Learning from refugees

Six Transition Year students from Gonzaga visited the JRS Ireland office on 28 May, as part of a two-day visitation programme to Jesuit works. Elizabeth O’Rourke provided an overview of JRS Ireland’s activities in the cause of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants. Eight asylum seekers (from Eritrea, Nigeria, Sudan and Cameroon) met the boys to talk about their homeland, their lives in direct provision in Ireland and their experiences of the asylum process. Sport plays an important role in facilitating integration and social interaction between host and migrant communities. In this spirit the Gonzaga students, the asylum seekers and three students from Belvedere enjoyed a game of football on the roof of Belvedere College. The match could not have gone ahead without the generous assistance of Helen Bardem and Jan from Belvedere.