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Helping the Jesuits shine light on Myanmar

It’s been over two years since the military coup in Myanmar, where violence overpowered the democratically elected government. Peaceful protestors at the time were shot at and killed and thousands have been wrongly imprisoned. The crisis continues to escalate as women and children, especially those from ethnic minority groups, are targets of military raids and aerial assaults.

As more people are in desperate need, conditions become tougher. Millions are hungry and homeless. Even in the cities, power cuts, water shortages, roadblocks, internet shutdowns and security risks are daily realties.

Despite the circumstances, while most humanitarian organisations have been blocked by the military, our Jesuit partners continue working covertly, with great discretion, to bring comfort and relief to many communities.

Recently, the Jesuits assisted a community of religious sisters living in an area of extreme poverty and conflict to continue to give safe shelter to children in their hostel and allow them to go to school.

“Many children have been forced to drop out of school due to poverty. Our aim is to give practical support to displaced young people, particularly the girls who are in danger. At the moment, 85 children live at the convent so they can attend school. We supply beds and classrooms but we need help to pay the teachers salaries, provide daily meals and buy textbooks and stationery. We would also like to teach some music and sewing skills. We have sewing machines and teachers, but we are in need of some instruments and some fabric," said one of the religious sisters.

With your support our partners are bringing light and hope in Myanmar’s darkest period.

“All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle," said Pope Francis.

Your support of Jesuit Mission’s Emergency Action Fund allows Jesuits on the ground to deliver vital supplies where others would not dare to go.

The Jesuits in Myanmar are distributing food, medicine, tarpaulins and blankets to displaced people, and are funding micro-credit loans and livelihood grants to vulnerable families across the country.

“It can be difficult and even risky to reach some communities who suffer greatly, but we continue to walk with the people of Myanmar and nurture hope. We support many communities, but still with your support, a lot more can be done," said a Jesuit on the ground.

It's thanks to your support that our Jesuit partners can provide emergency assistance to communities in Myanmar that need it most. If you’d like to contribute to the Emergency Action Fund and support vulnerable communities in need around the world please click here.

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A nightmare in Ukraine opens Romanian hearts

Jesuit Mission CEO Helen Forde reflects on her recent experience of meeting Tamara, a Ukrainian refugee living in Bucharest, Romania.

It bubbles below the surface. It doesn’t take much to rise and overwhelm.

The pain and grief of war in this present day is beyond comprehension. Many believed the war would last just days or a few weeks and they would return home.

But, more than 12 months on, there is no end in sight to the devastation that plagues Ukraine.

On 20 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. Since the invasion, more than eight million people have fled Ukraine in search of safe and war free surroundings and an additional eight million people became displaced within the country.

It’s the most devastating event in Europe since World War II.

3.5 million Ukrainians have passed through Romania. Yet only, 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, mostly women, children, the elderly and people living with disabilities remain in Romania today. Their trauma of escaping the current war and conflict is now deeply etched in their psyche.

They remain separated from husbands, fathers, brothers and male family members. They long to be reunited and yearn to return to their home with peace. When, nobody knows?

Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Romania, as part of the JRS Europe and Xavier Network humanitarian response, has assisted 10,000 Ukrainians with accommodation, cash, vouchers for food, psycho-social support, counselling, classes, medicine and activities that build skills, resilience and friendship. JRS Romania has offered more than 40,000 services to the Ukrainian community since the war started.

*JRS provides learning activities to keep children actively engaged.*

*Classrooms have been established to ensure that Ukrainian refugee children don't miss out on receiving an education.*

66 year-old Ukrainian woman, Tamara describes the experience as a ‘horrible fairy tale’. She escaped Ukraine with several family members - all of whom have since returned to Ukraine. Tamara remains alone in Bucharest now.

Tamara’s three adult children are in Ukraine. One of her sons is in the army – causing much anxiety and pain. Yet Tamara affirms they are presently all safe and well.

Tamara’s children believe Romania is a necessary safe haven for their mother. They fear their mother returning to Ukraine and living in her 16th floor Kyiv apartment, where there is only one hour of electricity each day. No hot water, no lifts, no heating … unimaginable circumstances before the war began.

