Portait of an International Jesuit
Brother Paul Desmarais: Sowing the Seeds of Knowledge by Fannie Dionne
O
ne of the good things about technology is that it enabled me to see Br. Paul Desmarais, SJ, and hear his laughter all the way from Zambia. Books on agriculture (academic or otherwise) were stacked from his desk to his bookcase and everywhere in between. It was against this backdrop that he described how a young Jesuit from Ontario revolutionized agriculture in this African country by offering training in organic farming for nearly thirty years. Brother Desmarais was director of the Agricultural Training Center in Kasisi for fifty years. Now “retired,” he is preparing to offer an agroecology training course, both online and on-site, next year, with the first forty students coming from the Zambian Ministry of Agriculture.
“I like agriculture very much, and as most Jesuits, I am also a teacher. So if we put these two together, I can say that I enjoy this work that allows me to help people become better farmers.“
28 CANADIAN JESUITS
photo : Archives des jésuites du Canada
HOW DID YOU BECOME A JESUIT? I was born in Pointe-aux-Roches, near Windsor, Ontario. My family had been farmers for three generations. I enjoy working on the land. When I was in Grade 4, we went to Windsor to visit several religious communities to see their work. I picked up a couple of information brochures while I was there and was very happy to learn about the brothers. I wanted to be a religious brother from then on, even though I was quite young at the time! I had hoped to enter the novitiate after Grade 13, which I did in September 1964 in Guelph. Why with the Jesuits? Because they were the closest to home [laughs]! I was also very happy with them.
