Justice Magazine: Summer 2014

THE CATHOLIC SOCIAL JUSTICE QUARTERLY June-August 2014 www.justicemagazine.org @justicemagazine

JUSTICE magazine

Honduras Central African Republic Food poverty Migration Social care

HONOURING VICTIMS Reconciliation in Rwanda after the genocide JUSTICE MAGAZINE 3

Digital versions available FREE at www.justicemagazine.org or buy in print at magcloud.com

Advertisement

Photo: Sam Tarling/Caritas Switzerland A Caritas project in Lebanon which is providing shelter for Syrians who have fled their homes.

Charity No. CHY 5883

SYRIA - Over 8 million people are in desperate need of life-saving shelter, food and medicine Urgent help is needed to support the people of Syria. We are working with local partners to provide food, shelter, clean water and other basic needs for women, children and men forced to flee their homes.

PLEASE GIVE WHATEVER YOU CAN

1850 408 408 trocaire.org/syria

Callsave: Online:

I WANT TO SUPPORT TRÓCAIRE’S SYRIA APPEAL I wish to donate €25 F €50 F €100 F €500 F Other €__________

F I enclose a cheque/postal order payable to Trócaire F Please debit my Mastercard/Visa/Amex/Laser complete last 3 F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F Please boxes for Laser card only Security Code F F F Expiry Date F F / F F Signature: _____________________________________________________________ Name(s): (Block Caps) __________________________________________________ Address: _______________________________________________________________ Tel: ________________________ Email: ____________________________________

F Tick here if you would like to receive information about Trócaire’s work.

TRÓCAIRE, FREEPOST NS244, MAYNOOTH, CO. KILDARE.

2 JUSTICE MAGAZINE

THE CATHOLIC SOCIAL JUSTICE QUARTERLY

JUSTICE magazine

Contents Summer 2014

Justice Magazine is a non-profit making quarterly publication that reports on and aims to further interest in the Catholic Church’s social teaching.

We would love to hear from you with your feedback, ideas for future editions or your own contributed articles.

Please get in touch via our website or by sending an email to editor@justicemagazine.org.

All digital formats are free to the reader.

These include the online page flip version as well as downloadable files for Kindle and ereading devices capable of displaying epub files.

If you like what you read in Justice Magazine, let your friends and family know so they can download their own free copy.

Individual printed copies of the magazine are also available from www.magcloud.com. We believe this is a sustainable, environmentally-friendly way for people to access print.

Justice Magazine does not charge for the magazine in print, the amount payable goes directly to the printers for production and postage.

Free advertising space has been given to Catholic charities and agencies. If you can, please make a donation to help them continue their excellent work in the UK and overseas.

Editor Lee Siggs Editorial advisers Jonathan Houdmont Nana Anto-Awuakye For regular news updates from Justice Magazine, remember to visit www.justicemagazine.org

Help spread the word by retweeting @justicemagazine

24 Cruise ship chaplains 4 8 12 15 16 20 24 28 32 36 38 40

After genocide: Bringing people together again Rwanda Calling out for peace Central African Republic Getting into gear with the truckers to help drive out HIV Zimbabwe Waving the flag United States From deterence to compassion and understanding United Kingdom The man who dared to say ‘nein’ to Hitler Franz Jaegerstaetter Why it’s those in need who really suffer from attacks on workers’ rights United Kingdom Cruise ship chaplains: Being there for the crew Apostleship of the Sea A goal for Honduran women Honduras Six weeks of starvation? United Kingdom Justice for the poor El Salvador

Final Thought

Acknowledgments The editor wishes to thank all the agencies and individuals who have submitted articles and photos.

The next issue of Justice Magazine will be published in September. Please write to editor@justicemagazine.org with ideas for future articles or to suggest improvements.

JUSTICE MAGAZINE 3

Feature Rwanda

Eamonn Meehan reports from Rwanda on Trocaire’s work on reconciliation after the mass killing of the country’s citizens twenty years ago

After genocide: Bringing people together again Twenty years ago I witnessed one of the fastest migrations in human history, as a seemingly endless stream of Rwandans abandoned their homes to become refugees.

They were fleeing a country in chaos. Hutu extremists were continuing to massacre members of the minority Tutsi ethnic group, while the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a force largely comprised of Tutsi, were advancing from the north in response to the slaughter.

Militia roadblocks hunted for Tutsi.

Travelling with us were up to twenty Tutsi and it was only through skilful negotiation by a Bosnian priest, Fr Vjeko Curic, OFM, that we managed to successfully cross the border to Burundi unharmed.

Our Tutsi companions were leaving behind a country in the grip of a coordinated attempt to exterminate them.

Over the course of 100 days, close to one million people, mostly Tutsi, were murdered.

The Rwanda genocide saw murder on a scale and at a speed not seen since the Second World War. When the genocide was finally stopped by formerly exiled Tutsi forces, familiar cries of ‘never again’ rang around the world. Since 1945, these two words have greeted the end of several mass slaughters. From 4 JUSTICE MAGAZINE

‘‘

Our Tutsi companions were leaving behind a country in the grip of a coordinated attempt to exterminate them.

Over the course of 100 days, close to one million people, mostly Tutsi, were murdered

Cambodia to Guatemala, from Darfur to Bosnia, genocides and mass killings have claimed the lives of approximately 70 million people since the end of the Second World War. As we mark the 20th anniversary of the Rwanda genocide, we must ask: Are we ever going to make the words ‘never again’ mean something?

Rwanda was characterised by a failure to act on the early signs of genocide. In 1992, two years before the slaughter, the Belgian ambassador in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, warned that the Hutu-led government was planning to exterminate the Tutsi. A year later, a United Nations official reported that killings were already taking place.

Just as the genocide was about to be unleashed, Roméo Dallaire, the

PHOTO: Trociare

Juvenal Moudenge and children JUSTICE MAGAZINE 5

Feature Rwanda

UN commander in Rwanda at the time, pleaded for just 4,500 extra troops to stop what he warned was an impending slaughter. His repeated cries for help were ignored by the UN and by individual members of the Security Council who had the power to intervene, while the French government continued to supply weapons to the Rwanda government even as the genocide was happening.

The genocide was not spontaneous.

Hutu politicians had spent at least four years travelling the country, training militia and drawing up lists of Tutsi. The slaughter was meticulously planned under the watching eyes of the world, who made a conscious decision not to act.

When, following the shooting down of an airplane carrying Rwanda’s President, JuvÊnal Habyarimana, Hutu extremists finally unleashed the genocide on April 7, 1994, the Tutsi people, as well as moderate Hutus who opposed the killings, were left abandoned.

Had extra troops been deployed across the country with a clear mandate to protect the Tutsi population, much of the killing could have been avoided. Such was the reluctance to intervene that the massacres were initially not acknowledged as genocide for fear that use of that term would compel the world to act.

The sad truth is that Rwanda was of no strategic importance and so no major power had anything to gain by halting the slaughter.

In the wake of the Rwanda genocide, the concept of The Responsibility to Protect emerged in international relations.

The basis of this concept is that all humans have a right to be protected from war crimes and ethnic cleansing, and that if their own government fails them, the international community is obliged to act.

When we look at the mass atrocities taking place in Syria, South Sudan and the Central African Republic, to name just three, we must question why we have failed to uphold our obligations under The Responsibility to Protect.

The discovery of mass graves in South Sudan has echoes of Rwanda, where isolated massacres occurred 6 JUSTICE MAGAZINE

The Kigali Memorial Centre Photos: Trocaire

Éamonn Meehan iwith Christine Murekatete, Project Officer, Governance and Human Rights, Trócaire with 22 year old Josienne Umumarashavu (centre), who featured in Trócaire's 2004 campaign entitled 'The Generation After Genocide'

long before a coordinated nationwide campaign was unleashed.

These graves are a chilling vision of what potentially awaits South Sudan should it continue on its current path.

Like South Sudan, the Central African Republic is currently in the grip of ethnic conflict.

Up to one million people have already fled their homes amid widespread reports of massacres based on religious lines.

Adama Dieng, the UN’s chief special adviser on genocide prevention, has warned that the country is at a high risk of genocide.

In Syria we have seen a slowness to respond to incredible humanitarian need.

