Jesuits Sample layout 2020

Celebrating kindness in every little way

JCAM 2020 Celebrating kindness

Contents Introduction

Vatican’s Africa COVID-19 commission

From the president

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JENA’s work in 2020 and beyond

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JCAM at 50: 1970-2020

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Proliferation of small arms and light weapons, post-pandemic

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Collaborating for greater debt relief in Africa

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A beacon of hope Being one another’s keeper

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Youth-led food drive in Mathare slums

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Changing education imperative A different way of doing university

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Digital learning in a time of crisis

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A brave new world? Maybe not!

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No place to turn Child protection and social services hit by COVID-19

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One year on …

Formation in a new skin!

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Remembering Fr. Adolfo Nicolás, SJ

Beyond disruption How we coped and served

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“Corona deacon”

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Beyond emergency support Painful wound fought with love and compassion 18 When a new virus meets an older one: an unnerving reality

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Study of COVID-19: knowledge, attitudes and practices

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“It is about time, and we might be even a little late”

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We have witnessed miracles Thank you!

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Our people

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FROM THE PRESIDENT Dear Friends, Benefactors and all Companions in Mission, Let me begin by thanking all of you, wherever you are in the world, for what you do to advance the mission of the Society of Jesus in Africa. We can never be grateful enough, one to the other, and together to the Lord for the graces which are received and shared.

And not for many years has that need to be grateful been so acute as it is now.

2020 has been a year like no other in my lifetime – a year of enormous challenge to change, for some a challenge to survive. It is our strongest belief as followers of Jesus that we are never forgotten by the Lord; only loved. And the need for that hope and trust in a God of love and mercy has been brought more and more to the fore through this year in so many ways.

Rev. Fr. Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator, SJ - President

JCAM continued its operations throughout the entire year, sometimes working remotely but for the greater part present to one another here in the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. Like everyone else we have had to learn to do things differently; we have had to refocus the work of AJAN and JENA and our formation centres more directly to the service of those affected by a pandemic and at the same time to have confidence in assisting with plans for building-back to a new beginning after the hardest of days are behind us.

As ever, we are supported by women and men with generous and caring hearts; we are supported too by our brother Jesuits around the world. To all of you I say thank you. I hope you see in these pages something of our hard work and the fruits of your generosity.

Thank you! Asanteni!

Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator, SJ President of JCAM

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JCAM 2020 Celebrating kindness

JCAM at 50: 1970-2020

It was in 1970 at a meeting in Lusaka, Zambia, that the Major Superiors of the French-speaking and English-speaking Regions and Provinces of Africa and Madagascar met together for the first time; (Mozambique would join the meetings later!). But that meeting in 1970 marks the beginning of what we know today as the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar or JCAM. Like any other corporate group this one underwent a number of name changes along the way but the central purpose across fifty years has remained the same: to advance the mission of the Society of Jesus in Africa and Madagascar.

The very idea of a Jesuit Conference is a relatively new one in the life of the Society of Jesus. However, there are now six Conferences around the world, each with its own President and administration.

Each one of the six seeks to develop cooperation between the member Regions and Provinces (and in JCAM we are presently 9 such entities; soon to be 7 with the creation of the Southern Africa Province.) Conferences provide a focus for the exchange of good practice at every level of apostolic work, for mutual support among the members and for liaison and communication with the General Curia in Rome.

In JCAM the largest effort currently is given to the formation of Jesuits in studies and there are five centres in the Conference where that takes place, three of these (Abidjan, Harare and Nairobi) are directly under the President of the Conference. JCAM also supports the works of the Jesuit Historical Institute in Africa; the African Jesuit Aids Network; the Justice and Ecology Network of Africa; the promotion of a consistent culture of protection and safeguarding of children through the office of the JCAM Safeguarding Co-ordinator; and since 2019 there is a Conference-sponsored tertianship programme based in South Africa.

And so, Happy Golden Jubilee, JCAM. Those who have gone before us have much to be thanked for; may those who come after be worthy of their example and continue in the building up of the Kingdom of God for the service of all.

Happy Golden Jubilee!

JCAM 2020 Celebrating kindness

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WE HAVE WITNESSED MIRACLES

We have experienced kindness in all shapes and forms especially in this year of pandemic from the most unexpected people and in the most unexpected ways.

It is not because there was plenty, but rather because ubuntu is always enough that we have flourished through this time of challenge.

Ubuntu – n. Zulu; I am because we are

JCAM COVID-19 RESPONSE

A beacon of hope

Being one another’s keeper Anastasia Makunu - JCAM, Communications Officer

The Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar (JCAM) made an unprecedented move and commitment to work together with partners to accelerate social support for the urban poor in Africa on the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic which has continued to displace many economically, with those who live under a dollar mostly being affected.

Aware of how effective social protection systems for the poor to ensure that they have access to basic life necessities such as water, housing and food are crucial when a crisis like COVID-19 hits and concerned that in many countries in Africa, such systems remain limited in coverage and would need significant upgrading to respond to a pandemic like COVID-19, JCAM launched an emergency relief response.

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Reaching out to the poor is an important preferential option for the Society of Jesus in Africa as the effects of COVID-19 have been more severe on the poor, affecting families with low income, poor housing, and limited access to basic needs.

In a letter Fr. Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, SJ, President of the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar (JCAM), said that, Jesuits together with their collaborators across Africa are reaching out to the vulnerable in response to the Christian call upon them to be compassionate, feed the hungry and provide shelter to the homeless and clothe the poor irrespective of their race, religion or culture. "The inspiration behind the interventions of Jesuits in Africa is the prioritization of the most urgent and life-saving

provision necessary to help governments and other men and women of goodwill to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on the poor and vulnerable," said Fr. Orobator. However, he noted that while Jesuits care about feeding the hungry, they also are concerned about the structural injustice and disparities that lead to poverty and hunger. “We do not end at giving bread to the hungry, we care about why the hungry are hungry," he said.

In response to the prevailing needs by thousands of people these efforts were coordinated by the Jesuits Justice and Ecology Network (JENA) and the African Jesuits Aids Network (AJAN) embracing the call of Christ of “When I was hungry, you fed me” by implementing a feeding and support program that targeted 24, 264 families in urban and peri-urban locations impacted by the pandemic across at least 25 countries.

This initiative prioritized the elderly, children, single-headed households, refugees and migrants and people living with chronic medical conditions who are the most vulnerable to the impacts of COVID-19.

This emergency relief response initiative was aimed at delivering immediate, life-saving assistance to those in urgent need in line with local priorities and needs. To embody solidarity and collaboration with the social ministries the JCAM Secretariat staff also joined in by contributing financially to the programme, getting involved physically through packaging, and distribution of the necessities at St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School-Kibera and at the Upendo Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Education Programme Centre-Kangemi, in Nairobi, Kenya.

Joyce Githae (right), the JCAM accountant, participating in distributing packages to student (s) at St. Aloysius JCAM 2020 Celebrating kindness

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JCAM COVID-19 RESPONSE

A beacon of hope

Youth-led Food Drive in Mathare slums Fr. Charles Chilufya, SJ - JENA, Director

A COVID-19 fist bump: a virus will never overcome human kindness.

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coronavirus cases. Informal settlements in Nairobi are characterized by congestion and poor infrastructure. Families in poor neighborhoods like Mathare lack proper drainage and sewer systems, fresh piped water as well as the standard, 3 meals a day. These conditions persisted before COVID 19 and have further been exacerbated.

Youth group walking to various houses within the Mathare and Korogocho informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya to deliver donated COVID-19 items

Footprints for Change partnered with 4 other youth serving organisations to feed 100 families on a weekly basis. Together these young people mobilised resources to feed 350 families in Mathare, an informal settlement in Nairobi, kenya. The youth in Mathare also came up with a door-to-door system and a voucher system to safely distribute food to the most vulnerable in other informal settlements while observing the government measures to avoid spreading the virus. Carine and other young people in Mathare and Korogocho slums provided flour, cooking oil, beans, and sugar as a weekly food package to the neediest in the informal settlements.

