EVERYBODY'S CHALLENGE - Jesuit Refugee Service | USA

cution, as understood in the relevant legal instruments, but their
effect, when combined with one or more of the other factors I have
mentioned, is the same.
What Jesuits working with refugees say they learnt about their
needs, is this: A tent or a hut to give shelter from the rain, from the
blazing sun during the day and the freezing cold during the night, is
important; food, however meagre and frugal, to keep the body going
on the long march to the border, and medicines to fight the fever and
heal the wounds are more important; but what refugees, especially
young refugees, need and appreciate most is friendship, trust and a
shared understanding of the reasons why they are forced to flee
their country. Friendship, trust and understanding give refugees hope
in their struggle against overwhelming odds. Without hope, few could
survive as physically healthy and mentally sane persons. So long as
there is hope, even when there is neither shelter, nor food, nor medicines,
refugees, even the most vulnerable among them, can overcome
formidable obstacles.
Looking to the next several years, this is what I wish to stress as
essential: a personal approach in our work with refugees and a deeper
understanding of the fact that the refugee problem is the story of 15
million individual human beings – their suffering, their hope, their
indomitable courage, resilience and determination to live.
Whenever possible, JRS has worked closely with and through
the local Church, sometimes in a subsidiary role. Its policy has been
to strengthen the local Church’s manpower and other resources
and to assist it in a variety of ways, rather than to develop parallel
services and programs. Many Bishops have expressed to me their
appreciation of this collaboration with the local Church. In this
manner, JRS has also been able to offer the possibility of working
with refugees to members of other religious communities and to
many young lay associates.
Several such JRS teams have grown into small but strong faith
communities, whose members live their commitment to refugees as
the expression of their discipleship with Christ. They try to proceed
by discernment in the midst of an extremely demanding and unpredictable
life, where the needs of refugees may change quickly, where
with the availability of very limited resources the requirements of
one group of refugees have to be weighed against those of others,
and where work on behalf of refugees is sometimes done in a context
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