Not only has global diplomacy failed to protect civilians in Syria, we have seen members of the UN Security Council directly fuel the slaughter by providing money and weapons.

The international community must ask itself some fundamental questions. Do we believe in protecting civilians from atrocities? And, if so, how do we act to pre-empt the slaughter?

The legal framework for such action exists, but it is meaningless without the political will to either deploy wellresourced peace-keeping troops or pursue all diplomatic avenues to stop conflict.

Twenty years after the slaughter in Rwanda, the seeds of mass atrocities are being sown elsewhere.

Is the world content to sit by and watch as mass graves fill up with the bodies of innocent people in Syria, South Sudan and the Central African Republic? In five years time, will we collectively shake our heads and solemnly say ‘never again’?

Unless we are willing to act at an early stage to prevent such slaughters, those words will be as empty as the destroyed towns and cities they will leave behind.

Éamonn Meehan is Trócaire’s Executive Director See www.trocaire.org/rwanda for a special video marking the 20th anniversary of the genocide JUSTICE MAGAZINE 7

Feature Central African Republic

Kim Pozniak on a young man’s courage to fight for peace in Central African Republic

Calling out for peace When you meet Mohamed Bomassa, you’re showered with a big, warm smile that would never give away the hardship and dangers this young man faces on a daily basis.

At 24-years-old, Mohamed has a maturity and wisdom that are beyond his age.

One of only a few Muslims left in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), he takes great risks to do what is most needed here; speaking out for peace.

And he does so in a very public forum.

I accompanied Mohamed to one of the few radio stations in Bangui, Radio Centrafrique.

This is where you can find him, and other Muslim men and women, on a regular basis sitting around a big conference table across from the station’s control room, appealing for peace and calling on listeners to work toward

‘‘

At 24-years-old, Mohamed has a maturity and wisdom that are beyond his age

8 JUSTICE MAGAZINE

Mohamed Bomassa (right) hosts weekly radio broadcasts in the Central African Republic, using techniques he learned at a CRS workshop to promote peace in the violence-torn nation.

Photo by Kim Pozniak/CRS

JUSTICE MAGAZINE 9

Feature Central African Republic

reconciliation. Being this outspoken about peace in a city – and a country – that has suffered the type of violence that is often too cruel to even imagine, Mohamed risks his life every day.

But he takes precautions. He’s very careful about leaving his home and moving around the city, and when he does, he wears a hat that hides a small dark spot on his forehead, the result of a lifetime of prayer and a sure giveaway of his Muslim identity.

“Disguising my identity hurts me.

I was born Central African and can’t believe that my religion excludes me from society,” he says, telling me about his youth when he went to school with people of all faiths.

Even now, he’s still close with some of his Christian friends.

His friends, and co-presenters at the radio station, also hide their identities for fear of being killed by the non-Muslim militia, called anti-balaka.

Muslim women here have stopped wearing their veils, many are using different, non-Muslim names and have even stopped using the traditional Muslim greeting of “Salem Aleikum” when answering their phone in public.

The risks to their lives are real and brutal; just the other day, a young Muslim man in one of Bangui’s neighborhoods was killed and decapitated in public.

10 JUSTICE MAGAZINE

‘‘

We need to have dialogue and understand that violence is not the solution

Attacks like these are a common occurrence here, and are perpetrated by both sides of the conflict. In Mohamed’s neighborhood of Bimbo, 60 per cent of Muslims have left the country, most of them to Chad.

People of all faiths have equally suffered in CAR, lost loved ones and had their homes burnt and looted in a conflict that has its origins in political and economic motivations.

For years, people of diverse faiths have lived side by side here, attending the same schools, working together, intermarrying and building families.

But those inciting the violence have used religion to divide communities, taking advantage of the low economic prospects many young men face here.

Mohamed is one of the people in Bangui – Catholic, Protestant and Muslim – that have so far participated in Catholic Relief Services’ peace trainings: USAID-funded workshops that bring people of all faiths together to give them tools for fostering dialog and reconciliation in their communities.

He is also the president of the youth chapter of the Islamic Community of Central Africa, a role that helps him reach other young Muslims to talk about issues affecting their lives.

Before the conflict broke out in CAR, Mohamed owned a small business. The day it was looted, Mohamed says he was lucky not to be there, or he would have been killed. “Sometimes I’m afraid,” he says. “When people attack another Muslim in my neighborhood, I’m afraid the same thing will happen to me.”

His family is constantly worried about his safety, especially when he speaks on the radio or even appears on national TV. “But even with the risk,” he says, “I know it’s for a good cause.”

His faith gives him the courage to stay, he says, despite the risks. “I won’t

leave the country.

“I decided to stay when they robbed me and I lost everything. I decided to stay and fight [for peace].”

In the recording room at Radio Centrafrique, Mohamed speaks with a strong voice and the conviction of someone who’s known from an early age that someday he would be a leader in his community. “My goal is to convince all the listeners that it’s not external forces that can resolve this crisis.

“We need to have dialog and understand that violence is not the solution,” he says.

Mohamed’s message to the international community is that the conflict in CAR is not a religious conflict, and he hopes that with increased efforts of disarmament and improved security, Central Africans will be able to work towards reconciliation and peace.

Mohamed likens the peace process to an illness. “When you take medicine, it doesn’t go away immediately, and can even come back. Peace is fragile and everyone has to do their part to protect it.”

Being out in the community and heard on radio, he’s gotten a lot of positive feedback from people of all faiths.

It gives him hope. “Everybody needs to be disarmed in CAR,” he says. “But we also have to disarm people’s minds.”

“CAR is a country that belongs to all Central Africans.”

Kim Pozniak, CRS’ communications officer for Sub-Saharan Africa, recently returned from the trip to Central African Republic.

She is based in Baltimore, US Despite his difficult situation, Mohamed has been very public about his desire for peace, and gave permission to use his photograph for this story

Advertisement

Serving Seafarers from across the world

For nearly 100 years our Catholic community has served millions of seafarers from across the world.

Seafarers spend many months away from home and family, often exploited and in lonely and harsh conditions.

Your support will enable AoS to continue as a mission of hope, meeting their spiritual, practical and pastoral needs.

Please give generously, a donation from you will make all the difference

www.apostleshipofthesea.org.uk Registered charity in England and Wales number 1069833. Registered charity in Scotland number SC043085.

JUSTICE MAGAZINE 11

Feature Zimbabwe

A truck driver in Zimbabwe Photo: Marcus Perkins/ Progressio

12 JUSTICE MAGAZINE

A lonely life on the road has resulted in widespread HIV infection among truck drivers in one African nation. But Progressio workers are aiming to counter the disease, writes Esther Trewinnard

Getting into gear with the truckers to help drive out HIV in Zimbabwe Steven Msamala is an administrator for Lakas Products, a long distance haulage company in Zimbabwe.

Like any good employer, Lakas Products knows that taking care of its workforce is a top priority to guarantee a good service and high levels of productivity.

So, when the company’s Workplace Health and Wellness programme became unaffordable, Steven grew increasingly concerned.

“Our company transports various goods to construction sites, some of which are in remote areas of the country. This means drivers spend long periods of time on the road,” explains Steven.

HIV and AIDS are having a devastating impact on the transport industry’s workforce in Zimbabwe and rates of HIV prevalence in the country are now the third highest in the Southern African region with over 1 million adults living with HIV. For truckers, a life of being constantly on the move, missing out on normal family life and relationships, and stopovers in places with little distraction often leads to men being at a very high risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted infec-

tions. The HIV epidemic has targeted the most productive age group (15-49) with detrimental impacts on company productivity and performance losses. Direct costs for companies and employees, along with the high levels of stigma and discrimination amongst employers, prevents workers from disclosing their status.

Despite the risks, many truck drivers continue to engage in unsafe sexual encounters. Others, already living with HIV, can often struggle to access and adhere to antiretroviral therapy because of being constantly on the move.

It is now a legal requirement in Zimbabwe that employers not only have a workplace policy on HIV, but also offer awareness raising and prevention activities to their staff. Even so, as a result of serious economic problems in Zimbabwe, these vital initiatives are becoming harder for small and medium sized companies to afford and implement.

