Monsignor Enrique Figaredo Alvargonzales recently celebrated his 10th anniversary as head of the Battambang apostolic prefecture.
However, even before his installation, he had been working with Cambodians, particularly those with disabilities, as early as 1985 through the Jesuit Refugee Service in Thailand.
In remembrance of Bishop Francisco Claver who passed away last 1 July 2010, we publish here an interview of ESSC with the Bishop in March 2008 where he generously shared his sharp and wizened thoughts on questions of culture and environment, especially in the Cordillera, his cultural origin.
Covering children’s basic needs in housing and nutrition is a challenge we face every day. Having a basic and balanced nutrition and growing up in a stable and loving home is but a dream to many children. This is our everyday story.
In June last year a solitary Uighur from Xinjiang Province in China arrived in Phnom Penh seeking asylum. He registered his claim with the Cambodian Government and with UNHCR.
16th February 2010 was another mile-stone to celebrate achievement. It is indeed good news of great joy! Sr Denise, Country Director of JRS Cambodia excitedly exclaimed, “Today (16th February 2010) we got the 30 ratifications on the cluster munitions treaty!” This means the treaty will enter into force on 1st August 2010 as a binding international law. “Today we are letting off 104 balloons at Siem Reap, Battambang, Banteay Prieb, and Phnom Penh. 104 is the number of signatories,” continued Sr Denise.
Lian, recently replaced lawyer Taya Hunt as JRS Australia’s representative in Phnom Penh, where she will work with the increasing numbers of asylum seekers arriving in Cambodia.
On 11 January Jean-Yves Calvez died at the age of 82. He was a Jesuit priest, an influential social thinker whose engagements responded exactly to the large movements in the Catholic Church and the world over the last 50 years.
Jesuit Refugee Service Cambodia reports that the International Convention on Cluster Munitions has now been ratified by 30 countries, which means that it will become binding international law on 1 September 2010. The director of JRS Cambodia, Sister Denise Coghlan, had been lobbying tirelessly governments as part of the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC). (Source: Headlines 2010/02 News from the Jesuit Social Apostolate)
An environmental scientist with experience in disaster mitigation, Fr Pedro Walpole (PHI) talks about founding Environmental Sustainability for Social Change, a group using scientific data on the environment to advocate for changes aimed at making poor communities less susceptible to natural disaster. He also talks about his experiences working in an area wracked by conflict. The two-part video was recorded at the Jesuit Social Services All Staff Day, 12 December 2009. View Part 1.
Former Jesuit Refugee Services International Director Fr Mark Raper has argued that all states share a responsibility to vulnerable people who cannot live decently in their homelands – whether due to climate change, natural disaster or war.