the absolute, the creator. They want help discerning how God is moving in their lives,” he says. “They saw me as a father, someone who wanted to listen to them very attentively. These students knew the Quran, and they rejected extremists out of hand.”

Fr. Smith also spent time helping refugee students work on an online diploma program through Jesuit Commons: Higher Education at the Margins, which is run by Jesuit universities and JRS.  “When you work with really bright refugees who want nothing more than to be a man and a woman for others, there is a great sense of accomplishment in that,” Fr. Smith says.

To read the complete interview with Fr. Smith, visit The Oregonian website.

Jesuit Father Jean-Baptiste Mazarati spoke to students, faculty and staff about the Jesuit ministry in Africa and his plans to return to the continent after receiving a doctoral degree from Georgetown. // Photo: Georgetown University

Two African Jesuits completing their doctorates in health care at Georgetown spoke to students, faculty and staff last week about their plans to return to the country to help their communities.

The talk, “Jesuits in Africa: The Hope of International Development” was part of Jesuit Heritage Week, which began on Jan. 29 and ran through Feb. 4.

“Jesuits are working in 28 out of 54 African countries today,” noted Jesuit Father Rodrigue Takoudjou.“We African Jesuits clearly perceive health care and education as priorities in our ministries.”

Fr. Takoudjuou, of Cameroon, is getting his Ph.D. in pharmacology, plans to teach at a Jesuit medical school in Chad.

One of the main health care issues that Jesuits are helping combat in Africa is HIV/AIDS, mostly through organizations such as The African Jesuit AIDS Network (AJAN).

“AJAN’s mission is to stimulate and coordinate the work of African Jesuits in responding to HIV and AIDS in an effective, coordinated and evangelical manner, culturally sensitive and spiritually grounded,” he explained. “The African Jesuits are involved in more than 100 HIV/AIDS initiatives throughout the continent.”

Fellow panelist Jesuit Father Jean-Baptiste Mazarati, of Rwanda, will teach at the state medical school in his country when he graduates with a doctorate in tumor biology in 2012.

“Africa stands in the world as a big question mark. So who will answer that question?” Mazarati said. “It is a question of endemic poverty. It is a question of endemic disease. It is a question of endemic conflicts. It is a question of lack of leadership. …It is a question of a continent that holds so much richness, yet is struggling to take off.”

Africa also has a large population of children, he said, so there is a strong need for educational advancements.

Jesuits are sending Rwandan priests around the world to seek higher education in the sciences, social sciences and development “to make sure that tomorrow we come back to Rwanda stronger,” and ready to teach, Mazarati said.

Carol Lancaster, dean of the School of Foreign Service, moderated the event. Katherine Marshall, a senior fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, also participated in the panel discussion.

“Jesuits have made such a contribution to this university and to the world,” Lancaster said.

The Jesuits’ personal stories of mission and ministry in Africa enlightened, yet posed more questions for some in the audience.

“The intersection between religion and African development is an extremely interesting field that must be further explored to fully understand the challenges and hopes of development,” said Vivian Ojo, who helped organize the event with Mariana Santos.

“The Jesuits provided some answers to some of the most difficult questions [plaguing Africa],” Ojo added. “I left the conversation with a desire to search for more answers about a topic not often explored.”

The Jesuits are responding to this humanitarian crisis in two ways: immediate food assistance and long-term projects. According to the UN, more than 12 million people are in need of emergency assistance, primarily in Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia.

Check out our video interview with Fr. Orobator below.

The Jesuits pray for all those suffering from drought, hunger, displacement and famine in the Horn of Africa and are grateful for your ongoing prayers and support.

For more information about how you can help, please visit:
http://www.jesuitpartners.org/faminerelief
and
http://www.jrsusa.org/donate

Fifth grade students from Our St. Joseph Jesuit Parish Primary School in Kasungu, Malawi visit the site of the future Loyola Jesuit Secondary School with their headmaster (back left), Fr. Peter Henriot, SJ, development director of Loyola Jesuit Secondary School (back center) and Fr. Alojz Podgrajsek, SJ, project director of Loyola Jesuit Secondary School (back right).

Serving in Zambia on sabbatical in 1989 had a life-changing affect on Jesuit Father Peter Henriot. “Working in a village development project with local people and doing simple tasks did almost more for my education than all the other learning I gathered while studying and working in the United States. And at the end of that year, the people there gave me the best gift – the desire to stay.”

And for the next 21 years that’s exactly what Fr. Henriot was able to do, having joined the Zambia-Malawi Province (transferring from the Oregon Province) while working with the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection in Zambia after having spent the previous 16 years with Center of Concern in Washington, D.C.  And, then in 2010, he was assigned to another purpose – to help establish Loyola Jesuit Secondary School (LJSS) in Malawi.

Although it is a country rich in natural resources, Malawi, whose nickname is “The Warm Heart of Africa,” continues to be one of the poorest countries in the world in terms of human development. It ranks a somber 153 out of 169 on the United Nations Human Development Index, which is largely caused by lack of educational opportunities for its youth.