Carine Umutoniwase is a team leader of Footprints for Change and a Youth Champion in the Jesuit Justice Ecology Network (JENA) led LEAD+ Magis Youth Network. In response to the emerging effects of COVID-19 she reached out to other young people in various youth groups and community networks, to join her in responding to the coronavirus pandemic in Nairobi, Kenya’s informal settlements.

Carine met with the young people on a weekly basis and with community health workers to map out families in need for their weekly food drive. The first COVID-19 case in Kenya was reported on March 12, 2020 and as of the statistics presented in a Press Release dated December 29, 2020, by the Ministry of Health in Kenya, there have been 96,139 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 1,665 fatalities.

The restrictions and measures taken by the government have continued to adversely affect the communities living in informal settlements in Kenya. This is more keenly felt in Nairobi County, the nation’s capital, which has most of the

Lead+Magis Youth Network team members getting ready to distribute food, masks, and sanitary items to families in Mathare informal settlement

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LIFE IN FORMATION ; Beyond Disruption

Changing education imperative

A different way of doing University Fr. Kizito Kiyimba, SJ - Former vice chancellor, AJU

Just two years into our existence as a university, we at Arrupe Jesuit University (AJU) are grappling with the global pandemic of COVID-19 like the rest of the world. Prior to the pandemic, our journey had involved setting up systems, developing programmes, registering new students, and hiring new staff. This was based on our ambitious strategic plan with a strong internet backbone to make AJU compliant with the latest global demands and trends in place. In this line, we introduced Google suite. We trained members of staff and students to do a lot of the academic work online including PowerPoint presentations, the storage and sharing of pedagogical materials, group discussions, and the publication of results both for continuous and final evaluation. We had engaged a highly motivated marketing company to boost our online image and our student numbers and were in the process of engaging one of the big international hi-tech companies to arrive at a mode of relationship that would be mutually beneficial. So, basically, we can say, we at AJU are comparatively highly tech-savvy.

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With three weeks left on our calendar to examinations, Zimbabwe went into lockdown. We interpreted “lockdown” as “migration” to a different way of doing university. We held ourselves to strict COVID-19 policies both as a university and as a Jesuit community. After an additional week during which staff and students underwent intensive training to take and give classes online, we bounced back and rolled to the end of the semester with minimal problems.

All our exams were on schedule, most of them online.

June 12, 2020 saw the first ever online graduation in Zimbabwe at AJU – an event that we all duly celebrated at AJU. We have since lost no momentum. We have gone on to have the first ever online opening assembly, for the academic year 2020-2021 on schedule. We have held (free and fair) online student association elections. And recently, we have held an online mid-semester academic assembly.

We face two main but not unexpected problems. First, not all our students have access to fast and stable internet.

Secondly, the pandemic has affected incomes and so even though we have received so many inquiries and searches on our website, the numbers of students are rising only gradually due to difficulties in paying fees. Yet the opportunities are more than the challenges. We have spent much less on overheads. Online teaching has opened new and creative ways of delivering education, including ready-made videos and interactive presentations. We have a wider pool of teachers for our students from around the world.

As a Jesuit conference of Africa and Madagascar institution, we are working on an online platform to share academic and administrative resources as a continent. New modes of examinations online are better tests for methods and innovations, beyond mere memorisation.

Sports day at AJU As I move on to a new mission in Eastern Africa, I can reveal that my greatest motivation in the service of AJU has been that Africa is ripe for tertiary education given the young population, the well-trained teachers and the increasing social and economic burden of overseas university training.

That is to say nothing about my passion for teaching.

My word of advice to the University is at the same time what I think is my legacy: “we must continue to believe in ourselves and constantly improve our ability to work together as teams”.

Fr. Kizito Kiyimba, SJ, is now currently serving as the new Provincial for the Jesuit Eastern Africa Province (AOR).

Student at AJU during graduation

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LIFE IN FORMATION ; Beyond Disruption

Changing education imperative

Digital learning in a time of crisis Thomas Djabaku, SJ - Scholastic, AJU

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It is December 2020, almost ten months since traditional in-class learning has been suspended in most learning institutions worldwide because of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Just like many other institutions, Arrupe Jesuit University (AJU) swiftly switched to learning fully online. This quick adjustment was possible because of the wonderful structures we had already in place, and the university management's IT inclined nature. As a final year student, I had no problem switching to online learning since I spent my last semester at AJU, mainly researching and writing my dissertation. Thus, I only had two courses that needed to be concluded online.

My general online learning experience is a positive one; I had more time on my hand when classes were moved online.

Teachers taught at their own time and made available video recordings of their lectures on the online platform. As a result, I could access the courses whenever it was convenient for me. I had control over when and at what pace I accessed the learning materials. With this control, I could freely work all night when things are quiet, rest in the morning, and access the recorded lectures later in the afternoon.

classroom setup has a communal dimension that is often lacking in online learning. While one could easily form a community of learners by using video conferencing applications such as Zoom, Google Meet, among many others, it remains vital that instructors must endeavour to create a real community for learning. This community of learning should foster cognitive, social, and teaching presence. It can be challenging to focus for long periods if one is not in the same physical space as the instructor.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that online learning will remain part of our reality; thus, both students and learning institutions must seek new online learning opportunities. One creative way of profiting from online learning is collaboration. Arrupe Jesuit University could mount courses that could be taken by students at Loyola University in Congo and Hekima University College.

Professors could also teach in any of the institutions within the conference using the online platform.

With classes moved online, it became clear that traditional in-class learning misses on today's varied resources. Once we switched to learning online, teachers realized that they could use so many different media formats. Some teachers started using podcasts and videos to illustrate specific topics. Also, we could collaborate in real-time with colleagues without necessarily meeting physically.

Although learning online was excellent and more flexible than traditional in-class learning, I believe that the conventional

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LIFE IN FORMATION ; Beyond Disruption

Changing education imperative

A brave New World?

Maybe Not! Fr. Peter Knox, SJ - Dean, HUC

The lockdown instituted by the Kenyan government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed how much we appreciate education in the traditional face-to-face mode with personal interaction among students themselves and between students and their teacher. A digital interface, no matter how sophisticated, is no substitute for contact education. The students miss the “gathering” and the formative dimension of interaction with their peers and educators. Students and lecturers are more than two-dimensional postage-stamp sized collections of pixels.

Studying full-time courses and degree programmes online does not measure up to the hyped theory. It is little wonder

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that 80% of people who register for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) around the globe never end up completing them.

At the beginning of the pandemic, Hekima University College (HUC) introduced online teaching via Zoom ® without missing a single class, and without changing the established weekly timetable. (We were already in week 10 of a 17-week semester.) By Monday of week 11, teachers continued the delivery of material uninterrupted. Everybody was on a steep learning curve.

Many had never encountered video-conferencing before – let alone taught or learnt with it.

With six or seven students per class, Hekima Institute of Peace Studies and International Relations (HIPSIR) managed the transition more easily than the Jesuit School of Theology (JST).

Things went relatively smoothly during the first week, with our ICT department working overtime behind the scenes to keep the right people logged in at the right time, until the students and teachers developed the skill to do this themselves. By the end of week 11 one member of staff enthused: “We have seen the future, and it works.” He was so relieved that classes had been able to continue as planned, and that we were on course to finish the semester as planned.

We held end-of-semester exams, including written and oral comprehensive exams for the finalist students in theology.

Because they had unreliable internet connections elsewhere, the external examiners came to Hekima from our “mother” Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Each was assigned a venue from which to conduct the oral examinations by Zoom. Ultimately the college’s external examiner gave our whole exam process a clean bill of health.

Our major challenge has been to access sufficient relevant electronic library materials. Our sister schools of theology around Nairobi did not fare as well. At the start of the lockdown, the larger Tangaza University College took the decision to close down completely and to send the students home. At the time they did not have the capacity to ensure that the students would have access to the teachers. When they began the new academic year in August 2020, the students began with examinations from the previous semester.

