Young partners

September 1, 2008 in General, News

Jesuit volunteersThree initiatives this summer reflect the vital importance of our partners in mission:

JVI: Fr Liam O’Connell, who directs Jesuit Volunteers International, sent us word of two new volunteers, Josephine Kehoe from Gorey, and Dermot Bradley from Rochfordbridge, Co. Westmeath. They are going to work for one year at Kasisi Agricultural Training Centre (KATC), near Lusaka, Zambia. Josephine will manage the construction of ten Eco- friendly farmers’ houses, made from special bricks which use only 5% cement, have efficient water collection during the rainy season, use biodigesters (see below) for the creation of propane gas, and will be equipped with energy-efficient stoves. Dermot Bradley will set up and manage a fabrication plant for the production of Appropriate Technology labour-saving devices for small farmers. Prototypes already exist for Peanut Shellers, Treadle Water Pumps, Bicycle carts, Solar Box Ovens etc. Dermot’s workshop will help to make these devices more widely available.Josephine and Dermot have prepared themselves in Kilkenny by investigating an Organic Pig Farm, and Biodigesters (which make gas from sewage). They will depart on September 8th, and will work closely with Br. Paul Desmarais SJ, the director of KATC. Br. Paul and Fr. Roland Lesseps SJ have built KATC into a thriving centre (http://www.loyno.edu/%7Ekatc/aboutus.htm).

JRS: The international Jesuit Refugee Service has accepted Simon Deasy for a two-year-placement in Sri Lanka. After two years as children’s entertainer in RTE, Simon spent a year with the Jesuit Volunteer Community working with homeless people and marginalised children. He will attend an orientation course in Rome in September, and hopes to begin his placement soon after that. The three volunteers, Josephine and Dermot for Kasisi, and Simon for Sri Lanka, joined the community Mass at Gardiner Street on 29th August. The Director of Jesuit Missions, John Guiney, SJ, as Celebrant prayed for the gifts of Wisdom and God’s Protection for the volunteers. He also welcomed Fr. Jack Doyle who is returning to Canada after 40 years working in Zambia, where he spent the last ten years ministering to patients in the Lusaka University Hospital. Back row In our picture: Dermot Bradley, John Guiney, Simon Deasy; front row: Josephine Kehoe and Fr Jack Doyle.

Marianne Breen of NCINCI: Fr Tim Hamilton would have been delighted to welcome Marianne Breen as the first Tim Hamilton Post-doctoral Research Fellow in Social Justice in the National College of Ireland. Dr Breen, pictured here, will focus her research on widening participation in third level education among non-traditional students.

JUST: This is of course the focus of that other flourishing operation acronymed JUST (Jesuit University Support and Training), which engages the energies of five Jesuits: Kevin O’Higgins, Henry Grant, Frank Brady, Paddy Greene and Fergal Brennan in Ballymun. Readers can find an attractive glimpse into the workings of JUST in a new video viewable on-line at justballymun.org and also at jesuit.ie.