“There simply is no future for Malawi without better education for the young people,” Henriot states.

With encouragement from the Catholic Bishops of Malawi, the government of Malawi officials and local families, the Zambia-Malawi Province of the Society of Jesus decided to establish LJSS in the poor rural city of Kasungu.  As its Director of Development, Henriot is charged with fund-raising for this enormous educational project.

“People often ask me ‘what’s an old man like you doing in such a new and demanding job’, to which I reply ‘Jesuits might get tired, but we never get retired!’”

Henriot and the Jesuits of the Zambia-Malawi Province are working to provide a secondary education to young Malawian women and men that will embody the characteristics of a Jesuit education of intellectual and spiritual excellence, and a curriculum dedicated to life skills, character development and community service responsibilities.  Their vision is of a school that could accommodate approximately 500 students; a 50/50 mix of girls and boys. Run in cooperation with the Malawian government, LJSS will be a “grant-aided” school, helping to offset teacher salaries. This will make it more widely affordable to students from families of modest means.  In addition, significant employment opportunities will be generated throughout the community of Kasungu during construction, and through servicing and maintenance of the facility.

As a boarding school, the goal is to create a learning environment that is genuinely Jesuit in all aspects of life, with a required community service program in place so that students learn in many practical ways what it is to be educated to be “a person for others.”

“We want to set up an ‘elite school’ of the best educational values and structure, but not an ‘elitist’ school only open to the rich. I think this can be a practical implementation of something we all talk a lot about, the ‘preferential option for the poor’,” says Henriot.

Having done a lot of work over the years with the church’s social teaching, Henriot sees Loyola Jesuit Secondary School as a major contributor to what true development is all about: enabling the human person to become more human in community. What that means while facing Malawi’s very poor economic environment will be a big challenge for the school administrators and its students to overcome.

Right now, the Zambia-Malawi Jesuit Province now has a large financial task ahead of them, and has already begun to seek large donations from foundations and institutions to help fund this school project, as well as small contributions from individual supporters of this effort.

“To raise money in a time of global economic decline has been no easy task,” says Fr. Henriot, “but what particularly encourages me are the small amounts coming in from friends and others who have learned what we are about.”

There have been some very generous grants from Jesuit Provinces in Europe, who see the value of this educational effort at this time. But the project still has a long way to go – the goal is to start construction in 2012 and to be ready to welcome the first year students in 2013. Henriot is hoping that this immensely important task will be made possible by future donations and volunteers, and will enable a well-rounded Jesuit education for the children of Malawi to not just be a dream but to ultimately become a reality.

For more information or to make a donation to Loyola Jesuit Secondary School contact: phenriot@jesuits.org.zm

In 2001, as Charlton visited people suffering from AIDS, he kept hearing a repeated concerns for the children of those suffering, primarily about the child’s ongoing education.

“There is free universal primary education in Kenya, but all secondary education, including at the government schools is for a cost, and a cost that would be far beyond the means of these people mired in poverty because of their illness, not able to hold jobs and that sort of thing. So in 2003 our school decided to sponsor 12 of their children for freshman year of high school,” said Father Charlton.

Working to help more children in the same situation, Charlton opened a school for 25 students in 2004. Through the support of many people from around the World, plus a $600,000 grant from the U.S. Government, they have been able to build a school that now accommodates 280 students.

During the meeting, the members of the U.S. Assistancy and JESAM in attendance considered strategies for the various ways the U.S. and the African provinces might have opportunities to work more closely together, such as in the arenas of potential exchange programs between the U.S. and Africa’s apostolic works, in creating partnerships between apostolates, and by identifying tertianship experiences in Africa for U.S. Jesuits.

The African Jesuits also shared with their U.S. brothers the challenges the Society of Jesus faces in Africa around educational opportunities; with ethnic and political tensions; in health care, especially for HIV/AIDs and malaria treatments; and also the environmental and ecological concerns facing the continent.

“It bodes well for the future of the Society of Jesus that there will be well trained men in various disciplines to continue and develop the work of the Jesuits in Africa and Madagascar. It goes without saying that the Jesuits of North America have been extremely generous to us in providing the wherewithal for African and Malagasy Jesuits to specialize in these many and varied subjects. The Church and the Society are very grateful for this often unsung and open-handed support for the apostolates of the Society in our continent,” said Jesuit Father Michael Lewis, president of the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar. “There are men studying everything from engineering, informatics, administration, to pedagogy and the like which will help the Church and the Jesuits of the future to continue offering the work we do for the people of Africa and Madagascar.”

Thirty-seven African Jesuits participated in the gathering (there are approximately 60 African Jesuits currently in the U.S. and Canada), representing seven African provinces and regions, and 16 different countries. The participants came from various places throughout the U.S. and Canada where they are studying, ministering or on sabbatical.

