In the Field September 2016 Inspiring and Informing Current Jesuit Volunteers “Dear Incoming JV,” Clare Myers, Casa Pedro Arrupe, SJ, Santa Clara 15, University of Dallas, from her blog: loudandclareud.wordpress.com As I sit at my desk on my last day of work, there are so many thoughts running through my mind. Goodbyes are bittersweet, so to avoid the sappiness or clichés, I decided to write a letter to the JV who will be taking my place in a few weeks. Not all placements do this, but there is a binder that has been passed down for years from one YWCA JV to the next. When I moved into Casa Pedro, there it was, waiting for me on a desk in the hallway, labeled with a sticky note, “For Clare.” It contained all of the letters from all of the past YWCA JVs, with outdated information and stories that still ring true today. As I move on, I get to add mine. I’ve only spoken to the incoming JV a few times, but writing the letter was a productive reflection for me. So here it is below: Dear [Incoming JV], Welcome to the best placement in JVC! You’ve won the agency lottery; the YWCA is a phenomenal place to work. Being an advocate is an incredible way to spend your year of service. Trust me, I’m sitting at my desk on my last day of work reflecting on the past 12 months. So what does it mean to be an advocate? noun ad·vo·cate \ˈad-və-kət,-ˌkāt\ 1: one that pleads the cause of another; specifically: before a tribunal or judicial court 2: one that defends or maintains a cause or proposal Welcome to Your JVC Newsletter Welcome to the eighth volume of In the Field. In the Field is shared with all 292 Jesuit Volunteers serving in 37 U.S. cities and six countries—you are in this experience together. You have shared the stories of your experiences with your community members and local support teams, and you have the opportunity to connect with the entire JV community, and the broader community of JVC, through In the Field. In the Field is YOUR newsletter and we look to YOU for submissions. Send submissions to your Program Coordinator, which can include: Original reflections on: your work, social justice issues, the four values Photography Recipes enjoyed by your community Community or spirituality night ideas Original poetry, lyrics, artwork & more 3: one that supports or promotes the interests of another Merriam-Webster can explain it one way, but advocacy for survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and human trafficking is more than that. It’s supporting. It’s listening and validating. It’s fighting for them and with them. Advocacy in many ways is similar to what the Jesuits call “accompaniment.” As an advocate, you are not so much there to carry your clients’ burdens; you are there to witness their healing processes and be with them through it all. This year will break your heart. You will spend nights, exhausted, in the emergency room, witnessing horrible things. You will play with stuffed animals in the SART clinic with children, knowing that the exam they are about to undergo is something that no person should ever have to do. You will sit poker-faced on the stand, listening to stories that will bring you to tears later that night as you lie awake in bed. It will test you in every way, as you spend your evenings talking with your housemates, feeling like their jobs are worlds away from yours. But after a year of having my heart broken over and over, I have come out more inspired and more hopeful. I have seen survivors on the worst nights of their lives, concerned not for themselves, but for their parents or their friends. I have seen their faces change when I tell them how strong they are, how brave. I have watched them realize, even though they will never be the same, that they have the courage to heal. Continued on page 8 In This Issue Jumping In, Two Feet First The Danger of a Single Story Belize JVs Face Hurricane Earl “Through Your Eyes” Prayer Ignatian Spirituality—Its for Everyone To Equalize the Power Among Us I Believe in the Gift of Laughter Life is short… keep it spicy! Ignatian Family Teach-In All JVs are invited to the annual Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice, the largest Catholic social justice gathering in the U.S. This year’s theme is “Mercy in Action.” The Teach-In is a gathering for members of the Ignatian family to reflect, pray, network, and advocate together. Participants are empowered, re-energized, challenged, and supported by a community where faith and justice are integrally linked. Jumping In, Two Feet First Grace Hulseman, Beatrice Cayetano House, Belize City 16, Fordham University. From her blog: kghulseman.wixsite.com In the past few years, I've picked up a mantra of sorts: do the thing that terrifies you the most. New things can scare me a bit, and pushing boundaries has always caused me a bit of anxiety (my friends know I'm terrible at breaking rules). But, I've found that the most rewarding experiences are often those that scare me the most. freak me out because my mind immediately jumps to the worst-case scenario: I break my neck, I forget how to swim, a hoard of crocodiles appear out of nowhere and tear me to shreds (all very rational fears, clearly). Looking down at the waterfall below me, my little mantra came back into my mind: do the thing that terrifies you the most. In that moment, jumping absolutely terrified me and my shaking legs were enough to prove it. To be honest, I was the last JV to jump in and I pretty seriously considered not participating (I had a great excuse of not Going to Fordham, being an RA, studying being a strong swimmer). And yet, abroad in El Salvador, and committing to somehow I found myself jumping off the two years