Since 2017, in the Global Theology Initiative, Jesuit schools of theology had started exploring the possibility of collaborating on course teaching and sharing lecturers around the world. Hekima has offered electives in peace-building to our students and those at Jesuit School of Theology (JST), Santa Clara, and a Jesuit from Loyola School of Theology (LST) Manila has offered an elective in Scripture to Hekima students. But the student uptake in both cases was too small to warrant the amount of effort the online teaching would have required.

With its excellent internet bandwidth and relative internet stability, Hekima has been used as a residence for ten African Jesuit students who are missioned to graduate studies in the USA, and who are still unable to get there.

First-year Bachelor of Theology students have been following their classes from around Africa, Sri Lanka and England, but they are looking forward to the time they can come together in Nairobi.

AJU Students already familiar with E-learning

HIPSIR has a partnership with Jesuit Worldwide Learning (JWL), and is grading written work submitted by JWL students from centres around the global South. HIPSIR will design some new programmes in peace leadership to teach to JWL students.

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LIFE IN FORMATION ; Beyond Disruption

Beyond disruption

How we coped and served Jude Forbi, SJ - Scholastic, ITCJ

The COVID-19 pandemic has been one with no precedent.

Unfolding in the fast-paced globalized and mobile world, the frightening outbreak brought about so many uncertainties, disruption of routines but also at the same time challenges and opportunities for growth. It is our first time to experience while actively contemplating the entire world’s suffering, battling at the same time to beat the pandemic.

Angré is the neighbourhood where the Jesuit Institute of Theology (ITCJ) is located in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Even if it is far afield from the heart of the city, prior to the COVID 19 pandemic, Angré was characterised by; noise pollution coming from nearby “Églises de réveil” (Pentecostal churches) as well as from local taverns.

When government-imposed curfew took effect late March 2020, Angré, just as many other parts of the world, experienced a new ambiance of stillness.

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The rector of the Jesuit community at ITCJ engaged the community in discerning on how to respond, in our own way, to the global pandemic in line with ecclesiastical and state measures put into place. We strove to re-imagine how to be a community and how to be brothers in the middle of the outbreak. Adjusting was gradual. Social distancing, resultant from the pandemic, saw us reshape our community life and organization. Sitting positions were adjusted in the chapel, refectory, and respective residences (équipes de vie).

Sanitary measures and precautions were followed to the latter by all. Hand sanitizers were placed in all the alleys on campus. Protective masks were provided for all. Regular apostolic activities as well as visits in and out of campus were suspended. It was a sign that we cared for each other – keeping ourselves safe while protecting others. After prolonged discernment, the diaconate ordination took place behind closed doors and was live streamed on Facebook for the viewing of companions, families, and friends.

At the level of the institute, in-class lectures were suspended. The major challenge was to explore relevant avenues to save the academic semester that was already on course. Digital technology came in handy as the institute quickly decided to tune to online classes via Zoom, Teleconferences/webcast, and Google Classroom. The faculty members and students determinedly transcended the difficulty switching to online classes. Teaching through screens and the involvement of all was beyond satisfactory. ITCJ is progressively capitalizing on this experience to enrich the pedagogical process of learning.

Generally, at the end of the academic year, first year students moving into second year would normally go on a language immersion while those in the second year moving into the third year would go in for the Arrupe Month. But this time it was different. Unable to travel within and even out of the country, this important part of formation was done on Campus. The scholastics for Arrupe month gathered in Favre residence for the experience while the rest of those for language immersion discerned with the rector different ways forward to make the most of the COVID-19 lockdown.

Given that we were all confined on campus, our different activities were punctuated by moderate-intensity sports that helped us stay healthy.

Guided by faith that God can also be sought in the middle of this pandemic and by charity that compels to act, some members of the community engaged in online spiritual and psychological assistance.

As a matter of fact, ITCJ, through its Center for Professional Counseling and Clinical Pastoral Care (COPAC) trained about 100 pastoral workers on psycho-pastoral intervention in times of crisis as well as carried out radio broadcasts. COPAC also collaborated with Bouaké psychiatric hospital to open a listening and telephone assistance center as a way to reach out to those who felt the need to find appropriate responses to their emotional suffering and the threats that the corona virus caused on them.

As a community and academic institution, ITCJ has successfully resumed activities for the 2020/2021 academic year and we are gradually getting back to our usual academic, apostolic and community routines. We remain ever grateful to the Almighty God who continues to gift us with creativity and imagination throughout this distressing pandemic.

Jesuit communities safely resuming Eucharist celebrations

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LIFE IN FORMATION ; Beyond Disruption

Beyond disruption

“Corona Deacon” Eziokwubundu Amadi, SJ - Scholastic, ITCJ

It was raining. It was night and moonless. It was also the last rehearsal before the Mass of ordination where thirteen others and I would be ordained to the diaconate. I did not care about the June, fitful Abidjan rain. I did not care, too, that it was night. But I wasn’t indifferent to the ordination rehearsal, partly because ordination is a once-in-a-lifetime event and no small commitment, and partly because I wanted to see how we would observe the COVID-19 health prevention guidelines without losing the charm of a Jesuit ordination Mass — the kind I’m used to.

By the end of the rehearsal, it was clear that we were required to wear face masks, gloves and observe physical distancing during Mass. ‘Ayiii!’ I exclaimed quietly, in a typical Ivorian way. Wearing a mask and keeping physical distance are not bad ideas. But glove? Wearing an alb, a stole, a mask, and a glove in one costume would defile the sanctity of fashion and aesthetics, I assured myself. The thought of looking like a doctor in a surgical room during the ordination was not appealing. And, as if to add ‘salt in the wound’, my Jesuit brothers nicknamed the ordinandi ‘corona deacons’; an apt mockery, one which, looking back now, is instructive to me in three ways.

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First, the idea of practical wisdom is apt for the ways I’m being a ‘corona deacon’. Wearing a mask and gloves and observing other COVID-19 prevention guidelines is a practical response to the exigencies of the pandemic. It is a way of recognising times are different, and that I position myself in time according to Time’s circumstances. Chinua Achebe’s proverb about Eneke in Things Fall Apart, is also fitting here: ‘Eneke the bird says that since men have learned to shoot without missing, he has learned to fly without perching’.

Perching is a vital part of a bird’s daily life. Avoiding perching while flying is Eneke’s response to a new time. Similarly, allowing myself to be guided by practical wisdom, in and outside liturgical space, is how I’m flying (and helping others to fly) without perching — to avoid the fatal ‘bullets’ of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Second, discharging my duties as a deacon at this time of COVID is, by all standards, a two-dimensional act of pro-life — physical and spiritual life. Doing the necessary to keep myself and the other safe and the other doing same for himself or herself and for me, is a show of mutual love and respect for the human life. By ministering to God’s people despite the pandemic, I am also being pro-spiritual life. Health and love are communitarian principles. They are what we owe one another, something which Pope Francis emphasizes through his idea of fraternity in his recent encyclical, Fratelli Tutti. Fraternity is a condition for the kind of life God intended for humanity.

Third, that I was ordained during the pandemic and that, as a result, I’m discharging my duty as a deacon at this trying time, seems to assure me of the Church’s resolve to continuing God’s mission on earth. It is the Church’s act of pro-mission. While the divine wheel must continue to spin, even in tough times, so must God’s ministers not be found missing at their duty post.

I still feel twitchy whenever I am called ‘corona deacon’ — and wish no one calls me by that name. Yet a part of me welcomes it as a metaphor for flexibility, adaptability, for love. Being a ‘corona deacon’ is also a metaphor for holy boldness and sacrifice. If, as John Connolly says, a man is known by his metaphor, then you know how I am being a ‘corona deacon’.