Tamara constantly wrestles with returning to Ukraine. The heartbreaking sadness of life without her family is witnessed in her face and demeanour.

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Her disposition rouses when she raises her love of kangaroos.

“Is it true that there are five kangaroos for every person in Australia?" she asks curiously.

I laugh not really knowing the answer. Postscript: I educated myself – there are around two kangaroos per person in Australia.

*From left - Kath, International Programs Manager of Jesuit Mission, Tamara and Helen Forde, CEO of Jesuit Mission.*

Tamara has a temporary protection permit. She receives support from the government (through the European Commission) which offers her financial assistance for rental accommodation. JRS Romania provides much needed counselling and socialisation through a range of activities like art therapy, meditation and stretch classes.

“Life is harder for older people here," says Tamara.

A nanny in her working life, Tamara now assists two Ukrainian families in Bucharest to help her pass the days and feel connected in relationship. Tamara is thankful to the Romanian community who have opened their arms and welcomed people like her to their country.

“They (JRS Romania) help me with everything and provide protection and friendship," says Tamara smiling.

JRS Romania has set up a Viber group for the older Ukrainians living in Bucharest. This group builds relationships, creates community and promotes connectedness.

Tamara touches her heart when referring to the Jesuit Mission supporters who have supported JRS Romania.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you," Tamara gently concludes.

Jesuit Mission supporters have generously donated more than $1 million for the Ukraine crisis. We remain deeply grateful for the outpouring of love, compassion and solidarity of our Australian family of supporters and friends.

Jesuina chooses to uplift her country

“I hope I can be a good teacher and a quality teacher that can make change for my country," says Jesuina, a 21-year-old scholarship student at the Jesuit-run teacher training institute, ISJB in Timor-Leste.

Instituto de São João de Brito (ISJB) was constructed adjacent to the Jesuit-run secondary school, Colégio de Santo Inácio de Loiola (CSIL), in order to foster rich and authentic practical learning for trainee teachers.

The teacher training institute aims to form educational leaders who will in-turn spearhead the formation of future generations of Timorese.

“Like Nelson Mandela said, ‘education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world.’ From education we can create more opportunity,” says Jesuina.

Studying English and English teaching at ISJB, Jesuina sees that the international language can help facilitate opportunity and growth for future generations of Timor-Leste, especially for those people living in the rural areas.

“For my practical experience I chose a public school in my hometown. I want to teach and empower marginalised communities there,” says Jesuina.

ISJB now educates over 460 students and is recognised as a leading teaching education institution - preparing knowledgeable, highly-skilled and ethical professionals who can provide leadership in education, especially in areas with the greatest need.

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As a CSIL graduate, Jesuina is part of the alumni program and is receiving a subsidiary for her studies. This has been transformational for her and her family as she has been able to ease the financial burden from her mother, who has been raising the family on her own since Jesuina’s father passed away.

“With the alumni allowance I can cover my basic needs, I can buy books and I can also support my mother and siblings if they need anything. Sometimes I use it for food and clothes and for my siblings’ education. We support each other,” says Jesuina.

Thanks to your support, young Timorese like Jesuina are the embodiment of hope and change in their home country. From being formed in the Jesuit ethos at ISJB to be ‘men and women for others,’ the students participate in regular community outreach and are choosing to support their communities in need.

Need the perfect gift for Mother’s Day?

Looking for the perfect Mother’s Day gift? Give a gift with the power to transform lives by supporting our Gifts for Change program.

This Mother’s Day you can choose from a range of gifts, including a bicycle for a child from a rural Cambodian village - a gift that could open a future filled with opportunities. Every child should have the right to a quality education and thanks to your generosity you can make this possible.

Gifts for Change are tax-deductible, and you will receive an instant e-card with your purchase to be shared with your loved one.

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Gifts for Change provide vital funds for Jesuit Mission partner programs around the world – including Xavier Jesuit School in Cambodia. The school was constructed in 2015 by the Jesuits in one of the most vulnerable regions in rural Cambodia to empower children out of a life of poverty and injustice.