“Lakas Products has always played a role in safeguarding the health of all employees. We used to invite an external health service provider to the company and conduct health JUSTICE MAGAZINE 13

Feature Zimbabwe

PHOTO: Marcus Perkins/Progressio

Progressio development worker Teclah Ponde (left) speaks with truck drivers in Zimbabwe

assessments on our employees. This boosted employee morale and contributed to high productivity,” explains Steven.

“But, the situation gradually changed as the economic climate deteriorated after the turn of the millennium. As the company’s profits started dwindling, the Workplace Wellness service providers’ fees were on the high side for us. Workers began to express their dismay at the phasing out of wellness programmes.”

Luckily, the Zimbabwe AIDS Prevention and Support Organisation (ZAPSO) were able to help.

Progressio development worker Walter Tapfumaneyi had been supporting the organisation to establish links with the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises and the Zimbabwe Chamber for Informal Economies Association (ZCIEA) so that ZAPSO could support companies to fulfil their legal requirements with regard to the national HIV policy.

When Steven received a phone call from ZAPSO offering a workplace wellness programme entitled ‘Hear our voice: Speaking out for HIV services, care and support in Zimbabwe’, 14 JUSTICE MAGAZINE

he says his face “lit up”.

“Finally, the company was in a position to offer the much-needed wellness programming for employees.

I did not hesitate to accept the offer,” says Steven. “The awareness session covered important topics such as HIV transmission and prevention, HIV testing and counselling, sexually transmitted infections, general wellness, male circumcision, HIV-related stigma and discrimination, and living positively with HIV. “ZAPSO went on to provide voluntary counselling and testing and train some of our staff members as HIV and AIDS peer educators.

“The enthusiasm shown by employees made me realise that they had longed for HIV and AIDS activities as much as I had.”

As Steven explains, the programme is very much appreciated by employers and employees alike and for some people it has been live changing.

“Everyone was delighted, from top management to the shop floor workers. One employee came to me after one of the sessions and thanked me for the session saying: ‘Mr Msamala,

thank you very much for this programme.

“As you are aware, we are vulnerable to HIV transmission due the nature of our work. We need this type of information to help us better our behaviour in regard to HIV and AIDS’.

“One of employees who tested positive for HIV during VCT described it as the turning point of his life.

“The test result revealed that the recurrent episodes of ill health could have their roots in HIV infection.

“As a company we supported him to undergo various relevant tests resulting in him being initiated on comprehensive antiretroviral therapy at a local hospital.

“Within weeks, he had gained weight and the throat infection and fatigue had ceased completely.

“Had it not been for the workplace HIV testing and counselling, this man’s health would have continued to deteriorate. HIV and AIDS awareness sessions open participants’ eyes so that they are in a position to run a personal risk profile. The employee continues to be productive.”

Comment United States

Tony Magliano puts American patriotisim in its proper place

Waving the flag

PHOTO: Icubed11

Patriotism can be good, or it can be bad. Pride in one’s country can be healthy, or it can be unhealthy.

An unhealthy pride is often considered the original sin. In his pride, Lucifer (Satan) thought he knew better than God. The first humans in their pride thought they knew better than God. And we in our pride sometimes think and act as though we know better than God. An unhealthy patriotism does not seek God’s will for the nation in all matters. Instead, it conveniently chooses what issues it will consult the Almighty on.

Catholics adhering to this type of patriotism will often cite God’s approval on those issues where they feel – through Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, and the Magisterium – God is in agreement with their position. However, when that is not the case, instead of doing the hard work and prayer of spiritual discernment, they choose to ignore God and rely on purely secular arguments.

This way of thinking leads to an unhealthy pride in one’s country – where waving the flag and proclaiming “my country right or wrong, love it or leave it,” becomes the narrowminded standard for judging whether a person is a patriotic citizen or not.

This unhealthy patriotism often leads many people to believe their nation is better than all other countries. It proclaims: “We are number one!”

Numerous people in various nations seem addicted to this kind of unhealthy pride of country. In the United States, this sense of haughty superiority – promoted by some neoconservative writers – is known as “American exceptionalism.”

In this sense, it is believed that America is that city on a hilltop – taken from Matthew’s Gospel – that

shines a totally righteous light for all other nations to admire and emulate.

While America can generally claim in some areas to be a very good example for others to follow – such as the US Bill of Rights which guarantees freedom of religion, speech, assembly and the press – there are on the other hand many areas where the United States is walking in darkness.

From legalised abortion, to being the world’s leading arms merchant, to possessing the world’s most dangerous nuclear arsenal, to having more than 15 million children living in poverty, to rampant pornography, to the military-industrial complex, to only giving less than one per cent of its annual income to the poor of the world, the US is demonstrating it has a moral illness and is in need of healing and spiritual conversion.

Instead of ignoring these and other ills, Americans who possess a healthy patriotism honestly acknowledge

these sicknesses and work to heal the nation. As people of faith, we have the indispensable wisdom, power and love of God – the great physician – to aid us. But we must invite him to lead the way. In order to be healthy and holy, God must be at the centre of our lives and our nation.

A few years ago I had the privilege of interviewing the courageous countercultural peace activist Jesuit Father Dan Berrigan. He raised a question of crucial importance for every American Catholic to ponder: “Am I a Catholic-American? Or am I an American-Catholic?”

What comes first, our country or our God? Do we blindly follow the culture, government and economic system of our nation, or do we faithfully follow the Lord Jesus who alone is the way, the truth and the life?

Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated social justice and peace columnist

JUSTICE MAGAZINE 15

Feature Migration

Louise Zanré, the director of the Jesuit Refugee Service UK, provides an alternative response to the current hostility towards migrants in the UK, based on the dignity and values of Catholic Social Teaching

From deterence to compassion and understanding It sometimes seems as if I have been working on the issue of refugee rights forever. That is not quite the case.

I am, however, in the fortunate position that all of my working life since university has been in the faith based charitable sector.

For all of that time refugee rights has been part of my concern, more particularly so over the last 14 years I have worked at Jesuit Refugee Service in the UK. I am very privileged in this respect.

I have been able to do work which is meaningful (and which I hope makes a difference) and I have a longer term overview of the asylum system in the UK and its effect on the people coming to the UK to seek protection here.

Most importantly I have met and got to know wonderful people – people who happen to be asylum seekers and refugees - and people who want to give of their time and skills, of their prayers and moral support, of their good will and their financial resources to work with us to support those who come to us in need at JRS and to create a better society for us all in the UK. Yet another Immigration Act has just wended its way through Parliament.

Arguably immigration is one of the most over-legislated areas of public policy in the UK, with a new Immigration and Asylum Act every two or 16 JUSTICE MAGAZINE

‘‘

I, myself, cannot achieve full dignity if the refugees who come here do not have their dignity

three years during one 15 year period in our recent past.

With this as a background, along with the anti-immigrant rhetoric which has yet again come to the fore with the recent European and local elections, it is hardly surprising that most people either are completely confused about the whole issue or have been convinced in some way that there really is a problem, rather than an illusory one of the politicians’ making in an attempt to gain easy political capital.

I understand that stating that immigration is an illusory problem

can be seen to be a controversial statement.

We often hear that immigrants cause problems: there is not enough housing because the migrants and refugees queue jump housing lists; there are not enough jobs for British people because too many migrants and refugees are here taking them all; there is not enough money for the NHS to do a good job looking after us or for welfare benefits to actually be set at a level for people who need them to live with dignity because there are too many migrants and refugees in the UK “scrounging” off

PHOTO: Gustave Deghilage

A rally in support of migrants’ rights

us or somehow taking advantage; and so on.

However, many of the issues here – lack of housing, lack of employment, concern over benefits levels or the efficacy of our NHS – are not caused by migrants and refugees.

Rather these people are used as convenient scapegoats.

And getting tough on immigration is a convenient and easy way for politicians to respond to these concerns without actually doing anything to address the deep rooted inequalities in British society (which are also much tougher to tackle) at the root

of many of these issues.

The current Immigration Act continues the current narrative of making things tougher for immigrants.

There have been several headlinegrabbing measures in this particular Act – a continuation of the reduction of appeal rights in some immigration cases; landlord checks of the immigration status of tenants; a migrant health levy for access to NHS primary health care; and the new power of the Home Secretary to strip citizenship from naturalised British citizens whose conduct is considered to be

“seriously prejudicial to the vital interests of huge UK”. It therefore responds to the current tone of the public debate and to the perceived problems brought by immigration to the UK. I have over the years been challenged on these opinions and also been challenged to posit a better immigration system.

