The Jesuit Refugee Service and the John Felice Rome Center
Photo Exhibition
20 May–20 June 2009
JRS-supported education and income-generating activities offer a new start to refugees who have returned from exile to the western city of Herat,
Afghanistan (© Peter Balleis SJ/JRS: 2008)
The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) is an international Catholic organisation which accompanies, serves and advocates on behalf of more than half a million forcibly displaced persons in
57 countries. This photo exhibition is a tribute to the courage and dignity of refugees and those who serve them.
www.jrs.net
The John Felice Rome Center , established in 1962, offers an
American undergraduate experience in the heart of Rome (Monte Mario) for 400 students annually. As an overseas campus of Loyola University
Chicago, The John Felice Rome
Center is fully accredited.
LUC.edu/rome
Dominicans of Haitian descent demonstrate for their right to citizenship. This would guarantee them access to basic social services (© JRS Dominican Republic)

T his photo exhibition—a representation of the activities of JRS field volunteers—is a tribute to the dignity of people, who, despite having been forced to flee their homes, continue to struggle for a better future. Behind each and every photograph is an individual story of persecution, poverty or war, and sometimes a combination of all three.
They face the trauma of arrival in
“Nearly thirty years of service have shown us how important welcome is in helping refugees restart their lives. It is more than meeting their material needs; our approach is more personal and pastoral, of
‘being with’ rather than ‘doing for’ refugees.”
—Peter Balleis S.J.,
International Director a foreign land, of having left their friends, families and dreams behind. Confronted with new cultures and languages, life can be extremely stressful. Rebuilding lives means becoming active members of their new society.
Years of advocacy finally led to the 1997 convention to ban landmines which in time will help many people like Augusto
Chimuna, Luanda, Angola (© Don Doll SJ/JRS: 1997)
Welcoming refugees into their new communities strengthens their sense of belonging. Without this welcome, prejudice is all too easily translated into hostility. The fear of strangers imposes itself on migrants and refugees, even those who have lived in their adopted nations for years. Suddenly they no longer feel at ease. They become afraid of the authorities, and in some cases even of their colleagues and neighbours. With rising xenophobia, they again face anxiety and insecurity in their host countries. In extreme cases, this fear forces them to flee their adopted homes, to become refugees once again.
“Human beings need a future in which they can take hold of their dignity; indeed they need an absolute future, a ‘great hope’ that exceeds every particular hope.”
—General Congregation 35
For JRS, this welcome is just the first step in establishing a relationship based on mutual
Decree 2 respect and love. Being with refugees, being touched by their reality in camps, conflict zones, detention centres or wherever else they may be, teaches us how best to serve and advocate on their behalf. Serving refugees, and especially offering them education services, is a work of justice and reconciliation; a gleam of hope for a brighter future.
JRS volunteer Miriam spends time with children in the Ghembe refugee camp in northern Rwanda
(© Don Doll SJ/JRS: 2008)