Thanks to your compassionate support, the region is now home to four education projects, including a Community Learning Centre (for remedial and extra tuition for kids from local public schools), a primary school, a secondary school and senior school.

This Mother’s Day you can invest in a child’s future and help them to ride the wave of opportunity that quality education brings.

To browse our Gifts for Change eCards – click here visit our online shop.

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First Spiritual Exercises – Opening the Heart

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Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame.

I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but found him not. The sentinels found me, as they went about in the city. “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?” Scarcely had I passed them, when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go.

Song of Songs 3:2-4; 8:6-7

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1. Desire...I ask the Spirit for Inflamed Love.

I find and hold an object that symbolises burning love of God for me.

I consider, 'Where is the love of God flaring in my life'?

'Where is the inflamed love of God absent in my life'?

'What is the contrary or reverse of inflamed love for me'.

I ask the Spirit for the blazing love of my Creator and Lord, an intense love that sweeps all else away, so that I may love only what the Lord desires for me.

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2. Relish...Today I choose the Way of Fire.

I choose the fire and passion of my love for God, led by the good spirit.

I reject the way of a dark, joyless separation from God, led by a bad spirit.

I turn and walk in the contrary direction, from gloom to fiery love to peace.

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3. Free... I live in the Fiery Trinity.

I imagine I am in a circle surrounded by the Trinity of Loving Fire, Father, Jesus and Spirit.

Each address me by name, saying, ‘The fire of the Spirit dances on your head.'

I rest for a moment, in the Pentecost of God's love. I feel my heart catch alight.

I conclude giving thanks for the Spirit of Loving Fire.

PRAYER TIME: 10 minutes.

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Click here to download the prayer of Opening the Heart.

Maytime Fair Saturday 6 May

Save the date! The Jesuit Mission Maytime Fair returns on Saturday 6 May at Xavier College, Kew in Melbourne.

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The Maytime Fair has been held at Xavier College on the first Saturday in May every year since 1952 (except for the ‘lockdown years’), raising funds to support the many educational and social outreach programs of Jesuit Mission.

All proceeds from the day go directly towards supporting at-risk communities across over 10 countries in Asia and Africa, including Cambodia, Timor-Leste, India, Myanmar, Thailand, Malawi and more.

“We look forward to coming together again in solidarity as one faith community, to uplift our sisters and brothers on the margins," said Helen Forde, CEO of Jesuit Mission Australia.

Since the year 2000, the Maytime Fair has raised over $3 million to help provide a range of targeted support and training that empowers women, men and children to develop the skills and capacity to lift themselves out of poverty and injustice.

The Fair will include entertainment for parents and children with a huge array of food, music, rides, arts and crafts, games, plant stalls, book stalls, a wine auction, sport, face painting, raffles, showbags and lots more.

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“Thank you to our generous volunteers, the Maytime Fair Committee, local parishes and to all schools involved. Your hard work and effort in preparing year-round make this day possible," said Helen.

You are invited to join the Xavier College community in supporting Jesuit Mission at the Maytime Fair on Saturday 6 May.

When: 9:00am – 5:00pm Saturday 6 May 2023
Where: Xavier College Senior Campus, 135 Barkers Road, Kew

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Hope for people living with a disability

Your support is helping to open up a new world for people living with a disability in Cambodia.

For 33-year-old mother Charaya, Karuna Battambang Organisation’s (KBO) program has been life-changing for her daughter who was born with an intellectual disability and epilepsy.

“The Centre staff taught my daughter how to feed herself and practice good hygiene," said Charaya.

Before being a part of our project partner KBO’s program, Charaya’s daughter was having seizures three times a day and she could not feed herself or take herself to the bathroom.

Now at six years old, Charaya’s daughter has significantly improved.

“The program provides medicine that controls her seizures and secondly, they teach the children how to eat, speak and improve their cognitive abilities," she said.

Charaya and her daughter come to the KBO Centre according to a treatment action plan developed with the KBO staff and she also receives home based care from the staff.

The project has benefitted the whole family. Charaya is proud that her daughter is becoming independent and that the family now has a much greater understanding on how to support her development.