I wholeheartedly believe that a better immigration and asylum system can be implemented; one that truly does justice to the needs of us all and which improves the fundamental relationships at the heart of society.

JUSTICE MAGAZINE 17

Feature Migration

It is difficult to offer a comprehensive alternative here, but the foundations of a better immigration and asylum system are quite clear to me.

The values which provide the foundations and structure of our work at Jesuit Refugee Service make very good foundations and structure for a just, fair and equitable asylum and immigration system: Compassion, hope, dignity, solidarity, hospitality, justice and participation.

Governments often perceive borders to be like fences or walls, i.e. designed to keep people out. Traditionally church social teaching accepts that as the world is not ideal, it is imperative that governments regulate their borders for the public good and to protect people on their territory; but that this should be done with justice and compassion.

So the analogy I would use of the border in Church Social Teaching is not a fence, but rather a net or filter.

While the net serves to keep out those who are undesirable or pose a threat to the existing population on the territory, it is important that migration is permitted and that those who are vulnerable, who are in need of the exercise of compassion and justice (political refugees, those fleeing war, natural disaster, human rights abuses, for example) are able to navigate the net and gain access to the safe territory so that they can live with dignity. However, this does not go far enough in and of itself.

One of the best descriptions of the ideal situation at the border within the full meaning of church social teaching I ever heard was from Luke Bretherton, a theologian. He suggests that the border should be like two faces, both of them mirror images of

‘‘

The people we accompany at JRS could really beneďŹ t from a more humanised approach to immigration and refugee protection

18 JUSTICE MAGAZINE

each other and back to back. So that the same face both looks out at the rest of the world and inwards into the territory of the government responsible for governing the border.

This image really struck me at the time I heard it and has stayed with me ever since. Faces are important.

They immediately humanise the border and require the building up of relationships. After all, relationships are the fundamental building block of society. The same face looking both outward and inward requires the same parity of relationship and also the same parity of rights and equality In addition, a relationship requires getting to know people and, therefore, being open to the exercise of compassion and discretion to the benefit of those who are vulnerable and in need of protection, and who may not exactly or fully meet the criteria to gain access.

The people we accompany at Jesuit Refugee Service could really benefit from a more humanised approach to immigration and refugee protection.

Those who attend our day centre are mostly towards the end of the asylum process, but have often been in the UK for years.

Their asylum claims have often been mismanaged or have not been successful because of a lack of competent legal advice. They have no permission to work, nor do they have recourse to public funds. Most are in insecure accommodation (staying with friends or family in overcrowded accommodation, sofa surfing or street homeless).

We also have an outreach service (both pastoral and befriending) to people (mostly men) detained under the immigration rules at the two immigration removal centres near Heathrow, Colnbrook and Harmondsworth. Those people are detained on an administrative basis and indefinitely.

They do not know how long they will be held, nor if they will be removed from the UK or released.

Some of the men we accompany at the moment have been detained for over two years. Last year only 56 per

PHOTO: Mazur/www.catholicchurch.org.uk

Migrant Mass at Westminster

cent of detainees were removed from the UK. So almost half of the 30,423 people detained in the UK in 2013 were detained unnecessarily.

If they were not removed they are either still detained or they have been released back into the UK. Some of the immigration removal centres were purpose built, others are repurposed prisons. The financial costs of detention are huge.

However, the cost of detention in terms of the misery and increased vulnerability it causes to the people who are detained is stark and much more important.

Over the years, we have been far too focused as a nation on deterrence, on keeping people out of the UK. As a consequence our immigration legislative regime, of which our asylum system is a part, has been built on very shaky foundations.

Obstacles and barriers have been built into the various processes to apply for visas or to claim asylum, either explicitly in the legislation and immigration rules (such as withdrawal of appeal rights, stringent financial

criteria to be met in applying for family reunion visas, tight deadlines to be met) or implicitly through practice and policy and as a consequence of hardening attitudes towards immigration.

A telling example of the implicit barriers is provided by access to legal assistance in immigration and asylum claims. The value of legal aid over the years has diminished, making it financially unviable to offer services under legal aid.

Changes in recent years as to how and when legal aid is paid make managing cash flow in their businesses very difficult. This cash flow management is basically why we lost a large part of the legal provision available for asylum cases in two fell sweeps when both Refugee and Migrant Justice (previously known as Refugee Legal Centre) and the Immigration Advisory Service, the two largest charities providing legal advice to refugees and migrants, were forced into administration in 2010 and in 2011 respectively.

More recent legal aid changes from last year governing the competitive tendering process for legal aid has restricted in practice the number of legal aid cases each solicitors firm can take, reducing further the ability of solicitors to be financially viable through legal aid and making cash flow issues even more critical. Once you add into the mix withdrawal of legal aid from immigration cases other than asylum claims, and the withdrawal of legal aid from judicial review cases, it becomes easy to see why there is a legal advice desert on immigration matters, including for asylum claims, in large parts of the UK. I cannot state strongly enough what the practical effects have been on individuals of these changes. As stated previously, the main reasons why so many of the people we accompany and serve at Jesuit Refugee Service have been left destitute for so long with no final resolution in their situation, or why they have been detained to no good purpose and for long periods of time, is because their asylum and immigration claims have not been managed well by the Home

‘‘

It is time for a fundamental sea change in attitudes.

We need to move away from the mentality of deterrence towards a more humanised approach

Office or because they have not had access to good legal advice. So much hardship has been caused in this way with people left detained or homeless for years with all of the consequent effects on their mental and physical health.

It is time for a fundamental sea change in attitudes. We need to move away from the mentality of deterrence towards a more humanised approach. It is time to remember that refugees and migrants are people first and categories second; if you will, they are people who happen to be refugees or migrants.

That basic shift in perception would go a long way to improving things for the people we accompany at JRS. It is one of their and our greatest sadnesses that they are not treated humanely, that they are not welcomed and that they are criminalised and it causes the most distress. It is also the single most damaging aspect of the system to wider society.

By dehumanising one group of people, by denying them dignity and respect, society as a whole suffers. It is left more unequal and fractured.

If we accept that we are all members of the one body, as St Paul wrote in Corinthians, this means that I, myself, cannot achieve full dignity if that dignity is denied to another person.

I would hope that if there is anything you take away from this article it is the sense of the shared nature of our dignity and the image of a humanised rather than faceless border.

Louise Zanre works for the Jesuit Refugee Service JUSTICE MAGAZINE 19

Feature Franz Jaegerstaetter

The poet Edna St Vincent Millay wrote, “I shall die, but that is all I shall do for death.”

Franz Jaegerstaetter lived those words. Instead of capitulating to the forces of death, he pledged allegiance to the God of life.

On August 8, 1943, the night before he was beheaded for refusing to fight for Hitler’s army, Franz Jaegerstaetter sat in a Berlin prison cell, deep in intimate prayer with God. On a table in front of him lay a piece of paper, promising to serve the Nazis. All he had to do was sign his name and the Nazis would let him live.

It was a simple choice. His guards encouraged him to sign the paper. His parish priest and bishop prayed for him to sign it and save himself. His wife and three little girls begged him to give up his stand against imperial violence so that he could come home.

But no. He had made his choice. He would not fight. He would not kill.

He would not support Hitler’s war.

He would be faithful to the non-violent Christ. And so he sat there, hours before his execution, motionless, deep in prayer, not crying out, not panicking, not overcome with fear. Franz was at peace. He was one with the God of nonviolence.

The chaplain who visited him in prison that night said that his eyes shone with “a joy and a confidence” that the chaplain would never forget.

When the chaplain asked Franz to sign the paper, Franz smiled and gently declined.

“I am completely bound in inner union with the Lord,” he told him.

After the execution, the chaplain declared that Franz “lived as a saint and died a hero. I say with certainty that this simple man is the only saint that I have ever met in my lifetime.”

Franz’s refusal to kill or to be complicit in the systemic killing of the military, his fidelity to Christ, ranks him among the great saints and martyrs of Christianity. He would not kill or support Hitler’s war even if everyone in Austria, everyone in Europe, indeed, everyone in the world supported it.

