Mattresses for flood victims in Timor-Leste

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After Cyclone Seroja hit Timor-Leste on Easter Sunday this year, heavy rain resulted in flash floods and landslides that damaged 28,000 households and resulted in 48 fatalities.

With your generous support, our partner Jesuit Social Service (JSS) responded to the flood crisis by providing emergency food supplies, mattresses and kitchen utensils for families significantly affected by the floods.  

One of the affected households included Domingas and her three kids who live in Becora, Dili.

[quotes]“Half of our stuff and furniture were swept away by the flood. It has been a month, we have been sleeping on the floor. It was wet and cold. I was worried about my kids because sleeping on the floor could cause them to fall sick due to cold and dust." [/quotes] [quotes_author=000] Domingas [/quotes_author] [break height=30] [quotes]“We can now sleep on the mattress that you have given us. I would like to thank the donors in Australia that have supported us through JSS because this is a blessing from God to my family.”[/quotes] [quotes_author=000]Domingas[/quotes_author] [break height=20]

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The Ignatian Year celebrates the 500th anniversary of St Ignatius’ cannonball wound at the battle of Pamplona and his subsequent conversion to commit himself to God’s work, to walk with the marginalised. While recovering from his injury, St Ignatius discerned a call to the religious life, leaving his desire for fame and glory as a military leader behind to found the Society of Jesus and the Spiritual Exercises.

We invite you to reflect on Fr Andy Bullen’s SJ poem on St Ignatius, ‘Pamplona’.

Pamplona

Wherever Pamplona is:
you mistake the enemy
and overtrust your own boldness,
flourish an outdated flag
for the last time and with style:
you’re on the defensive.

The yells and roar and fire
are a dazzling confusion:
then the long quiet proclaims defeat.
Pain tells the soldier his leg
is turned to a mess of blood
– the wound will heal all his life.
Call this Pamplona.

Pamplona is whatever
wrenches failure into blessing.
It is the end of noise
and can happen anywhere.
Whenever fame goes – and style goes –
and you’re useless is Pamplona.
Only later will it announce
a new away of being history.

Pamplona is the lifelong beginning
of the journey into silence.

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In coastal Vietnam, many water sources are highly contaminated by dangerous industrial waste. Local people have no choice but to purchase bottled water or drink the contaminated water and risk becoming sick with life-threatening diseases.

With your support, our partner the Jesuit Province in Vietnam is installing 40 RO UV water stations (‘Reverse Osmosis Ultraviolet’) that sterilise and filter contaminated water, across four coastal districts in Vietnam.

“The quality of life of local people will be better thanks to these hygienic water stations,” said Fr Peter Than Van Chat, local parish priest.

Before a water station was installed in her village, Mrs Loan, a mother of five children and a widow from the coastal village Lang Khe, had to purchase bottled water to use for drinking and cooking. This cost her $2 per day – a large portion of her total daily income of $11 per day.

[quotes]“From this water station, the union of our community as both Catholics and non-Catholics is strengthened."[/quotes] [quotes_author=000] Mrs Loan [/quotes_author] [break height=20]

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Pamplona poem by Fr Andy Bullen SJ

The Ignatian Year celebrates the 500th anniversary of St Ignatius’ cannonball wound at the battle of Pamplona and his subsequent conversion to commit himself to God’s work. In addition, the 31 July is the feast day of St Ignatius and we invite you to reflect on Fr Andy Bullen's SJ poem Pamplona.

Click here to read Pamplona.

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It took “all kinds of stuff” – including 360 dozen lamingtons – to build the fledgling Jesuit mission after the first Australian missionaries set off for Hazaribag in 1951, 70 years ago. For back home in Australia, a small band of supporters was gathering all the resources they could to raise money for the mission. One of them, Mary Brabenec, was just three years old when her mother Jeanette Connellan held the first ever fundraising function, in Melbourne.

[quotes]“We had a house party, and in fact it became an annual event which raised money to set up the first Maytime Fair.”[/quotes] [quotes_author color=000] Mary Brabenec[/quotes_author] [break height=30]

The fair is now a beloved institution which Mary and her entire family have been involved with for the past 70 years. She recalls a sign made one year by a Xavier College art teacher for the trash and treasure stall.