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Strengthening HIV/AIDS response

Beyond Emergency Support

painful wound fought with love and compassion Fr. Ismael Matambura, SJ - Director, AJAN

Africa is the largest HIV and AIDS basin in the world. Existing data for 2019 shows that 59 percent of new HIV infections globally were registered on the continent. Particularly in the south-eastern quadrant, but also in the sub-Saharan area, mainly the Central and western part, where the risk is greater due to reduced access to treatment. According to UNAIDS statistics for 2020, five out of six infected people living in these areas are between the ages of 15 and 19. As we celebrate the 32nd world AIDS Day on December 1st, 2020, this data reminds us how painful this pandemic is. The young generation is at risk! The situation in Africa is still terribly heart-breaking, although important progress has been made in the medical and scientific fields in terms of testing and treatment.

AJAN is a Jesuit network made up of 21 centres across Africa, where there are volunteers and peer educators who receive specific training.

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Among the operators there are also medical doctors, lawyers, teachers, psychiatrists, consultants, economists, priests, nuns, and social workers. This network makes use of the collaboration of medical laboratories, educational and research institutions, and parishes or chaplaincy. From our estimates, AJAN services benefit directly and indirectly about 5-10 million people in the continent of Africa.

Today, living with HIV on the continent is still difficult.

Through the stories of the patients who visit our centres, the intrinsic link between HIV and poverty can be clearly seen. In the last twenty years the quality of life for people living with HIV (PLHIV) has tremendously improved. It is now easier to access treatment and there are more public and private facilities. This has indeed extended life expectancy and brought more hope.

In addition, some PLHIV are involved in scientific research, run businesses and companies with which they can compete in the free market. Despite these strides, those who are assisted by Jesuits in Africa and Madagascar usually live with parents, family members or relatives. They are conscientized on their role and the importance of their care to life of their HIV positive relative.

There are many challenges in the fight against HIV. Social stigma and discrimination are still present. Some people who discover they have HIV are moved away from home or simply isolated. This socially kills them; it makes them feel less human and quickly branded. In big cities, however, there is more information access and less discrimination: many know that it will not be the virus that kills them, but the way they live with it. Most governments also unfortunately, depend on external (non-governmental) aid or funding to fight HIV which shows a lack of urgency, and commitment in ending this pandemic. It also limits the sustainable response.

The other challenge this year is that AIDS is not a priority due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and even before its outbreak. Though the 2020 funding for HIV/AIDS was affected, to AJAN this has not stopped the people of goodwill in delivering services through the various social centres. The Jesuits have extended their mission to respond to the new challenges posed by the coronavirus which, because of restrictions, has made it difficult for PLHIV to find medicine and access facilities.

An awareness training session on HIV/AIDS at Centre Culturel Loyola (CCL) & Centre Espérance Loyola, Togo

E-headline in the Vatican newspaper: the author shares this article in L'Osservatore Romano Anguish and suffering of people living with HIV was also accentuated by rising prices and job difficulties.

According to UNAIDS data, 38 million people around the world were affected by HIV last year.

Compared to twenty years ago, the number of deaths and new infections has halved and the funds to fight AIDS are decreasing year by year.

However, money is an ambiguous indicator. The most affected States are also among the richest on the continent: in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Kenya, about 6.7 percent of the adult population lives with HIV due to various factors including the presence of a dense transport network. What Africa needs to respond efficiently is unconditional love, compassion, constant commitment, and a faithful promise inspired by Christian and traditional values. Our lord Jesus reminds us that whatever we do for one of the least of his brothers and sisters we do it for him.

(Mt: 25,40).

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Strengthening HIV/AIDS response

Beyond Emergency Support

When a new virus meets an older one: An unnerving reality Caleb Mwamisi - AJAN, Communication and Research Officer

Key agencies had warned as early as December of 2019 that the COVID19 would, if not quickly checked, kill many and complicate normal ways of life for all continents. Africa, it was predicted, would be brutally impacted as many of her people lack access to economic, health and other critical structures and facilities. In February of 2020, the first case in Africa was detected in Egypt.

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On the one hand, a tremendous amount of information about the disease was available quickly, but on the other, the information was accompanied by ignorance and even experts had difficulty to predict the detailed outcomes.

Reliance on social media negatively impacted the ability of people in Africa to obtain proper information.

However, in good time the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centres for Disease Control (CDC), UNAIDS and others laid out response guidelines, and government agencies in Africa were able to define protocols, calming people’s fear and injecting hope.

Guided brainstorming sessions with centres after emergence of pandemic.

In many ways, the AJAN network was ambushed by the pandemic in that it found itself without a budget to address the added complexity of two viruses at work. A virtual engagement between directors of the social centres and the AJAN secretariat unearthed several challenges, for instance the lack of resources to cater for the needs of those whose livelihoods were affected. The centres detailed their efforts to adapt to the new normal in protecting their staff and client groups at their establishments and parishes. Food shortages and a lack of medicine were already challenging in many regions where Jesuit assistance centres normally work. In South Sudan where the rainy season had commenced, food could not be obtained from Uganda as roads were impassable and Fr. Augostine Ekeno, SJ, the Director of the Multi-educational and Agricultural Jesuit Institute of South Sudan had distributed the last morsel from the reserves.

Muntita Mapulanga, a teacher at St. Ignatius College in Lusaka Zambia, feared a possible increase in mental health problems in communities following suspension of learning at institutions and economic problems due to a loss of jobs and livelihoods. Fr. Terry Charlton, SJ, the founder of St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School in Nairobi, appealed for any assistance revealing that an established feeding programme for their students was extending into the no-school period because student families were starving.

In Centre Social Arrupe Madagascar, the Assistant Director, Masy Alinoro, mentioned that sensitising of communities was in place to avert the danger posed by a reliance on the unproven organic drink CVO (COVID Organics), which she said had caused many to become disbelieving towards the disease. Ultimately, two common interventions were agreed upon in the centres’ engagement and the secretariat planned a training activity online and a survey on the effects of COVID-19 on people infected or affected by HIV and AIDS.

Online sensitisation campaign AJAN embarked on a campaign to sensitise people, especially those who are HIV-positive, because people with underlying illnesses are more at-risk of COVID-19. We created posters carrying messages about preventive measures against coronavirus based on protocols prepared by the World Health Organization and the Centres for Disease Control. The information was shared to our publics through social media platforms and our own website.

Community empowerment during COVID-19 and beyond- training In July, the AJAN secretariat tapped into the experience and expertise of two social work experts to help enhance capacity and knowledge in dealing with COVID-19. The “Community empowerment during COVID-19 and beyond” training focused on the need for a good understanding of knowledge, attitudes and practices in project implementation and benefitted members of the network with six two-hour sessions. It sought to enable members to see ‘small way’ opportunities which could sustain their work during COVID-19 period and beyond.

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The training covered various other aspects such as the need to see potential in people, the need for proper understanding of training methodology such as active participation of others, enabling the community to own discussions by using strategy, indicators of community sustainable development, and giving and receiving feedback.

Walk with a Vulnerable Family Towards the end of April, the President of the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar mobilised two social ministries, the Jesuit Justice and Ecology Network Africa (JENA) and AJAN, in brainstorming sessions that led to a collaboration on reaching vulnerable people during the COVID-19 period. A project dubbed Walk with a Vulnerable Family was created, and arrangements to procure foodstuffs, soap, masks, and sanitary pads were put together as the two social ministries worked with other Jesuit centres and distribution commenced.

Preparing foodstuffs for distribution to different families The process included an online campaign to appeal for further assistance for those in need. AJAN worked with St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School, and St. Joseph the worker Parish, both in Nairobi Kenya to provide the items to students and women, respectively.

Story of Evelyn Nyakoa illustrates further suffering of People Living with HIV On the 22nd of May, following an early morning exercise to distribute foodstuffs to a group of women at St. Joseph the Worker parish at Kangemi, Nairobi, a team from AJAN spent the rest of the day with Evelyn Nyakoa a beneficiary of walk with a vulnerable family.

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AHAPPY Mobile Application To keep the AJAN HIV and AIDS Prevention Programme for the Youth (AHAPPY) thriving, the communication desk developed a mobile application based on the AHAPPY manual which is the curriculum for AHAPPY. It is currently being rolled out for the benefit of young people of ages 10-24. It comprises informative content, quizzes, and the issuance of online certificates at completion of courses.