Many thought it would be better if Franz compromised, at least for the sake of the children. But Franz pos20 JUSTICE MAGAZINE

The man who dared to say ‘nein’ to Hitler Fr John Dear on how he was inspired by the humble man who stood up to the might of Hitler’s Third Reich and paid the ultimate price sessed, like Jesus, a stubborn devotion to the truth of nonviolence.

No compromises, no concessions, no exceptions, no deals with death— and especially for the sake of the children.

Franz was 37-years-old when he was beheaded in the Berlin-Brandenburg prison on August 9, 1943. Born May 20, 1907 in St Radegund, Franz ran wild as a young man, but then, around the time of his marriage to his wife Franziska, began to take his faith in Jesus seriously.

He started to attend daily Mass. He became a person of prayer. In addition to running the family farm, he began work at the local parish church.

Though his family was poor, he regularly distributed food to other families.

When Hitler’s troops moved into Austria in 1938, Franz was the only person in his hometown of St Radegund to vote against the Anschluss, the union of fascist Germany to Austria. He publicly declared that he would not fight in Hitler’s war.

Franz spoke out against Nazi militarism, and specifically criticised the Church for supporting the Nazis. In February, 1943, he was called to active duty and despite the urgings of his friends, wife, mother, children, priest and bishop, he refused to join.

On March 1, 1943, he wrote to Franziska: “Today I am going to take

the difficult step.” His formal refusal to join the Nazi army resulted in immediate imprisonment, eventual trial and execution.

In the months before his execution, he was allowed only one visit with his wife. In his letters to her, he constantly thanked her for her love, begged forgiveness for the suffering he caused, and focused on God’s love.

A few hours before his death, he wrote to her: “If I did not have faith in God’s mercy, that God would forgive me all my sins, I could scarcely have endured life in a lonely prison with such calm.

“Moreover, though people charge me with a crime and have condemned me to death as a criminal, I take comfort in the knowledge that not everything which this world considers a crime is a crime in the eyes of God. I have hope that I need not fear the eternal Judge…If a person were to possess all the wisdom of the world and call half the earth their own, they still could not and would not be as happy as one of those who can still call virtually nothing in this world their own except their faith.

“I would not exchange my lonely cell for the most magnificent royal palace. No matter how great and how beautiful it might be, it will pass away, but God’s word remains for eternity…

I thank our dear Jesus that I am privileged to suffer and even die for Him.

Franz Jaegerstaetter JUSTICE MAGAZINE 21

Feature Franz Jaegerstaetter

Franz Jaegerstaetter Park

PHOTO: Stefan Barth

I trust that, in God’s unending mercy, God has forgiven me everything and will not abandon me in the last hour…The heart of Jesus, the heart of Mary and my heart are one, united for time and eternity.”

Franz had come to Gandhi’s conclusion, that non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as cooperation with good.

“As a Christian, I prefer to do my fighting with the Word of God and not with arms,” Franz wrote. “We need no rifles or pistols for our battle, but instead spiritual weapons - and the foremost among these is prayer.”

“It is still possible for us, even today, to lift ourselves, with God’s help, out of the mire in which we are stuck and win eternal happiness - if only we make a sincere effort and bring all our strength to the task,” Franz wrote. “It is never too late to save ourselves and perhaps some other soul for Christ.”

With his willingness to lay down his life for Christ’s reign of peace, Franz fulfilled the Christian vocation of nonviolence. He refused to give into the world’s violence. “I definitely prefer to relinquish my rights under the Third Reich and thus make sure of deserving the rights granted under the reign of God,” he wrote.

“Just as the one who thinks only of 22 JUSTICE MAGAZINE

this world does everything possible to make life here easier and better, so must we too who believe in the eternal reign, risk everything in order to receive a great reward there.”

The scene in the cell haunts me.

Who among us would have the strength not to sign the paper and be reunited with our spouse and children? Who among us could resist military madness unto death? Who among us is so dedicated to the nonviolent Jesus?

The witness of Franz Jaegerstaetter stands as a sign and example for us all.

He points the way for a Christian response to violent domination: refuse to fight, refuse to kill, refuse to be complicit in war-making, refuse to compromise - and resist the structures of violence with all the nonviolence of your soul.

Indeed, Franz offers a new image of sanctity in our nuclear age: Steadfast nonviolence.

From now on, saints are those who uphold the radical nonviolence of Jesus, who exude the dangerous holiness that subverts the status quo of institutionalized violence and militarism through the grace of transforming love.

At key moments in my life - praying

in the Jesuit novitiate in 1982, working in a New York City homeless shelter in 1984, working in a Salvadoran refugee camp in 1985, living in Guatemala in 1992, sitting in jail in 1994 for a Plowshares disarmament action, I have returned to Franz’s life (and Gordon Zahn’s excellent biography, In Solitary Witness) as a source of strength. Franz teaches me how to follow Jesus in these violent times.

His life and death epitomize the good news: No more killing, no more war, no more violence, no more executions, no more just war theory, no more sexism, no more racism, no more destruction of the planet, no more terrorism, no more bombs, no more landmines, no more abortions, no more poverty, no more hunger, no more homelessness, no more fear, no more hatred, no more injustice, no more nuclear weapons.

His parting advice is simple: “Stay at peace, love one another, and be quick to forgive. Let us love our enemies, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who persecute us. For love will conquer and will endure for all eternity. And happy are they who live and die in God’s love.”

Fr John Dear is an American priest and peace campaigner

Advertisement

You too can be part of it

Play your part in our food security project and help people on the Haitian-Dominican border grow their way out of poverty

progressio.org.uk Progressio. People powered development. Be a part of it.

JUSTICE MAGAZINE 23

Feature Care workers

The appalling working conditions of care workersis a major contributory factor in poor care, writes Paul Donovan

Why it’s those in need who really suffer from attacks on workers’ rights There has been much concern expressed about the standard of care being provided to people at home but little seems to have been said about the appalling employment conditions that many care workers are forced to endure.

Low pay, often below the minimum wage, and zero hour contracts are commonplace, no doubt having a knock-on effect regarding the standard of care being delivered.

Mary Smith, a care worker, said: “I am on a zero hour contract, which means I can be sitting around for three or four days or even a week, waiting for work.

“There is no payment for travel. I’m often irate by the time I arrive at the call. If you query payment, then you may not get work for a couple of weeks. It is not possible to draw benefits, so if you are the only breadwinner then you could be left without food for the rest of the week.”

The employers it seems hold all the cards. “You never know how much work there is going to be. It is impossible to plan life, if you turn down work then you can get cut off the following week. A lot of people I know are trying to get out if the care sector.

The people who really suffer are the public receiving the care.”

24 JUSTICE MAGAZINE

Many of the problems in the care sector emanate from the use of zero hour contracts, which puts the employee at a distinct disadvantage.

They have to effectively be on call all the time but as the example of Mary demonstrates this can mean back-toback calls or long periods when there is nothing to do.

This power to allocate work can also be misused, so a worker who complains or maybe tries to bring in a trade union can be discriminated against by not being given work.

The workers are also only paid for the time they are effectively on the job.

Melanie, who worked for a care company, recalled getting just £1 for a visit, she did that lasted 13 minutes.

“Some companies break down what you get per visit. In the company I worked for, one person got 79p for a visit,” said Melanie, who has now moved on to a company that pays a set salary for the week.

The poor treatment of the care workforce does result in many cases in the clients not receiving as exemplary a service as might otherwise be the case. Melanie tells of the effects of being tired and exhausted as a result of rushing from call to call.

“There is often no time to talk to the

person. Once you’ve done the food, administered the different drugs etc., there is no time to talk, yet sometimes the carer is the only person that that person will see in the whole day,” said Melanie.

The non-payment of the care workers for travel time is a contentious issue, as it means many are not being

PHOTO: JMazur/www.catholicchurch.org.uk

Caritas Social Action Network is campaigning on care for the elderly

paid even the minimum wage. The sector is well known for its notoriously bad employment practices. In a study covering the past two years HM Revenue and Customs reported £340,000 owed becasue of underpayment to 2,400 care workers.

There was £110,000 in penalties imposed for breaking the law.

HMRC found that the main reasons offered by care sector employers for not paying the minimum wage included making illegal deductions such as uniform costs; not paying for time spent training or travelling between care jobs; charges for living accommodation; incorrect hourly pay rates; and incorrect use of apprentice

rates. A study by King’s College London’s social care workforce research unit estimated that there were between 150,000 and 220,000 care workers being paid below the minimum wage.