[quotes]“He wrote an enormous, very highly coloured sign saying “All kinds of stuff”. And I said, ‘That's not very classy’ and he said, ‘It’s not classy. That's exactly what it is: it’s all kinds of stuff’.”[/quotes] [quotes_author color=000] Mary[/quotes_author] [break height=30]

Mary, who had visited India in 1972, returned early last year. The progress made in the intervening years was self-evident, she says.

[quotes]“You couldn't calculate how many hundreds of thousands of kids they've educated and the education of girls is just such an extraordinary achievement.”[/quotes] [quotes_author color=000] Mary [/quotes_author] [break height=30]

In Sydney, 82-year-old Maureen Punch, recalls being asked as a teenager to run a stall at the Jesuit Mission Bazaar. She was president at the time of the Riverview Younger Set.

[break height=10] [quotes]“We used to make 360 dozen lamingtons in the boys’ refectory and they would all sell.” [/quotes] [quotes_author=000] Maureen [/quotes_author] [break height=30]

After her children had left school, Maureen started selling second-hand clothing at the Bazaar and at a monthly market in Sydney.

[quotes]“My mother was mortified that I was doing it – fancy handling second-hand clothes?“But I'm glad I did it because we made so much money for the mission.”[/quotes] [quotes_author=000] Maureen [/quotes_author] [break height=20]

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Pamplona poem by Fr Andy Bullen SJ

The Ignatian Year celebrates the 500th anniversary of St Ignatius’ cannonball wound at the battle of Pamplona and his subsequent conversion to commit himself to God’s work. In addition, the 31 July is the feast day of St Ignatius and we invite you to reflect on Fr Andy Bullen's SJ poem Pamplona.

Click here to read Pamplona.

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Thanks to your support, our Jesuit partners in India have established a Community Health Surveillance System to break the chain of COVID-19 transmission among migrant workers, slum and rural communities in six states, including Jharkhand state.

The program commenced in June and focuses on awareness building for infection prevention as well as providing access to critical health services, the provision of emergency healthcare kits and vaccinations.

Over the next few months, the program aims to slow the spread of COVID-19 and offer life-saving support for those people most in need by providing:

• 6,000 vulnerable people infected by COVID-19 with homecare and support services, sanitisers and face masks. [break height=5] • 6,000 healthcare kits with medicines to ease symptoms of COVID. [break height=5] • 6,000 emergency food packages for COVID positive people and those in quarantine.
• 12,000 pamphlets and brochures to educate vulnerable communities on COVID-safe behaviour. [break height=5]

COVID has not only brought life to a standstill in India, it has also overwhelmed its healthcare system. In addition, a lack of testing capacity gives a misinformed picture of the humanitarian emergency unfolding there.

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Pamplona poem by Fr Andy Bullen SJ

The Ignatian Year celebrates the 500th anniversary of St Ignatius’ cannonball wound at the battle of Pamplona and his subsequent conversion to commit himself to God’s work. In addition, the 31 July is the feast day of St Ignatius and we invite you to reflect on Fr Andy Bullen's SJ poem Pamplona.

Click here to read Pamplona.

More

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In the 70 years since its establishment, Jesuit Mission has carried on the legacy of the first Australian Hazaribag missionaries, who inspired life-changing projects around the world – and paved the way for a new generation of young Jesuits.  

One of those men is Australian Jesuit Provincial Fr Quyen Vu SJ, who heeded the call for volunteers in Timor Leste in 2001 after the fledgling nation gained its independence from Indonesia. The challenge of re-establishing an educational system in a country destabilised by decades of occupation and the imposition of a foreign language was immense; textbooks in the occupier’s language of Bahasa Indonesian had been burned, and the country’s education system had to be entirely rebuilt.  

[quotes]“The Timorese government had to reach out to the international community to help them."[/quotes] [quotes_author color="#000"] Fr Quyen [/quotes_author] [break height=40] [quotes]“I was able to contribute to the Jesuit education, which was already established [in Timor].” [/quotes] [break height=20]

Fr Quyen oversaw the establishment of Colégio de Santo Inácio de Loiola (Loyola College), which opened in Kasait, west of Dili, in 2013. Today the school educates over 800 students; and its teaching staff has since been supplemented by Instituto de São João de Brito (ISJB), a teacher-training facility established in 2016 with Jesuit Mission’s ongoing support.  

