80% of the refugees in the Ethiopian camps are under 18 years of age. They are boys and girls, the majority Somalis, which have been surviving the famine and drought for months in the mist of very deficient conditions. We, in Entreculturas, together with the Jesuit Refugee Service, are doing everything possible to give them all access to education within this context of emergency: because being at school means being protected, eat twice daily, have a routine and especially, have a future. Read+

The year 2010 marked 30 years of JRS. It has been a time to look at the present with the perspective of the vision of the beginning. Pedro Arrupe SJ (Jesuit Superior General, 1965-1983) founded JRS in response to the crisis of the boat people of Vietnam and Cambodia. In his foundational letter, dated 14 November 1980, Fr Arrupe wrote: The help needed is not only material: in a special way the Society [of Jesus] is being called to render a service that is human, pedagogical and spiritual. It is a difficult and complex challenge; the needs are dramatically urgent. These words have profoundly shaped the development of JRS and its response to many refugee crises, starting from Asia Pacific, Latin America and Africa, to the Middle East and Central Asia in more recent times. Download [4.85 Mb]