What is more, with the growing pressure on local authorities to cut back they have been reducing what JUSTICE MAGAZINE 25

Feature Care workers

26 JUSTICE MAGAZINE

PHOTO: JMcBeth

they are prepared to pay the care companies.

The Low Pay Commission found this pressure resulted in companies taking it out on the workers.

United Kingdom Homecare Association, which represents private firms, estimates that a homecare company needs to be paid a minimum of £14.95 an hour by a council to comply with wage law and meet all costs of training. It said that one in five councils were now paying £11 or less, the lowest being £8.98 an hour.

The association said that nine out of 10 councils had cut fees paid to its members in the past year, meaning firms “face a constant struggle to comply with minimum wage law. The alternative will be for them to cease trading with councils, or go out of business”.

There does though seem to be a growing awareness of the poor conditions being offered to workers in the industry and the subsequent effect this can have on standards of care.

Care minister Norman Lamb accepted that “there are still too many examples of employers paying people less than the minimum wage by not taking account of travel time”, which is “intolerable”.

Both community organisers Citizens UK and the trade union Unison have been campaigning for the living wage (£8.80 in London and £7.65 an hour outside) to be paid to care workers.

Unison has asked all councils in the country to sign up to its Ethical Care Charter.

The charter commits councils to buying home care only from providers who give workers enough time, training and a living wage, so they can provide better quality care for the service users who rely on it.

“Poor pay and conditions, including zero hour contracts and non-payment for travel time and training, mean that many care workers are unable to provide the level of care that they would like to give,” said Dave Prentis, the general secretary of Unison. “It is essential that home care workers receive decent working conditions, including secure employment and a

Good social care is vital

‘‘

The charter commits councils to buying home care only from providers who give workers enough time, training and a living wage, so they can provide better quality care for the service users who rely on it

living wage, which makes it possible for them to stay in the job and focus on giving the best possible care.”

Among those picking up the challenge are Islington and Brent councils in London which now only offer contracts to companies paying care workers the London living wage.

Citizens UK has initiated the ‘I care about care’ campaign, which seeks to get employers signing up to a compact which comprises a commitment

to pay the living wage, payment for travel time, accredited training for carers and a minimum of 30 minutes per call. “The campaign is to ensure that the carers are as cared about as the cared for. Care is presently the Cinderella of the welfare state and our members are determined to challenge this,” said Neil Jameson, executive director of Citizens UK. “This is not just about pay but also about the time we spend with each other and respect for the profession.”

So although the working conditions in the care sector remain difficult, there are signs of improvement with some genuinely good employers out there.

What does seem certain is that better care provision is only likely to come about if the care workers receive decent pay and terms of employment.

Paul Donovan is a freelance journalist

Advertisement

JUSTICE MAGAZINE 27

Feature Cruise ships

Cruise ship chaplains: Being there for the crew

28 JUSTICE MAGAZINE

Greg Watts on the work done by Apostleship of the Sea onboard the world’s great cruise liners

The stricken cruise liner Coasta Concordia. AoS chaplains were on hand to help all those aected by the disaster

JUSTICE MAGAZINE 29

Feature Cruise ships

The cruise industry is booming, with 1.7 million Britons taking at least one last year.

Yet for the staff on board, life is not always so glamorous, which is the main reason why Apostleship of the Sea (AoS) provides chaplains to cruise ships.

With restaurants, cinemas, shops, and swimming pools, modern cruise ships are like small towns.

A cruise ship carrying 4,000 passengers is likely to employ around 1,000 staff, many from countries such as India and the Philippines. They often work long hours and for relatively little pay, sending most of what they earn back home.

AoS currently has a team of 25 cruise chaplains, who are mainly deployed at Christmas and Easter.

Father Paul Fitzpatrick from Birmingham has been on four cruises in three years.

“The role of the cruise chaplain is primarily focused upon the crew rather than the passengers. I realise this each time I carry my own bags up the crew gangway as I board a ship,” he said.

“Seafarers on a cruise ship work long and demanding hours, which often begin very early in the morning, or finish late at night.

“On average each contract on board ship lasts approximately eight to ten months. This means that the crew is away from family and home for extended periods of time.”

30 JUSTICE MAGAZINE

Father Paul Mason, episcopal vicar for Kent, said when he served on his first cruise ship he decided to make himself available to everyone and muck in with the crew.

“It became clear to me early on that Apostleship of the Sea is quite right in emphasising that the chaplain’s priority is the crew.

“While of course being present for passengers is important, the overwhelming need is for the crew, who go for months at a time without the sacraments.

“I tended to eat with the crew, which was wonderful. We ate curry every day since most of them were from Goa. I also visited the officers’ mess a couple of times. Other than that I would simply be around and chat to folk and hear confessions occasionally.

“I would visit the infirmary each day and I took Holy Communion to a pas-

senger who was unwell and confined to her cabin.” He added that reaction to a priest on board was quite different between crew and passengers.

“The former were always stopping to talk while in general the latter tended to leave you to yourself.”

For some crew, the presence of a priest brings great comfort.

“We held Mass to celebrate the birth of one crew member’s baby,” recalled Fr John Seddon from Liverpool.

“On the other side of the coin, there might be a bereavement, so I make arrangements to offer prayers.

“A crew member lost several members of his family back home in a bad road accident.

“The deputy captain asked me to hold Mass for them, which all the officers attended.

“Sometimes it happens that a passenger’s partner dies on a cruise. I’ll

PHOTO: Apostleship of the Sea

Life is not easy for workers on cruise ships

always touch base with the hospital on board when I get on the ship; occasionally, the ship has some very old and ill people.”

If a cruise chaplain is concerned about anyone on board, he will often inform the AoS chaplain in the next port, so he can visit and offer help.

When the Costa Concordia capsized off the Italian coast in 2012, Father Raffaele Malena, the AoS chaplain on board, helped with the evacuation and offered support to its crew and passengers Last November Rev Roger Stone, AoS chaplain in Southampton and Portsmouth, received a call from Carnival UK’s care team asking if he could fly to Cadiz and join the Oriana cruise ship, as there had been a sudden death on board.

“The man who died was the head waiter, who was married with two small children. I led prayers on the

quayside as his body was removed from the ship and I sprinkled it with holy water,” explained Roger.

“I then held a service at 2pm. There was considerable disquiet among his colleagues over leaving his body in Cadiz and everyone wanted to know when it would be returned to Goa. “That day and over coming days I spent a lot of time with his cabin mate, who had known him for 18 years and who had found him dead.

“In due course I blessed the cabin where the man had died and offered special prayers for his family and all his colleagues past and present.”

Roger also led several communion services on board and spent a lot of time with the man’s closest friends, one of whom had known him since they had been altar boys together in Goa. Following Typhoon Haiyan, Carnival UK asked AoS to deploy chaplains on its ships to support Filipino crew members who were missing relatives or anxious about any destruction to their homes.

Roger sailed on two cruise ships and spent a lot of time listening to and comforting crew. “One man lost many members of his family.

“Several were anxiously waiting to learn whether their parents, siblings and children were alive.

“The crew members stayed on board to earn money to pay for food and repair their homes.

“The cost of everything went up, so they need to do this more than ever.”

Father Angelo Phillips from Leeds

became a cruise chaplain in 2010 when he joined the Ventura around the Caribbean. When he went on his second cruise from Southampton to the Canary Islands, he got a taste of how unpredictable and dangerous the sea can be.

“We sailed away to the delightful voices of a local school choir singing carols and a band playing festive music on the quayside.,” he recalled.

“But within a few hours we were caught up in a fierce storm as we headed through the English Channel towards the Bay of Biscay. Thirty-feet waves tried to tear up the deck. The storm lasted for 48 hours.

“This was truly the cruel sea in action. This beautiful huge ship was bobbing in the ocean like a toy boat in a bath tub.”

Jo Utteridge, of the international affairs department at the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, spent 11 years working as a dance captain and production manager on Costa cruise ships. She said cruise chaplains play a vital role on board.

“For those who work long periods at sea, chaplains provide much needed support in the absence of friends and family.

“They can comfort, reassure and offer spiritual guidance to those in need.”