Another effort will involve the creation of short videos in a classroom setting where a trainer uses the AHAPPY manual as basis to impart values and knowledge about HIV and AIDS and COVID-19 to African youth who cannot be physically reached.

Evelyn Nyakoa at Kangemi, in Nairobi Living with HIV and bravely taking on the challenges of raising a family, she demonstrated the reality of lack of food and medicine before the pandemic hit, and the deepening of misery subsequently. Casual jobs such as door to door laundry jobs and the vending of wares had been nipped in the bud by the instigation of lockdowns and movement restrictions in Kenya.

People in the slums are experiencing far-reaching repercussions of the economic turmoil with rising cost of living and unbridled inflation. Evelyn helps the parish reach out to other widows and in turn helps the community to access and utilize benefits of the project.

She works under a program called Uzima which aims to provide comprehensive health services to people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) in Kangemi. The need for a balanced diet consistently to sustain and enhance immunity is only a pipe dream for PLHIV within the difficult economic situation created by the coronavirus pandemic.

The AHAPPY Mobile Application

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Strengthening HIV/AIDS response

Beyond Emergency Support

STUDY OF COVID-19: KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES Pascalia Sergon - AJAN, Capacity Building Officer

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus in China at the end of December 2019 and the subsequent spread to the rest of the world posed a formidable public health challenge to the African continent.

But what does it spell for people with underlying conditions, particularly those living with HIV & AIDS (PLHIV)? The intersection of COVID-19 with the ongoing global HIV pandemic, coupled with the interplay between household economic melt-down and weakened social support due to current restrictions, birthed substantial effects on health outcomes for PLHIV in sub-Saharan Africa. World Health Organization (2020) for instance warns that in sub-Saharan Africa, an estimated 25.7 million people were living with HIV and 16.4 million (64%) under anti-retroviral treatment (ART) by 2018 and now are at risk of missing on treatment because HIV services are closed or inaccessible due to disruptions to the supply chain or services simply become overwhelmed due to competing needs to support the COVID-19 response.

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AJAN centers are directly in contact with vulnerable members of communities, most of whom are in the eye of the storm, weathering all kinds of challenges emerging from the pandemic. Each Centre swung to action to cushion their beneficiaries through the provision of food, supporting livelihood, provisions of medical care, psychosocial and spiritual support, among others. Besides the emergency support, it became evident that there is a need for a more concrete approach and coordinated responses that are practical, responsive to community needs and sustainable.

A meeting involving a number of AJAN field directors held soon after the advent of COVID-19 underscored the urgency for a study that “demonstrates the dynamics of the progress of the COVID-19 as experienced by the people themselves.”

The reason provided for the study was “this will help in designing programs and advocating for solutions specific to our reality as well enhance our response in the fight against

HIV & AIDS given the new strains imposed by COVID-19.”

As the hub of the HIV response Jesuit Network in Africa, AJAN secretariat in Nairobi undertook the responsibility of rolling out the study titled ‘The Knowledge Attitude and Practices (KAP) on COVID-19’. The research seeks to understand the Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of communities towards COVID-19 and how communities address challenges associated with existing interventions.

Besides the study assessing the attitudes and beliefs towards COVID-19, it is also expected to point out socio-cultural barriers to curbing the spread of COVID-19 and identify other local knowledge and responses that might be more helpful and appropriate than the imported solutions and measures. The understanding of KAP is important in modeling behavior change communication and ultimately effective management of the COVID-19 pandemic through the development of relevant programs across the network and, hopefully, provide an essential knowledge base for timely prevention of future pandemics. Effectively, for AJAN, the raison d'être for the study is to generate knowledge to inform appropriate actions for management of COVID-19 for better containment of HIV & AIDS at the level of the communities.

The study was to take in the perspectives of at least six countries from both English and French-speaking regions in Sub-Saharan Africa. It was only possible to do the research in phases. Kenya and Madagascar were the first two to undertake research and all data collection is completed. The findings of the study are expected to be communicated to all stakeholders in due course.

While the need for the study budded from communities’ experiences, communicated through the AJAN centres, it is hinged to the upholding of our apostolic commitment on the face of COVID-19; as inspired by the Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAPs) “walk with the poor, the outcasts of the world, those whose dignity has been violated,” by HIV & AIDS and COVID-19. The AJAN finds provisions of short-term safety nets insufficient to protect the “individuals and communities that are vulnerable, excluded, marginalized, and humanly impoverished” (UAPs, 2019). Herein is the risk of creating dependency in the communities and letting down guards against HIV & AIDS epidemic. So, the need for an evidence-based approach to the development of programs that empower communities to respond to public-health related issues now and in the future.

A glimmer of hope: Young people in Madagascar during resumed Mass celebrations.

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PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE

Vatican’s Africa COVID-19 Commission

JENA’s Work in 2020 and Beyond Fr. Charles Chilufya, SJ - JENA, Director

Like all other organisations and institutions, the Jesuit Justice and Ecology Network Africa (JENA) has had to reorient its plans for the year 2020 in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. JENA’s work in 2020 has mainly been its active collaboration with the Vatican’s COVID-19 Commission from its inception, providing insight into the situation in Africa and the unique difficulties the continent faces. In March 2020, Pope Francis directed the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development to establish a COVID-19 Commission to bring together the Church’s resources and begin reflecting on the needs of the post-pandemic world and how to address challenges that none of us expected at the beginning of the year.

In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, Pope Francis saw an opportunity for the creation of a healthier and more just post-COVID-19 world we want. In responding to the summons of Pope Francis, the Vatican COVID-19 commission

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insists that preparing the future is different from preparing for the future, which would imply the future is already determined and we must buy lifesavers because it’s going to be terrible. The commission insists that “preparing the future” means to acknowledge that things look grim, but it is worth looking for economic models that will help humanity out of the ongoing crisis — not by going back to a world of inequalities led by an economy that kills, but by creating a fairer world.

In supporting the work of “preparing the future,” JENA’s work has been focused and will continue to focus on engaging efforts to identify grave injustices suffered by African populations and to explore realistic ways of overcoming them. The central aim of the JENA’s work in 2020 was to mobilize a thorough understanding of how injustice survives toward designing and implementing a targeted reform program to ensure that it does not.

In supporting the work of “preparing the future”, JENA collaborated with the Yale University Global Justice Programme and Academics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP; www.academicsstand.org), a global network of poverty-focused academics who collaborate to deploy their expertise toward effective poverty reduction.

Global Health Justice One area of our focus, which is in fact a new focus area prompted by the outbreak of COVID-19 is global health. Our work in this regard is devoted to analyzing and mitigating the great health care deficits in Africa. Millions of Africans avoidably suffer and die prematurely each year because they cannot get the health care they urgently need. To help alleviate this injustice, we are focusing on three key problems faced in African countries: • African populations need minimally adequate universal health coverage that would guarantee health protection for a basic range of health challenges, from child birth and

childhood vaccinations to malaria and heart disease. Here we are exploring the optimal content of such a basic coverage, how to institute it most cost-effectively across the continent, and how to finance it, with international help, as part of achieving SDG #3.

• African populations are underserved by the pharmaceuticals industry which has insufficient incentives to address the (“neglected”) diseases of poverty, to market their patented medicines to poor populations, and to fight infectious diseases also at the population level.

— not by going back to a world of inequalities led by an economy that kills, but by creating a fairer world.

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In this regard, we are exploring the creation of novel R&D and marketing incentives that would reward pharmaceutical innovators on the basis of health gains achieved, thereby enabling such innovators to earn more from protecting the health of poor people than what the latter themselves can afford to pay. The challenge here is the optimal design of such rewards and their international funding, again in the context of SDG #3.

• African populations need appropriately trained doctors and nurses in sufficient numbers. This requires an expansion of educational institutions for medicine and public health as well as effective measures to reduce the “brain drain,” which is siphoning off so many newly trained health professionals into richer countries.

tax avoidance deprive(s) African states of badly needed revenues and also skew(s) the playing field against purely domestic firms who must compete with Multinational Corporations without enjoying the same advantages.

