SLEEPING WITH A MOSQUITO
>RACHEL SAUM REPORTS ON THE RECENT MEETING IN MACCLESFIELD OF EUROPEAN REPRESENTATIVES of THE JESUIT VOLUNTEER COMMUNITIES
If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a room with a mosquito. The Jesuit Volunteer Community: Britain is one of a number of Jesuit organisations that exist to provide a development programme for young adults. They live in community and are involved in volunteer work in inner-city areas of the developed world, dealing with the causes and effects of poverty. Volunteers work with a range of client groups: people who are homeless, refugees, the elderly, adults with learning difficulties. Alongside their work, volunteers reflect on four core values - spirituality, social justice, simple living and community. The European JVC's meet annually for a gathering of volunteers and staff from each country.
The last week of March saw 49 volunteers travel from across Europe to Savio House, near Macclesfield, for the 2003 Jesuit European Volunteer meeting, the focus of which is captured perfectly in the African proverb above. Over the last year JVC Britain had secured funding from the European Community to plan and host the week-long event for Jesuit volunteers from Slovakia, France, Germany, Ireland, Poland and Britain. The JVC staff spent weeks planning sessions on social justice, deciding how many felt tip pens to buy and recruiting ex-volunteers to do the week's cooking for 65 people. Eventually the 24th March dawned bright and sunny.
Although the staff looked in need of some rest, the volunteers were prepared to enjoy each other's company, share stories of community life, discover alternative ideas for how to live out ‘simple lifestyle' (some were shocked to hear that all the British houses have televisions), and learn the similarities between their experiences of tackling social injustices across Europe. Some excellent interpreters, many of whom were JVC Britain volunteers originating from across Europe, made this dialogue possible. Five action packed days followed. The European JVC staff facilitated the majority of sessions. These included a jigsaw building activity, enabling the volunteers to reflect on how they make a difference; a creative workshop with a choice of art, dance or music focussed on the theme ‘strength, courage and wisdom'; discussions on simple living and community; time for reflection, through morning and evening prayers led by the volunteers, which always included scripture readings in numerous languages.
A day trip to local museums enabled the volunteers to consider the UK'S industrial past, the injustices people suffered and how they gained a voice for themselves. Chris Boles SJ came from Edinburgh on the final day to give a Jesuit perspective to the week's discussions. Through his refreshing presentation of the Catholic Church's social teaching, the volunteers realised quite how central and relevant their work is to the mission of the Church. After a week of long days, the meeting ended with much cleaning, tearful farewells and the promise of many welcoming communities across Europe. Roll on the next meeting, May 2004 in Germany. The whole week was carned out with the support of the European Community as part of the Youth programme. Thank you EU!
If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a room with a mosquito. The Jesuit Volunteer Community: Britain is one of a number of Jesuit organisations that exist to provide a development programme for young adults. They live in community and are involved in volunteer work in inner-city areas of the developed world, dealing with the causes and effects of poverty. Volunteers work with a range of client groups: people who are homeless, refugees, the elderly, adults with learning difficulties. Alongside their work, volunteers reflect on four core values - spirituality, social justice, simple living and community. The European JVC's meet annually for a gathering of volunteers and staff from each country.
The last week of March saw 49 volunteers travel from across Europe to Savio House, near Macclesfield, for the 2003 Jesuit European Volunteer meeting, the focus of which is captured perfectly in the African proverb above. Over the last year JVC Britain had secured funding from the European Community to plan and host the week-long event for Jesuit volunteers from Slovakia, France, Germany, Ireland, Poland and Britain. The JVC staff spent weeks planning sessions on social justice, deciding how many felt tip pens to buy and recruiting ex-volunteers to do the week's cooking for 65 people. Eventually the 24th March dawned bright and sunny.
Although the staff looked in need of some rest, the volunteers were prepared to enjoy each other's company, share stories of community life, discover alternative ideas for how to live out ‘simple lifestyle' (some were shocked to hear that all the British houses have televisions), and learn the similarities between their experiences of tackling social injustices across Europe. Some excellent interpreters, many of whom were JVC Britain volunteers originating from across Europe, made this dialogue possible. Five action packed days followed. The European JVC staff facilitated the majority of sessions. These included a jigsaw building activity, enabling the volunteers to reflect on how they make a difference; a creative workshop with a choice of art, dance or music focussed on the theme ‘strength, courage and wisdom'; discussions on simple living and community; time for reflection, through morning and evening prayers led by the volunteers, which always included scripture readings in numerous languages.
A day trip to local museums enabled the volunteers to consider the UK'S industrial past, the injustices people suffered and how they gained a voice for themselves. Chris Boles SJ came from Edinburgh on the final day to give a Jesuit perspective to the week's discussions. Through his refreshing presentation of the Catholic Church's social teaching, the volunteers realised quite how central and relevant their work is to the mission of the Church. After a week of long days, the meeting ended with much cleaning, tearful farewells and the promise of many welcoming communities across Europe. Roll on the next meeting, May 2004 in Germany. The whole week was carned out with the support of the European Community as part of the Youth programme. Thank you EU!