Greg Watts is a freelance journalist

JUSTICE MAGAZINE 31

Feature Honduras

A goal for Honduran women Honduras’ appearance in this summer’s World Cup football finals in Brazil represented a major achievement for the small Central American nation.

Yet while the men’s national team is currently dominating the country’s sporting coverage, in isolated rural communities in the south of the nation, football projects are also being used to improve conditions for an altogether different part of Honduran society, one that is traditionally unrepresented and overlooked.

A mix of geographic isolation and deep-seated traditions mean that various communities in this part of 32 JUSTICE MAGAZINE

Matthew Kyle of Progressio report on the work being done in the south of Honduras where football is used to empower local women Honduras remain unexposed to much of what happens in the outside world, and the traditional patriarchal society sees the man as head of the household. As a result of a lack of independence and opportunities to

socialise, women here are often timid, reserved and reluctant to share their thoughts and opinions.

This is where football, that most popular of male sports, has played an unlikely role in promoting gender equality.

At 1,700 metres above sea level, not too far from the border with El Salvador, sits La Esperanza.

This Honduran city, with a population of around 20,000, enjoys a cool climate and beautiful mountain scenery.

Situated between 30 minutes and an hour away, in differing directions along unpaved dirt roads, are the

Action from the women’s football games in La Esperanza All photos by Andrew West

JUSTICE MAGAZINE 33

Feature Honduras

small communities of Belén, Manazapa and Los Encinos. Home to indigenous Lenca people, the residents of these communities live without electricity, running water or any access to healthcare or emergency services. They rely on the land for their income, and use whatever scant resources they have – chickens, maize, and rice – for food.

Not too long ago, girls’ football teams were established in these three communities thanks to a partnership between the local youth organisation Jóvenes Liderando Cambios (‘Youth Leading Changes’) and Progressiowhich sends young volunteers to Honduras as part of the International Citizen Service programme. With the aim of promoting gender equality in a manner that appealed to both men and women, the initiative has been a great success.

While women’s football has enjoyed considerable growth in many countries over the last few years, in these rural areas of Honduras it’s considered a new and somewhat novel concept. Sport without male involvement is still a rather alien idea for many.

This hasn’t, however, stymied the enthusiasm and enjoyment experienced by the women and girls who have taken part so far.

According to Kenia Meza, a Honduran volunteer who has helped to run the training sessions, football rep-

‘‘

With the aim of promoting gender equality in a manner that appealed to both men and women, the initiative has been a great success

34 JUSTICE MAGAZINE

resents a “fun way to develop bonds of friendship with other people in the community.”

“My personal belief with sport, and it proves it working with these girls, is that anyone can succeed and anyone can enjoy it if it’s delivered in the right way,” explains Charlotte Hounsome, a sports science graduate from Loughborough University who spent time coaching the Los Encinos girls’ team as part of her volunteer placement with Progressio last year.

Providing a platform for socialising and exercising, away from the men and the monotonous routine of the household, has been a key aspect of the initiative, and there has been a marked increase in the confidence and self-esteem levels of participants who, in the very first training session, came across as shy and nervous.

Alongside the training sessions, Progressio and JLC volunteers run gender equality workshops which aim to inform both sexes about women’s rights and their expected roles within the communities.

Honduras is currently ranked at 120th in the Gender Inequality Index and high cases of domestic violence, which result in one woman being killed every 18 hours, remain a real issue plaguing the country’s progress.

Young women migrating to big cities in search of work are those most at risk.

Even in other safer parts of the country, the disparity in equality means that many women lead very restricted lives.

With less access to employment and education, a large percentage of women here have no choice but to fulfil the role of mother and housewife.

Changing long-held beliefs and attitudes is always something which happens gradually, but any type of progress must be celebrated.

“It is a very, very, slow process, as a lot of society is based on deep-rooted traditions, and the isolation means that they are not exposed to international media or to the occupations available to women in cities,” states Olivia Grimshaw, who volunteered for Progressio earlier this year. She’s adamant, though, that football can

be used as a tool to help empower Honduran women.

“It can have a massive effect in terms of how they are viewed and treated. It gives women confidence.”

The ultimate goal of the initiative is to be able to train female members of the communities to coach each team. This way, the project will be self-sustainable and will continue to give women an opportunity to develop their skills in an environment where they feel comfortable expressing themselves.

And while there may be a few obstacles to overcome along the way, Kenia remains confident that the project will succeed. “However difficult the task, it can be done.

Whatever seems impossible, we can try. And no matter how difficult our problems seem, we can always find a solution.”

Reaction to the programme has been extremely positive thus far.

Several tournaments have been organised since its inception and the level of support continues to increase, from both men and women.

“The women’s football initiative was founded to break down gender inequality within the communities, and the true success of this was apparent today as vast numbers came to support the women,” wrote Charlotte, shortly after her Los Encinos team had been crowned winners of the inaugural competition. The latest tournament, organised by Olivia and her fellow female volunteers, featured seven teams and attracted more than 100 spectators.

“When it comes down to sport, in a way it makes us realise how similar everyone is around the world, because the way the girls react to it and the way they enjoy it is just the same as I think anyone would,” says Charlotte.

When the World Cup games were played Hondurans across the football-mad nation crowded round their TV screens to cheer on La Selección.

Yet while everyone else is inside watching the football, in this remote part of Honduras - where the houses do not have TVs - these women and girls were the ones outside, playing the beautiful game.

JUSTICE MAGAZINE 35

Feature Food poverty

Clare Skelton on why the UK Government’s response to food poverty can’t take a summer holiday

Six weeks of starvation? tThe Church’s distribution of food aid is nothing new. For centuries, food has been given to the hungry, from Victorian philanthropic endeavours to the response in recent decades to famines in Ethiopia, North Korea and Sudan.

Closer to home, providing food for the vulnerable has long been a fundamental part of Church life and activity and every harvest festival, Lent and Christmas would see donations of baked beans and dried pasta stacked up in churches ready to be sent to the local night kitchen.

In recent years, however, the frequency of collections, the mode of distribution and the people receiving food aid has seen a dramatic change.

In June, Oxfam, the Trussell Trust and Church Action on Poverty released a join report entitled Below the Breadline which calculated that over two million meals had been distributed to those living in food poverty in 2013/2014.

These were provided by the three main food aid providers: The Trussell Trust, FareShare and FoodCycle and represent a 54 per cent increase on the number of meals distributed in 2012/2013.

The increase of food prices in the UK, rising housing and utility costs, insecure incomes and sanctions on benefits all mean that the household income often runs out before the end of the week. Brushstrokes, a partner project of Father Hudson’s Society based in Birmingham, for example, has reported a significant spike in demand for emergency food in the 36 JUSTICE MAGAZINE

past three years. Their latest statistics for May 2014 show that 212 people were provided with food and, for the past six months, more than 200 people on average visited Brushstrokes for food aid each month.

It’s not just the numbers that have changed; food poverty is now affecting whole strata of society that had never previously required support with food and basic materials. CSAN recently held a roundtable with its members to gather insight that would inform its response to the All-Party Parliamentary Group Inquiry into Food Hunger and Poverty.

One representative from a St Vincent de Paul centre in Canterbury commented that there are people coming to the foodbank that they have never seen before: “A couple of years ago, it was people we knew” those sleeping rough, those in hostels - “whereas now” she continued, “it is new people, a whole new raft of people who have been tipped over the edge”. In Liverpool, the demand is such that Nugent Care has employed a faith worker and produced a handbook to support local parish priests who simply cannot cope alone with the numbers from local parishioners seeking help.

Awareness as to the extent of food poverty is now spreading to mainstream society.

You could read about the activist Jack Monroe who has made her name from her blog ‘Hunger Hurts’ where she details feeding her and her son on £10 a week, you could download the Foodbank app which will tell you

the produce most urgently required in your local centre, you could perhaps revisit the Channel 4 ‘Dispatches: Breadline Kids’ programme which was aired a few weeks ago on a primetime slot.

We know that the situation of hunger has transformed from an acute problem to a chronic one. It’s relentless – and it doesn’t take a break for summer.

With the six-week school holiday coming up, parents, schools and local authorities are voicing concern that without Free School Meals or Breakfast Clubs, children will face a summer of hunger.