Profits are shifted through artificial and mispriced transactions between African subsidiaries of an MNC and other subsidiaries of the same MNC located in tax havens.

Another common method involves so-called tax expenditures, special tax exemptions or reductions that are justified as necessary inducements to attract foreign investment but often heavily lobbied for by their recipients or even bought through bribes and other favors to officials. A third method involves the provision of digital services which are difficult to track and tax. All these methods of tax avoidance deprive African states of badly needed revenues and also skew the playing field against purely domestic firms who must compete with MNCs without enjoying the same advantages.

Often the most damaging injustices occur when MNCs are involved in the exportation of natural resources and other raw materials such as coffee. African producers are vulnerable to being locked into unfavorable export agreements, and African states to being cheated on the taxes due on profits made by MNCs.

Tax Justice, Corruption and Natural Resource Governance Our work on this has been focused on addressing African countries’ economic interactions with the rest of the world, which are often badly skewed to their disadvantage. We are focusing on the analysis of a few central injustices and the exploration of paths for overcoming them. One key injustice is that multinational corporations (MNCs) typically pay little or no taxes on their activities in Africa. One of their favored methods of tax avoidance is profit shifting into tax havens.

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A flower vendor in Nairobi explains to the author how COVID-19 has affected her business

A woman in the Congo crosses a river by boat to access clean water.

Such unfair value extraction is often protected by corrupt arrangements where public officials accept private benefits in return for lop-sided contracts or tax arrangements. An additional problem is that importing countries strongly encourage the exportation of raw materials in their rawest form, so as to ensure that the value-adding processing happens in their own countries. One result of this is that, of the sales price of a cup of coffee in the North, say in Berlin, less than one cent goes to the country of origin, to the people who grew and harvested and shipped the coffee.

Climate and Environmental Justice We have continued to focus mainly on the challenge of mapping a development path for Africa that will sustain healthy, prosperous communities while avoiding the enormous ecological harms that development in Europe, North America and Asia has been imposing on the present and future generations.

Africa’s population is expected to more than triple between now and the year 2100, from 1341 to 4280 million, thereby accounting for almost the entire 3-billion global population gain the UN is projecting for the remainder of this century.

During the same period, per capita energy use in Africa will also increase dramatically – the electricity consumption of most sub-Saharan African countries today is below 5% of that of the United States or Europe. Africa will also experience enormous growth in transportation as well as in steel, cement and agricultural production. What combination of technologies will be used in this massive expansion is of the utmost importance for humanity in this and subsequent centuries, especially for populations in Africa, which are most vulnerable to rising temperatures, expanding disease vectors and food shortages. Our work has begun and will continue to tackle the great challenge of designing an ecologically sustainable pan-African growth strategy that fully exploits the potential synergies and comparative advantages across the continent.

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PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE

The Vatican’s Africa COVID-19 Commission

Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons, Post-Pandemic Fernando Saldivar, SJ - Global Policy and Advocacy, JENA

"Keep Your Finger off the Trigger!" A pastoralist in Suri, Kibish, Ethiopia Photo by: Rod Waddington, flickr

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Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) was one of the greatest threats to African peace and security. In 2017, the African Union adopted a Master Roadmap of Practical Steps to Silencing the Guns in Africa by 2020, which specifically recognized the illicit inflow, proliferation, and circulation of SALW as one of the fundamental challenges to African security, stability and socio-economic cohesion. Although the pandemic has hindered progress on the Silencing the Guns in 2020 initiative, armed groups have taken advantage of it to press their agendas. Their weapons of choice are SALW, the guns and ammunition of various sizes and calibres, that are ubiquitous across the continent.

Recognizing that the pandemic has destabilized many areas of the world, Pope Francis in March 2020 called for the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development to establish a COVID-19 Commission to provide theological and social reflection on what the world after the pandemic would look like. The Jesuit Justice and Ecology Network Africa (JENA) has been collaborating with the Vatican COVID-19 commission from the beginning, providing an African perspective on what the continent’s post-pandemic priorities.

In its analysis for the Vatican Commission, JENA has emphasized the role that small arms proliferation has had in increasing violence across Africa and the link between poverty and conflict. In a post-pandemic world that is poorer and sicker, regional stability will depend on actively reengaging the Silencing the Guns initiative and expanding its reach into new areas.

One of these areas is increasing the visibility of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which has been in force since December 2014 and is the first major international instrument to regulate authorized, conventional arms transfers. Whereas most other arms control treaties look at the illicit trade, the ATT increases transparency in the legal arms trade. This is a previously overlooked area which has the potential to strengthen future efforts at African regional security.

Pope Francis reminds us in Laudato Si’ that “everything is closely interrelated, and today’s problems call for a vision capable of taking into account every aspect of the global crisis.” Security issues are just as critical to our post-pandemic future as those of economics, climate, and development. JENA has been actively engaged in showing the Global Church the importance of small arms proliferation to African peace and security and they ways in which they can actively help.

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PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE

The Vatican’s Africa COVID-19 Commission

Collaborating for Greater Debt Relief in Africa Pascal Andebo - Tax Justice, JENA

This year, 2020, the Jesuit Justice and Ecology Network Africa (JENA), has sought to advocate on the long standing and ongoing debt crisis in Africa, which has gotten worse since the pandemic started. This also answers the call of Pope Francis, in March 2020, on the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development to establish a COVID-19 Commission to bring together the Church’s resources and begin reflecting on the needs of the post-pandemic world. JENA has thus actively collaborated with the Vatican’s COVID-19 Commission on this and other issues, providing an African perspective by analysing the current situation in proposing ideas for a new and better future.

When COVID-19 hit, many African governments were already straining to service their debt obligations. They thus faced the choice of paying their creditors or saving lives. The combined debts of the African countries in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic are estimated to be about US$ 583 billion, the result of continued borrowing by African countries from multiple lenders at high interest rates, as lenders consider lending to African countries as risky. Drops in prices of Africa’s commodities, weak macro-fiscal and debt management systems have exacerbated the situation. African countries are net importers of basic food, and also import around 90 percent of the health supplies. Many African countries are now forced to borrow more, some surpassing the 60 percent recommended debt-to-GDP threshold for borrowing, as the health systems are strained and a food crisis is looming. More concerning now is the growing debt African countries are accumulating from China and private lenders.

African countries owe China, their favoured creditor, and her banks about US$140 billion (20 percent of the total US$ 583 billion debts). Additionally, 32 percent of African government external debt is owed to private lenders, and 35 percent to multilateral institutions such as the World Bank. Africa’s debts are thus also a product of the international system based on global socioeconomic inequalities.

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Grand Renaissance Dam undergoing construction on the Nile river in Ethiopia [File: Tiksa Negeri/Reuters]

Worse still, procuring these public debts is not transparent, creating room for corruption, mismanagement and capital flight as some of the loans return to private accounts in the very banks that provided the loans. Natural resources in the indebted countries are being mortgaged and depleted to secure new loans or pay for what has been borrowed. Some of these debts are “illegitimate” or “illegal, as they do not benefit the citizens. Meanwhile, debt repayments continue to drain scarce public resources, cutting into funds for social services, thus increasing the vulnerabilities of the citizens. Debt servicing is also increasing the tax burden on citizens to raise revenue for debt repayment, when governments in Africa have difficulties in making all citizens pay.

Clearly, the earlier Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) initiative for debt relief for the poor countries did not help African countries.

Morally, all debts must be paid. However, distributive justice requires that the money borrowed must benefit the citizens. The problem of debt has contributed to increased levels of poverty and death, as it has affected the poor persons and countries more.

Multi-billion Chinese funded Nairobi-Mombasa rail line has added to taxpayers’ burden of foreign debt in Kenya

Traders in one of Zambia's local markets striving to make a living amid the country's debt crisis

At the dawn of the Third Millennium, Pope John Paul II and other church leaders called for outright cancellation of the public debt poor countries owed. In April 2020, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the G20 endorsed the debt service suspension initiative (DSSI) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, China and other private lenders are hesitant to participate in the initiative. JENA’s collaboration with the Holy See’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development to advocate against the current debt problem in Africa is a renewal of the earlier mission.

