Jesuit Refugee Service provides an update on their work in providing education:
“Education is a key in combating the evil of hatred, violence and war. I’m ever more convinced of that,” says Jesuit Refugee Service International Director Fr. Peter Balleis S.J. “Learning is a way to nourish, in a situation of utter despair, the hope in people, the hope in children. It is so important to get (displaced and refugee) children into school, to establish a routine of life. It is important to keep learning, it is a form of trauma healing in the midst of a conflict.”
“We civilians don’t want war, we just want education, but (the leaders of the warring factions in South Sudan) don’t care about our wants or see value in educating our people,” an Islamic religious leader from Maban, South Sudan, recently told JRS. “Let us come together as one nation. Whether you are a Christian, come to school; whether you are a Muslim, come to school. This is for the children of tomorrow.”
Read the full article, which includes reflections for prayer, in advance of World Refugee Day on June 20.