[quotes]“So it's been a great journey… They are still growing, they’re still moving ahead."[/quotes] [break height=20]

Carrying the missionary baton further still, Fr Quyen moved to Sisophon in north-west Cambodia where, in 2013 and with your generosity, the Jesuits opened Xavier Jesuit School. The school began with only 34 kindergarten students and six staff, however, this year the school logged its 800^th enrolment, and next year it will celebrate the graduation of its first Grade 12 cohort. From the six years that Fr Quyen spent there, the school expanded rapidly and continues to encourage rural students to prioritise their education.

Meanwhile, Xavier Jesuit School performs an important function in facilitating the training of Cambodian teachers, whose profession was decimated under the Khmer Rouge regime. Perhaps most importantly, its ethos of sharing knowledge and resources with government-run schools is helping to disperse the benefits of education – and the Hazaribag legacy – further still. 

[quotes]“They say our school is a very nice atmosphere, very peaceful, all the kids are doing well. That's a success story already." [/quotes] [break height=30] [quotes]“[But] it's a domino effect. That's our mission – to empower the local schools and the local school teachers.”[/quotes] [break height=20] [quotes_author color="#000"] Fr Quyen [/quotes_author] [break height=20]

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Over 3,000 join Prayer Vigil for Myanmar and India

Over 3,000 people joined the 30 minute Prayer Vigil, standing (virtually) in solidarity together to pray for healing and peace for the two nations in crisis. Click here to watch.

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Biluli is a small, rural village in Timor-Leste. It is located in the middle of the Ermera forest, where the only way in is by travelling roads in very poor condition - especially treacherous during rainy season. 

In such a remote community, the people living in Biluli face enormous barriers to breaking free from poverty. One of the greatest challenges is the lack of clean water. Without access to safe water sources, people - often young children - have had no choice but to walk many hours carrying heavy containers to fetch water from the nearest stream.

We are thrilled to share that, as of January this year, the newly installed water source is officially in use. Families from Biluli no longer have to travel long, dangerous journeys to collect water and risk contamination. Instead, they now have a clean, safe source of water in their very own neighbourhood. Thank you for helping this village to overcome poverty and thrive towards a better future with the gift of water. 

With the generous support of people like you, we are working to bring new water systems to 13 villages across Timor-Leste. If you’d like to help save lives in even more villages just like Biluli, please donate today. Your gift can bring clean, safe water to the most marginalised communities. 

DONATE NOW

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Over 3,000 join Prayer Vigil for Myanmar and India

Over 3,000 people joined the 30 minute Prayer Vigil, standing (virtually) in solidarity together to pray for healing and peace for the two nations in crisis. Click here to watch.

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Ingabire has joined the digital revolution, trading her skills on the global market, while living in Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi. Thanks to her training in the Digital Inclusion Program, supported by you and delivered by our partner Jesuit Refugee Service Malawi, now she is working with clients from around the world. 

This innovative program trains participants in marketable digital skills they can use to enter the global online job market, allowing them to generate immediate income, and establish long-term livelihoods.  

From trading her skills on global freelancing platforms, she can now provide for herself and her loved ones. 

[quotes]“The training I underwent in the Digital Inclusion Program made it possible for me to get a job beyond borders despite my geographic, legal and social status limitations."[/quotes] [break height=10] [quotes_author color="#000"] Ingabire [/quotes_author] [break height=40]

With 47,000 refugees at the camp, many live below the poverty line and depend on food rations. As job opportunities are extremely limited in the camp and movement is restricted within its borders, working online is a way for refugees to break the cycle of poverty. 

Through the program, refugees learn Microsoft Office suite, translation, transcription and high-speed typing. Each participant works to attain digital accreditation to the European computer license standard, while also learning how to navigate freelance platforms to better manage their own small business. 

The program is run in collaboration with a Paris-based NGO, with each participant receiving a laptop and guidance from instructors on the ground.  

[quotes]“This program is the hard work of people on four continents working together for something good."[/quotes] [break height=20] [quotes_author color="#000"] Australian Jesuit, Fr David Holdcroft, and founder of the Digital Inclusion Program. [/quotes_author] [break height=40]

Thank you for your generosity in providing refugees like Ingabire with a wonderful opportunity to develop new skills and take agency in her own life.  

Click here to watch the Digital Inclusion Webinar with Fr David Holdcroft SJ and project participant Stany Dibwe. 

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Over 3,000 join Prayer Vigil for Myanmar and India

Over 3,000 people joined the 30 minute Prayer Vigil, standing (virtually) in solidarity together to pray for healing and peace for the two nations in crisis. Click here to watch.