Through this, JENA added to the voices of morality to advocate for debt cancellation, to repudiate ‘odious debts’, and work with the international community for policy and legal reforms to support the establishment of systems for debt contracting and management. This has been given additional impetus by Pope Francis’ call, in Fratelli Tutti for multilateral action in building human solidarity.

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Children have experienced the impact of COVID-19 pandemic in unique and profound ways. And while fatalities involving them are minimal, they are projected to suffer long-term negative impacts involving school closures, limited social services and existing vulnerabilities.

Save the Children International notes that for many poor and vulnerable children in Africa, schools serve multiple roles in the lives of children. In addition to learning, schools also offer a safe space from violence and exploitation, and meals which are sometimes the only meals that some children have for the day. School closures as a means of reducing exposure of the virus to children therefore had an immediate effect on the more than 224 million enrolled learners on the continent.

Culture of Safeguarding

NO PLACE TO TURN

Child protection and social services hit

by COVID-19 Beatrice Mumbi - JCAM, Safeguarding Coordinator

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Media reports of child abuse have become common, with Increased violence against children being linked to factors such as parental stress and tension, children’s increased presence at home and commercial sexual exploitation to meet economic needs. However, the full scale of the problem cannot be determined due to the COVID – 19 restriction measures which have kept children away from school where teachers would often identify and report abuse or inappropriate behaviour. As a result, it is estimated that globally COVID -19 will cause a one-third reduction in progress made towards ending gender-based violence affecting both children and adults.

Abuse in the digital spaces has spiked with the adoption of online learning and increased internet access by children.

There is fear of children being groomed by predators online due to access to unlimited and uncensored content.

Globally, agencies have reported increased exchange of child abuse materials online with girls making up 80% of those featured in the materials. In Kenya, the Internet Crimes Against Children department located withing the Ant-Human Trafficking and Child Protection Unit has reported having received over 300 cases of child abuse materials in a month.

The pandemic has laid bare the inadequacy and gaps in the provision of public social services in Africa. Children as well as vulnerable families have not really received needed support to cushion them during the lockdown.

Services for victims of abuse were also severely restricted due to closure of responsible offices.

Despite the lack of support and services, one lesson learnt is that there is a need to empower parents and the community in general, with skills and knowledge to protect children from abuse as a standard way of living.

Developing an appreciation that all abuse is unacceptable would be a positive step forward. It would complement other measures such as reporting and rescue that may be available.

Within JCAM, efforts to safeguard children continued, with a focus on enhancing internal capacity. Thus, the safeguarding office engaged in webinars with church safeguarding professionals, which have been useful platforms for sharing information and good practices and raising awareness on the issue of child abuse. The office also adopted virtual meetings with JCAM leadership and Child Protection Officers and online teaching as alternatives to physical events.

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Strengthening Formation

One year on …

Formation in a new skin!

Fr. John the Baptist Anyeh, SJ - JCAM, Socius

The JCAM Formation Assembly that was held at the very end of 2019 with the theme “New Wine, New Wineskins: Transforming the Mission of Formation in Africa and Madagascar in the Context of Faith and the Universal Apostolic Preferences,” worked from the premise that “what was most crucial at this time was a coherent and inspiring vision of the meaning and value of religious life, both in the context of a Church where all the faithful are called to mission as well as in a post-modern, secular world that challenges the fundamental values of our vowed life.”

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(Fr. Adolfo Nicolas, SJ, Nairobi 2012). In this light, it asked if present structures of formation helped Jesuits in, Formation and Formators to achieve that mystical experience in the context of today’s world.

The Assembly identified several challenges within formation, and the Assembly invited Formation Delegates to be freed from multiple responsibilities so that they could concentrate their energies in the accompaniment of men in formation.

Formation houses were asked to take bolder steps to actualise the call to keep before the eyes of all those in formation, God and the Society of Jesus as a pathway to God. One year on, the results are visible. Vocation Directors, Novice Masters, Leaders of Formation Houses, Formation Delegates, Spiritual Fathers of Formation Houses and Major Superiors are developing common strategies to help improve the proposition of forming contemplatives in action.

Thanks to online platforms, very fruitful meetings have taken place in the course of the year 2020 in which meaningful actions have been planned and carried out to achieve the goals of the Formation Assembly. Some exciting meetings have already been scheduled for the year 2021: COVID-19 permitting, the joint meeting of Vocation Directors and Novice Masters will improve our practice of vocation promotion and understand how this helps the novitiate experience; and Formation Delegates will also continue their work of assisting all of those in formation to

The call to service continues to be heard, even during the pandemic. be supported as they move from one stage to the next; Spiritual Fathers too, with the support of many others, lay and religious, will continue to build up the spirit of all those involved in this most important work.

Adapting to new reality: Major Superiors' virtual plenary meeting with Father General in December, 2020 JCAM 2020 Celebrating kindness

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IN REMEMBERANCE

Remembering Fr. Adolfo Nicolás, SJ

“It is about time, and we might be even a little late” Fr. Jean Luc Enyegue, SJ - Director, JHIA

When the death of Fr. Adolfo Nicolás was announced, the Society in Africa felt the loss. I was personally struck by one sentence: “Fr. Nicolás maintained excellent relationship with Pope Benedict XVI and a warm friendship with Pope Francis.”

The friendship with Francis, a fellow Jesuit, can, without pretention, be taken for granted. Both Nicolás and Pope Benedict, however, spoke to the depth of the contribution of African spirituality to Global Catholicism. They did so, not in the folkloric sense of African songs and dances (for Ratzinger’s Spirit of the Liturgy does not seem to be very enthusiastic about dancing in churches), but for the hope African spirituality represents for Global Catholicism and humanity: "Africa" Benedict said, "represents the spiritual lungs of humanity.” Nicolás would repeat that Africa, in the confluence of Asia, Europe and Africa, represents “Life.” Both were speaking to the depth and reality of a growing Church, a youthful Church, a Church whose members have been tested by a history of slavery and domination, and which, nevertheless, has remained resilient, hopeful, joyful, alive and life-giving.

Nicolás understood that writing African history was very important for the Church beyond Africa.

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He situated his decision to create Jesuit Historical Institute in Africa (JHIA) in the context of the Synod on “New Evangelization,” a concept which, for most historians, was Europe-centered. He then shifted immediately to a question directed not only to Africans, but to all Christians: if we are talking today about “New Evangelization,” then each one should ask, and that might be the task of a Jesuit and Church historian, “what have we learned from the first evangelization, things we have done well and things we have done wrong?” Each continent, beginning with secularized Europe should try an honest answer to that question.

Finally, there was a sense of urgency in Father Nicolás’ voice when he announced the creation of JHIA in 2010. “As we move to the year 2014, the anniversary of the Restoration of the Society,” Nicolás continued, “I think it is about time, and we might be even a little late, to allow every continent to interpret its own history.” The fastest growing Christian population in the world, and the poorest (to which Pope Francis speaks very eloquently) is very late in appropriating its own history, and might not have the human, institutional, and financial means to do so quickly enough. And this delay is a loss for the Society of Jesus in her ongoing renewal, but also for the Church and humanity overall.

Fr. Adolfo Nicolás, SJ, (29 April 1936 – 20 May 2020) was a Spanish Jesuit priest. He was the thirtieth Superior General of the Society of Jesus from 2008 until his resignation in 2016.

He founded the Jesuit Historical Institute in Africa (JHIA) in 2010 to encourage the study of the Society of Jesus' largely unexplored involvement in the evangelisation of Africa.

He died at the age of 84 in Tokyo, Japan.