Charaya and her daughter attending a class at the KBO Centre.

“Now she goes to kindergarten at the local school. She loves playing with her friends and tries hard to concentrate on her studies," said Charaya.

Your compassionate support is providing hope and opportunity to many people living with an intellectual disability and autism across rural Cambodia. Thank you!

Building futures

“The best thing at school is studying," says Sulendra, a 16-year-old student at the Jesuit-run Masi Marsal (Light of the Messiah) High School, in the Bokaro district of Jharkhand, India.

“At home, in my village, all the boys my age are not there. They go to work in the factories. Here we study well, the facilities are new and I have many friends here."

Run by the Jesuits in Hazaribag, in collaboration with the FCC Sisters, the high school provides quality education to young people, like Sulendra, from indigenous tribal groups in the region – including the Santhals.

The Santhals are amongst the most marginalised and poorly-educated people in India, and the school aims to help bring social justice and dignity to the Santhal people through the education of the next generation of children.

Many Santhal students live in extremely remote locations, making it difficult to travel to school each day. As a result, these students end up sleeping at the school.

Now, thanks to the generosity of people like you, the school will begin construction of a Boys’ Hostel.

The Hostel will provide safe and comfortable living quarters for students, enabling them to have privacy, dignity and better participate in their life-changing education.

“I’m very happy about the new hostel. The hostel will have many new facilities and we can be comfortable and focus on our studies better," said Sulendra.

With your kind support, young people living with structural injustice – whose homes are often unsuitable for study – will have a safe, welcoming place to begin a journey of empowerment that will help them to lift themselves and their families out of poverty.

First Spiritual Exercises – Independence

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Jesus went up the mountain, where he sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others.

They put them at his feet, and he cured them, so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.

Matthew 15:29-31

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1. Desire...I ask the Spirit for Independence.

I create two sounds on the same object or instrument, e.g., bamboo, glass or wind instrument. They can be a closed and open sound, sad and joyful sound, discordant and musical sound, sound of death and resurrection, even two notes in the one song.

What makes this a symbol of independence is that two sounds are made on or through the same object, or instrument, which is me or my life.

My independence from disability, a cycle of poverty, or a change through education, livelihood training or an income-generating project, is a new song in my life. I sound different.

I ask the Spirit for the means to become Independent.

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2. Relish...Today I live in the Enabling Trinity.

I imagine I am surrounded in a circle by the Enabling Trinity. Father, Jesus and Spirit, address me by name, saying, ‘My song is with you’.

How shall I become more independent given my circumstances now? Is it even possible for the lament in my life to become a new song – yet this is my desire. So I sit for awhile, with my desire, in the mystery of the Enabling Trinity.

I relish being independent.

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3. Free... I breathe in the Spirit of Independence.

I am the wind instrument of the Spirit. I imagine the Spirit of Independence breathing a new song into me. I hear it deep within me, catch it, and breathe it out into my life and situation. I repeat as desired – breathing, singing, independent.

I conclude, giving thanks, with a new song of independence in my heart.

PRAYER TIME: 10 minutes.

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Click here to download the prayer of Independence.

One-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine

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Friday 24 February marks the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine, a conflict with no end in sight, which has devastated the country and shaken the international community.

Thanks to your generosity the Jesuits have been able to support over 56,000 Ukrainian refugees in need during this traumatic time.

Watch the video update on the Jesuits' emergency response in Ukraine from our project partner Fr Alberto Ares SJ, Director of JRS Europe.

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The war in Ukraine has resulted in the largest humanitarian crisis in Europe in recent history. Millions have been forced to flee their homes, and millions more remain displaced or in need in Ukraine.

Upon the outbreak of this conflict, the Society of Jesus coordinated a global response through Jesuit Mission Australia, JRS Europe and Xavier Network in Ukraine, neighbouring countries, and the rest of Europe to welcome, protect, promote, and integrate those in need.

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Click here to read the annual report on the Jesuits' Emergency Response to the crisis - the One Proposal.

Click here to read the stories of the people you have helped survive this crisis.

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