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We, Faith-Based communities from around the world, declare our common commitment to stand with the suffering people of Myanmar and call on the country’s military to stop the violence, respect the sanctity of all human life, and work towards a just and lasting peace throughout the country based upon the will of the people. 

Since the events of February 01, 2021, we have viewed with deepening concern the mounting humanitarian needs and spiraling disregard for human rights that, as always, impact most heavily our most vulnerable sisters and brothers. 

As Faith-Based humanitarian actors, we will not be silent while today in Myanmar: 

• • children, women, and men are killed and injured due to increasing violence [break height=10]
• • food, water, shelter, and access to health care have become urgent needs [break height=10]
• • civilians are reportedly used as human shields by security forces dand sexual violence is weaponised [break height=10]
• • food insecurity and malnutrition expand exacerbating only further the socioeconomic damage sustained by COVID-19 [break height=10]
• • tens of thousands of people are displaced from homes and forced to flee in search of protection that is often denied at neighbouring borders [break height=10]
• • humanitarian assistance efforts are thwarted due to insecure areas and impassable roads [break height=10]
• • houses of worship are targeted and destroyed while serving as refuge for the elderly and children contrary to international conventions [break height=10]
• • health care, education, and supply chains to name a few essential services are severely disrupted[break height=10]

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We add our voices to that of UN Secretary-General António Guterres as he calls on the country’s military to respect the democratic aspirations of the people while appealing to the international community to respond to the continuing humanitarian tragedy. 

We join our prayers with those of Cardinal Archbishop Bo of Yangon when he says: “This needs to stop. Peace is possible; peace is the only way. We make this urgent appeal as a group of faith leaders—not as politicians. We are praying for Peace in this great land of Myanmar and hoping all of us can live as brothers and sisters”. 

Signatories:

ADF International 

Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach 

Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd 

Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd 

Congregation of Sisters of Mercy 

COREIS Islamic Religious Community Italy 

Edmund Rice International 

Fondazione Proclade Internazionale ONLUS 

Franciscans International 

Fundación ALBOAN 

Fundación Entreculturas - Fe y Alegría 

HIAS 

Institute of Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea 

Institute Sister Mercy Australia and Papua New Guinea 

International Catholic Migration Commission 

Jesuit Mission Australia 

Jesuit Refugee Service 

JPIC Commission USG-UISG 

Justice Revival 

Mercy Foundation 

Mercy International Association - Global Action 

National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd 

NEW HUMANITY 

Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Justice Team 

SJ Around the Bay 

Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat, Society of Jesus, Rome 

Union for Reform Judaism 

Union of Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary 

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Download Prayer Vigil Booklet

On 2 June, we hosted an online Prayer Vigil for Myanmar and India with religious and lay leaders from around the world.

Over 3,000 people joined the 30 minute Prayer Vigil, standing (virtually) in solidarity together to pray for healing and peace for the two nations in crisis.

[quotes] “I am deeply moved by the strong response of the global community and thankful to our leaders of the Vigil, for working together to promote such a powerful expression of faith. It’s a long road ahead for our sisters and brothers in Myanmar and India, and we all must extend our support and continue to accompany them through the power of prayer.”[/quotes] [break height=20] [quotes_author color="#000"] Helen Forde, CEO of Jesuit Mission [/quotes_author] [break height=40]

The leaders of the Prayer Vigil included:

Fr Tony Moreno SJ, President of Jesuit Conference Asia Pacific (JCAP),

Fr Quyen Vu SJ, Provincial of Australia,

Fr Santosh Minj SJ, Provincial of Hazaribag,

Fr Stany D’Souza SJ, President of Jesuit Conference of South Asia (JCSA),

Fr Jun Viray SJ, Provincial of the Philippines,

Sch. P.V. Joseph Buan Sing SJ, Burmese Jesuit Scholastic based in Rome,

Sr Britto Madassery SCSC, Snehadeep Holy Cross Residential School, India

Anna O’Halloran, Chair, Jesuit Mission Maytime Fair Committee,

Gillian Donoghue, Development Officer of Myanmar Jesuit Mission and,

Niang Mun Ciin (Mun Pi), Myanmar Jesuit Mission.

As the international development organisation of the Australian Jesuit Province, Jesuit Mission has proudly accompanied the marginalised to live full and free lives for 70 years.

Today Jesuit Mission works in 12 countries across Asia and Africa to uphold the innate dignity of people living with the effects of poverty.

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