The support parents rely on during term-time is taken away, with very little in its place. Agencies are preparing to respond: At the end of June Robin Beveridge, the Project Poverty Manager with the North East Child Poverty Commission, wrote an open letter asking decision makers to join with Children North East, Northern Housing Consortium, Youth Focus North East and Northumberland Food Banks to find ways that would

PHOTO: Tony Newell

The school summer holidays will see many children face food problems

reduce food hunger in school holidays.

It is a situation that faced ‘Jenny’, a single mother with three children living in north London. Two of her three children were exhibiting challenging behaviour in school. Staff suspected Jenny was struggling financially and finding it difficult to provide food for her children, particularly out of termtime and over weekends.

The school arranged for the boys to attend a local play centre for free in the school holidays to give Jenny respite, knowing it would allow her some time-off as well as providing food for them The school then invited the children to the breakfast club for free, further easing the burden on the family. The behaviour and well-being of the children improved significantly after these measures and Jenny now has less financial pressure as she no longer had to provide breakfast or lunch in the holidays.

‘Marcus’ currently attends a Catholic school in Islington. ‘Susie’, his single-mother, is in work yet

because she is low-paid, she is finding it very difficult to provide Sam with breakfast every morning. Until recently, Marcus’s performance in school had deteriorated, he was struggling in class and friendships with other pupils were being affected.

The school approached Susie and asked her to come in for a chat.

Conscious of the financial stress she is under, the school recommended sending Marcus to the free Breakfast Club (part of the Magic Breakfast programme). Since attending the Breakfast Club Marcus’s performance at school has improved a great deal.

As well as ensuring he is well-fed throughout the day, Breakfast Club has also improved his relationships with other pupils and his school work is improving.

But what’s going to happen to Marcus and the other thousands of children like him this summer when school is out?

Many agencies are recommending that wherever possible (and in particular in areas where there is a high number of Free School Meals provid-

ed) summer activities run over the lunchtime period and that a basic meal is provided.

Organisations such as Make Lunch are raising media awareness and supporting volunteer opportunities, whilst at the Borehamwood foodbank in the Westminster Diocese, staff have already started to provide family lunches in school holidays to help parents who can’t afford to provide daily meals for their children.

So whilst organisations and charities are doing everything they can to provide food this summer we should also be asking decision-makers an important question. Why, when children receive food for half the year during term-time, why is the very same not provided for other half of year out of term-time?

Isn’t that common sense? Because hunger doesn’t stop when the school bell rings.

Clare Skelton works for CSAN Names and locations have been changed JUSTICE MAGAZINE 37

Feature Ecuador

Patricia Jessup on the incredible work carried out over the decades by the Working Boys Center - A Family of Families in wecuador

A family dedicated to helping their brothers in Quito In 1964, Father John Halligan, SJ started a small Jesuit mission in Quito, Ecuador that would ultimately grow to be known as the Working Boys’ Center – A Family of Families (WBC).

At the very same time back in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a couple known as Jim and Pat Parks were starting a family of their own.

Little did either party know that they would soon become forever linked by their passion for the values of their Catholic faith, the nuclear family, education and hard work.

Today, the WBC is supported by its local fundraising arm, the Center for Working Families (C4WF) www.c4wf.org whose roots trace all the way back to this inspiring partnership between Fr Halligan and Pat Parks. The WBC is set to celebrate its 50th anniversary and has dubbed 2014: The Year of the Volunteer. At the 50th anniversary celebration, Pat and Jim Parks will be honoured for their selfless commitment to the WBC. Jim and Pat were introduced to the WBC when Pat’s sister, Sr Miguel Conway, a member of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM) order, joined Fr Halligan in Quito in 1967.

Sr Miguel, more affectionately known as Madre, sent letters explain38 JUSTICE MAGAZINE

Fr John Halligan and Sr Miguel Conway

ing the extreme poverty she was encountering in Quito, pleading for help from Pat and Jim. At the time Pat worked as a Milwaukee public school high school maths teacher by day and, thanks to the consumption of countless cups of coffee, by night she did all she could to perform outreach in the Milwaukee area.

Back in the early 1970s, before the invention of the internet and Google searches, most people had never heard of Ecuador, nor had any clue where it was. The challenge to convince friends and family to donate money to an international cause was daunting. But, Pat and Jim felt called

by God to bring justice to poor working children and their families in Quito.

Initially, Jim and Pat supported the cause by hosting small “Help Halligan” fund raising parties at their home with the assistance of their young children. No one was allowed

into the lively parties without making a donation of some sort. Everyone who met them was drawn into the fold and enlisted to volunteer at homespun activities to raise awareness and money for the WBC. Before long they formalised their fundraising efforts. The adoption of the WBC went from figurative to quite literal when the Parks’ adopted three daughters from Ecuador in addition to their seven natural-born children. Of course, the entire WBC is considered a significant member of the Parks family as well. Eventually the fundraising was renamed the Center for Working Families as the torch was passed to their, now adult, children.

Since its inception, the Parks family took a very hands-on approach to volunteering for the WBC and the Parks children were always intimately involved in the effort. Early marketing consisted of a quarterly mailing of the

PHOTO: Working Boys Center

organisation’s publication, The Shoeshine Special, which chronicles the achievements of the WBC and its member families, keeping supporters informed and engaged.

Still in circulation today, The Shoeshine Special is read by more than 6,000 recipients on a quarterly basis. In addition to the labour-intensive operation of printing, folding, stuffing, applying postage and mailing the annual WBC Christmas cards, Jim and Pat hosted countless parties at their home in an effort to enhance awareness of the WBC mission and its amazing success. Some of Parks children like to tease their parents by suggesting that their experience of serving the guests at these events led to their success as waiting staff in their college years.

As the Parks family grew to include 10 children, the WBC was experiencing its own tremendous expansion.

What started as a small programme

in the attic of a Jesuit church had grown to boast two large multi-function facilities in separate parts of the capital city of Quito. Originally designed to help young working boys provide for themselves by shining shoes, the WBC now serves roughly 400 entire families, or 2,000 individuals, in its mission to empower the people of Ecuador through selfreliance. With education at its core the Working Boys’ Center – A Family of Families serves its members by providing them three meals a day six days each week, education from daycare through grammar school, full medical and dental services, technical training, and adult literacy among other services. Based on the results of an independently performed impact study, the WBC has helped more than 6,000 families or roughly 30,000 individuals move from poverty to prosperity as a result of their participation in the WBC’s transfor-

mative and exhaustive programmes.

Back in Milwaukee, the Parks family’s dedication to the WBC in Quito intensified as the years progressed.

In addition to ongoing promotion of the WBC at home, six of the Parks children would ultimately travel to Ecuador to serve one to two years as volunteers on-site at the WBC. Their involvement attracted additional volunteers and over time the commitment of annual volunteer groups became a cornerstone of the connection between the mission in Ecuador and its advocates in the United States.

Each year approximately, 10-15 volunteers from the US travel to the WBC to serve as teachers, lend their expertise to the various businesses run by the WBC and support the member families through financial counseling and other general assistance.

Not only are the families of the WBC deeply touched by these young people but also the young WBC volunteers are forever altered, heading out to seek justice for the underprivileged and advocate for the poor in their future careers.

The impact of the nearly 600 former year long WBC volunteers is difficult to quantify but the fruits of their experience are truly inspirational. During the weekend of August 8-10, 2014, the Working Boys’ Center – A Family of Families will celebrate its 50th anniversary as roughly 550 guests converge on Marquette University’s campus.

The WBC directors and numerous staff from Ecuador will travel to Milwaukee, WI to join the festivities as well. Former volunteers from across the US look forward to the World’s Biggest Family Reunion as they reconnect and share memories.

Pat and Jim will proudly participate in this joyous occasion, thanking God for the gift of the WBC in their lives.

To learn more about the work of the WBC visit www.c4wf.org or contact Patricia Jessup, executive director, at patricia.jessup@c4wf.org JUSTICE MAGAZINE 39

Final thought

Help spread the word by retweeting @justicemagazine

PHOTO: Tr贸caire

An exhibition called Breaking the Silence at the Gallery of Photography in Dublin by Trocaire featuring photographs and testimonies from former Israel Defence Force (IDF) soldiers who served in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip

40 JUSTICE MAGAZINE