June 20 was World Refugee Day, a day that puts the spotlight on the plight of refugees and highlights how they can be treated with dignity and humanity. This year, World Refugee Day coincides with the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Refugee Convention, which outlines the rights of refugees and the responsibilities of people hosting them.
The earthquake and resulting tsunami that killed some 14,000 last March in Japan has caused another tsunami, this time of solidarity and outreach, said the president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum.
“Caritas Internationalis has done a great job coordinating all these resources. This effort has enabled Caritas Japan in recent weeks to provide food, blankets and basic necessities to more than 10,000 people affected,” said Cardinal Robert Sarah in an interview with XENIT upon his return from a mission trip to Japan in May during which he visited the most affected places.
Fr Patxi Álvarez de los Mozos SJ, secretary of Social Justice & Ecology for the Society of Jesus, explains the intertwined nature of working for social justice with a connection to ecological issues during this video interview he conducted with National Jesuit News during his visit from his headquarters in Rome to the United States. Fr de los Mozos encourages Jesuits and their partners to work toward justice, peace and environmental care worldwide.
When the rector of the Jesuit scholasticate in Tokyo, Fr Juan Haidar, asked me whether I was interested in volunteering for relief efforts of Caritas Japan, I initially hesitated since my command of the Japanese language is not good. Yet I felt moved to respond despite this disability and despite the risks.
Fr Vicente Bonet (JPN) from Sophia University, Japan visited Cambodia with ten members of a group called Camboren (Friends of Cambodia) from February 5 to 13. The group was there to visit projects they supported last year in cooperation with Jesuit Service Cambodia in Sisophon. The projects include a small school for a village that did not have one and a house for a very poor HIV-infected widow.
After nearly eight months of planning and work, JRS Asia Pacific launched its new website, www.jrsap.org, in April 4, 2011, International Mine Awareness Day.
Ten days have passed since my first report on the situation in Japan immediately after the earthquake and tsunami of March 11. The number of victims has increased daily, to over 24,000, as more bodies are discovered and more people are reported missing. Meanwhile, the critical situation at the Fukushima nuclear power plant is causing concern not only in Japan but around the world as well. Local farm and dairy products have shown higher levels of radiation, and only yesterday warnings were issued concerning contamination of the Tokyo metropolitan water supply.
Flores is an island that has sub‐climates. The mountains in this island are highly volcanic in origin, so water can permeate and infiltrate into the ground effectively. There is good storage capacity but there is no clear understanding of how much water is available on the ground. Volcanic earth has certain nutrients that are valuable but when we get to plant, it may not have the right combination of nutrients and the water needed.
The story begun between 2003 and 2004, when Fr. Bambang Triatmoko SJ was invited to attend a Church gathering of eight bishops and 50,000 youth, in a small village in Bali, Indonesia. From the Church’s perspective, those youth needed to gain more skills aside from the general or basic education they get from their local school. Compared to other region, their youth have very low skilled‐job, which was attributed to low government support to education.
Sister Denise reflects on her 20+ years working in Cambodia and how she is motivated by her faith and a sense of justice. She highlights the challenges facing people with disabilities, of post-conflict reconciliation, and rebuilding trust. She also discusses the legacy of the Khmer Rouge in relation to families and society in Cambodia today. Faith-inspired organizations are an important link between the policy and community levels. Sister Denise stresses that faith-inspired organizations must be experts in their field; faith alone is not always sufficient to make lasting contributions. Finally, she describes her international work on landmines and cluster bombs, which won her team a Nobel Peace prize.