In addition, five people from the U.S. Assistancy participated: three from the Jesuit Conference, including Jesuit Father Tom Smolich, president of the Jesuit Conference of the United States; a provincial assistant from the New York province; and a provincial assistant from the Wisconsin province.

The previous African Jesuit Gathering was in 2006, also hosted by the Jesuit Conference of the United States and was held at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

One of the attendees of the meeting, Jesuit Father Jacques Randrianary of the Madagascar Province of the Society of Jesus who is completing his Masters degree in Film and Television at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, Calif, created this short video piece from the material he captured during the gathering in Baltimore:

Jesuit Father Martin Connell, of the Chicago-Detroit Province, is currently visiting the United States to discuss the Jesuits’ successful efforts in opening a new high school in Tanzania.

Fr. Connell left his faculty position in the School of Education at Loyola Marymount University in March 2009 to help open St. Peter Claver High School in Dodoma, Tanzania. The Jesuit boarding school opened in January 2011 with Connell as headmaster, and it currently serves 140 boys and girls in their first year of secondary school.

“We’re here because it’s a poor region that’s been underserved by education,” said Connell.

Connell’s primary mission is to help Tanzanians “build capacity” by establishing a strong educational system. He said the notion of building capacity is a fundamental value of the democratic way of life.

“St. Peter Claver High School will cultivate these democratic ideals, which in fact dovetail with Jesuit values,” Connell said. “Students will be encouraged to build their capacity as individuals, always with an eye to how this positively affects their fellow citizens to the greater glory of God.”

For more information on Connell and his U.S. visit, go to the Chicago-Detroit Province website.

Jesuits in Eastern Africa – St. Peter Claver High School from Midwest Jesuits on Vimeo.

The Center of Concern hosted Jesuit Father Peter Henriot at the Washington Theological Union in Washington, D.C. last week, where he reflected on the convergence in global crises and the transformation necessary for the world to recover and flourish.

“One of the important signs of the times is the cultural crisis experienced in so many different forms across the globe,” commented Fr. Henriot. “Culture is of course a major contributor to identity and uniqueness, community and solidarity, empowerment and future-building. When culture is endangered at its richest roots, then all of society suffers.”

With deep roots in the U.S. faith-based social justice movement and the experience garnered over another 20 years in Zambia, Fr. Henriot spoke about what is being called for in spirit, in truth and in action for response to the global crises as they affect vulnerable peoples everywhere.

While only in the U.S. for a brief time, Fr. Henriot took full advantage of the opportunity to spread his message of peace and justice in Africa and elsewhere. In addition to his talk at the WTU, Fr. Henriot spoke at Creighton Univeristy on “Why is Africa important for the U.S. at this time?” and at the Africa Faith and Justice Network’s annual meeting, presenting the keynote address: “Africa and Justice: Justice IN and FOR Africa.”

For full video on Fr. Henriot’s talk at Creighton, please click here.

For text of Fr. Henriot’s keynote address at the AFJN’s annual meeting, please click here.

Jesuit Father Uwen Akpan, SJ’s short story collection, “Say You’re One of Them” is the next pick for Oprah’s book club. It will be announced today on her show.

His five short stories are each set in a different African country. Children play major roles in the stories, which tackle the toughest of topics –  child slavery, rioting and genocide. When the book was published last year it was widely praised by book reviewers but the book’s success up until now is nothing compared with what is likely to be unleashed later this afternoon. Yesterday the book was #165,769 on Amazon.com’s sales rankings, by 10 p.m. last night it had risen to #2,151 and #18 by this afternoon.

Related Links of Interest:

The New Yorker Q and A:

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/06/13/050613on_onlineonly01

Thinking Faith book review:

http://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/BOOK_20080930_1.htm

New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/books/03akpan.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=akpan&st=nyt

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/books/27book.html?ref=books

Visit to fairfieldU:

http://www.fairfield.edu/currents/stories/08_12/cc_students_dec08.html

NPR radio:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91398323

Jesuit Father Uwen Akpan, SJ’s short story collection, “Say You’re One of Them” is the next pick for Oprah’s book club. It will be announced today on her show.

His five short stories are each set in a different African country. Children play major roles in the stories, which tackle the toughest of topics –  child slavery, rioting and genocide. When the book was published last year it was widely praised by book reviewers but the book’s success up until now is nothing compared with what is likely to be unleashed later this afternoon. Yesterday the book was #165,769 on Amazon.com’s sales rankings, by 10 p.m. last night it had risen to #2,151 and #18 by this afternoon.

Related Links of Interest:

The New Yorker Q and A:

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/06/13/050613on_onlineonly01

Thinking Faith book review:

http://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/BOOK_20080930_1.htm

New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/books/03akpan.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=akpan&st=nyt

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/books/27book.html?ref=books

Visit to fairfieldU:

http://www.fairfield.edu/currents/stories/08_12/cc_students_dec08.html

NPR radio:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91398323