I live my mission at JHIA carrying with me the hope of Fr. Nicolás, well-aware of the shifting dynamics in Global Christianity and the Universal Society, feeling the urgency to do something, no matter how little it might be. I am also hopeful that the urgency Father Nicolás felt and expressed is well-understood and turned into action by all those who care about the preservation of the spiritual, cultural, and institutional patrimony of the Society, of the Church and of humanity. We are grateful that many people, especially Jesuit provinces in Africa and Europe, do care and, I think, understand that a task of such importance for the Universal Society and Global Catholicism cannot be left to the youth and the poor alone.

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Financial Highlight 2020

WE HAVE WITNESSED MIRACLES

THANK YOU!

By Fr. Paul Hamill, SJ - JCAM, Treasurer INCOME - €1,230,924 JCAM receives its funding from different sources including the member Provinces and Regions of the Conference as well as other parts of the Society of Jesus; and from other grant making trusts and agencies. For all this generosity JCAM is immensely grateful.

JCAM aims to account and report for all its grant income from its donors in a timely fashion.

JCAM stives to use all its funds in the support of the mission of the Society of Jesus in Africa and Madagascar.

For any further information please contact the JCAM treasurer: treasurer@jesuits.africa

JCAM’s accounts are externally and independently audited each year according to the International Standards on Auditing.

JCAM Income 2020 Porticus Africa – Safeguarding work 2021-23 (phase 3) Hilton Foundation – JENA, COVID 19 building back research

JCAM staff and community fundraising for COVID 19 help

41,749.00 Contributions from Provinces/Regions of JCAM

45,000.00

Entrecullturas, Spain – JENA Institution Strengthening

11,181.00 Jesuit Missions Britain – JENA, Tax Justice

11,000.00

Jesuit Missions Switzerland – Jena, Povery Advocacy

1.230 Million Euros

1,425.00

JCAM Website donor funds

109,387.00 Jesuit Conference of Canada and US – AJAN and formation

British Province – support for formation

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JCAM Provinces/Regions solidarity in formation

EXPENDITURE €1,048,227 (Surplus is carried forward to future projects) As part of the Society of Jesus which is numerically still growing and is younger in average age than many other parts of the Society JCAM supports a large “formation” cost, that is, the expenses involved in the training of younger Jesuits and also of their Jesuit teachers and formators.

In fact, formation related expenditure accounts for over 58% of expenditure and especially so in the year of 2020 when COVID and lockdowns added to living costs.

Other significant cost centres aside from the ordinary administration of the Conference (21%) are for the works of Safeguarding, African Jesuit Aids Network (AJAN) and the Justice and Ecology Office (JEO) in Africa (19%).

JCAM Expenditure 2020 96,901.00

226,497.00

JCAM administration expenses – salaries, insurance, travel etc.

Assistance to 5 Formation centres with added “COVID” costs

66,921.00 AJAN Projects – AHAPPY etc

61,359.00

303,090.00

JENA Projects – advocacy, tax justice, silence the guns etc

Subsidy to JCAM Provs using formation centres in Conference

43,403.00

1.048

JCAM led Safeguarding work

Million Euros

12,520.00

61,235.00 Fiber optic provision and virtual classrooms – 4 formation centres

Ongoing support for work of JENA/JEO

16,695.00

Ongoing support for AJAN

42,686.00

Training of Jesuits in special studies

12,520.00

Ongoing support for JHIA JCAM support programme for those affected by COVID 19

4,400.00

100,000.00

Ongoing support for ITCJ, Cote d’ Ivoire

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OUR PEOPLE

Beatrice Mumbi

Stephen Barasa

Fernando Saldivar, SJ

Ismael Matambura, SJ

Mary Wanjiku

JCAM Safeguarding Coordinator

Support staff – Gardening

Global Policy and Advocacy JENA

AJAN Director

Support staff- Housekeeping

Pascal Andebo

Paul Hamill, SJ

Abbas Mohammed

Charles Chilufya, SJ

Anastasia Makunu

Tax Justice, Research and Advocacy Officer JENA

JCAM Treasurer and Development Office Director

Clerk of works

Social Apostolate Coordinator and JENA Director

Webmaster, Communications and JCAM Child Protection Officer

Scholastica Kilonzo

Joyce Githae

Caleb Mwamisi

Sharon Achieng

John the Baptist Zamcho, SJ

Support staff- Catering

JCAM Accountant

AJAN Communications and Research Officer

Receptionist

JCAM Socius

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Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, SJ

Pascalia Sergon

Wambua Mulwa

Violet Wainaina

JCAM President

AJAN Capacity Building Officer

Support staff – Gardening

Policy and Advocacy Officer JENA

JCAM 2020 Celebrating kindness

WHERE YOU CAN FIND US KENYA

Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar Africama House, 260 Dagoretti Road, Karen P.O. Box 1540 -00502 Nairobi, Kenya +254 20 3884528 www.jesuits.africa jdodirector@jesuits.africa • African Jesuit AIDS Network ajandirector@jesuits.africa www.ajan.africa • Jesuits Justice Ecology Network Africa jeodirector@jesuits.africa www.jena.africa

Hekima University College P.O. Box 21 21 5 – 00505 – Nairobi, Kenya +254 (0) 20 387 6608/ 9 infodesk@hekima.ac.ke www.hekima.ac.ke • Hekima Institute of Peace and International Relations (HIPSIR) +254 20 3860109/ 3860102 secretary.hipsir@hekima.ac.ke hipsir.hekima.ac.ke • Jesuit Historical Institute in Africa +254 (0) 20 232 4109 director.1@jhia.ac.ke www.jhia.ac.ke

ZIMBABWE

Arrupe Jesuit University, 16 Link Rd. Mount Pleasant P.O. Box MP 320 Harare arrupe@arrupe.ac.zw www.aju.ac.zw

COTE D'IVOIRE

Institut de Théologie de la Compagnie de Jésus Cocody les Deux Plateaux 27 B.P. 884 Abidjan 27 +225 22 50 37 00/ 70 secretariat.itcj@yahoo.fr www.itcj.edu.ci

MADAGASCAR

Scolasticat Saint Paul Ambanidia, Ambatoroka B.P. 6091 Antananarivo 101 Philosophat, Juvenat- Bibliotheque at Archives de la Province +261 34 01 179 95 ndrianary65@gmail.com

DR CONGO

Saint Pierre Canisius B.B. 3724, Kinshasa-Gombe +243 08 25 87 39 23 recteur.canisius@jesuits.net

SOUTH AFRICA

JCAM Conference Tertianship Xolile Keteyi Community 93 Nkwazi Drive, Zinkwazi Beach KwaZulu-Natal 4480 - South Africa enquiries@tertianship.durban +27 73 497 4070 www.tertianship.durban

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The mission of the Society of Jesus since the time of its foundation by Saint Ignatius has always relied on the generosity of women and men whose readiness to share in supporting the works of the Society has enabled the carrying forward of the work of building the kingdom of God in the service of God’s people. Here at the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar our various ministries are a graced and privileged point of contact with people in their daily lives and especially at a time when there are such serious health and economic challenges to many across Africa.

We are very grateful for this support here in this youngest part of the Society. All your donations continue to make possible the daily miracles of the Society of Jesus in its works.

If you are at all able to share something of what you have in support of this mission, you can make a gift online in the currency of your choice at www.jesuitsdevelopment.africa/donate or www.jesuits.africa You can also donate as an individual or as a community or organisation through bank transfer, by contacting Fr Paul Hamill SJ, treasurer@jesuits.africa If your giving is only through prayer then know that you too are remembered and counted in the prayers and Masses for benefactors which are offered by all Jesuits across the world.

Thank you for your generosity and support.

For any further information Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar (JCAM) Africama House, 260 Dagoretti Road – Karen P.O. Box 1540 – 00502 Nairobi Kenya. +254 20 3884528

The Ignatian Year 2021-2022 Our theme for the year is: to see all things new in Christ

Paul Hamill SJ - jdodirector@jesuits.africa Anastasia Makunu - communications@jesuits.africa

To stay in touch with activities around the Ignatian Year celebrations check our website:

www.jesuits.africa

www.jesuits.africa/ignatianyear/ Designed and printed by Psych Marketing & Communications Limited - Kenya