of service in Belize all scared cliff, two feet first, and living to tell the the day lights out of me at a point, and tale. I'm not about to become an yet these were some of the most adrenaline junkie, but I'm definitely going formative experiences of my life. Earlier to keep listening to the voice in the back this week, I found myself standing at the of my head because earlier this week the edge of a rock overlooking the Rio Blanco, thing that terrified me the most quickly which was roaring thanks to the rainy became one of the coolest experiences of season. It's a JVC tradition to jump into my life. the river, and our second years brought Here's to two more years of doing the us here to give us the same opportunity things that terrify me and jumping two they had last year. Now, things like feet first into new experiences. Life is too jumping off cliffs into waterfalls always short to play it safe. 2 The Teach-In will be held Nov. 12-14 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, VA (on the metro line near Washington D.C.). There will be two days of conference, with one day focused on advocacy meetings on Capitol Hill. Keynote speakers this year will include Greg Boyle, S.J., founder of Homeboy Industries; and Norma Pimentel, MJ, Director of Catholic Charities Rio Grande Valley. JVs can register for FREE by contacting their Program Coordinator. While JVC is not able to assist with costs of travel, lodging, or food for the Teach-In, JVs are welcome to reach out directly to the Washington DC JV community to see about staying with them. There might be times throughout the weekend that JVC will gather current and former JVs. For more information visit: The Danger of a Single Story Alex Kotlowitz “Stories inform the present During your service with JVC, we hope you share of yourself and the joys and struggles you are experiencing in order to build a strong community. We share stories in many ways: spoken words in a conversation, written letters, blogs, and in this newsletter. However, it is possible to become complacent in how we share stories, especially as one becomes more comfortable with the people encountered each day. We forget the danger of a single story or an extreme example of a situation at work that reinforces negative stereotypes and harms people. Sometimes our stories can also cross lines of the privacy rights of the people with whom we live and work. We ask you to respect others when sharing stories by following a few best practices: and help sculpt the future, and so we need to take care not to craft a single narrative, not to pigeonhole people, not to think we know when in fact we know very little. We Do not use last names of coworkers, community mates, neighbors, etc. in blogs, videos, or other content without their permission (friend tags in Facebook are an exception if you have an established relationship with that person). need to listen to the stories—the unpredictable stories—of those whose For clients and students, learn the privacy rules of your respective placement voices have been lost site, and follow them. Your job truly depends on it. Only post photography, video or audio of people who have given you their amidst the cacophonous permission, including your community mates, neighbors and coworkers. noise of ideologues and Check with your placement site about their privacy rules before posting rhetorical ruffians. We anything. When in doubt, do not post, as your accountability as an employee depends on it. speak in shorthand of If ever asked to remove a photo, change a name, or help protect someone’s gangbangers and thugs, privacy, respect that request and act on it immediately. teenage moms and high Be smart about your content. Would you be embarrassed if your current school dropouts, ex-felons placement or a future employer saw that blog entry or photo? When it doubt, don’t post it. and drug addicts. I thought When sharing sensitive information, it is not only your name on the line, it is I knew Dede, but I didn't.” that of your client or student, your agency, and JVC. We are all interconnected as a community. - from Off the Grid, Chicago; Sept 2011 These important practices not only respect the dignity of the people with whom you work and live, they are essential to your work this year. If you have questions, talk to your program coordinator. We look forward to hearing your stories as we walk this journey together. Read the full reflection: chicagomag.com/ChicagoMagazine/Off-the-Grid/ September-2011/TheDanger-of-a-Single-StoryAlex-Kotlowitz/ For more thoughts on the idea of “The Danger of a Single Story” watch the TED Talk (which shares the same name) by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story Page 3 @JVCNation jesuitvolunteers.org Save the Date Blessed Mother Teresa of Kolkata, India will be canonized (declared a saint) by Pope Francis on September 4, 2016! Belize JVs Face Hurricane Earl Alyssa Perez, Beatrice Cayetano House, Belize City 15, Loyola Marymount University. Adapted from her blog: aperezbze15.wordpress.c om Earl. That’s the name of the hurricane that hit last week. It’s so interesting to me that hurricanes are named after people, but thankfully I don’t know anyone named Earl, so there are no hard feelings. We were supposed to be on retreat with the new JVs who arrived last week, but instead we got the call from our Jesuit InCountry Coordinator to head home and prepare our house for the tropical wave coming. Thank God we listened and were able to prepare ourselves. We gathered food, water, candles, and games to keep us busy. Earl went from a tropical wave to a Category 1 hurricane overnight. Luckily friends kept us updated on the storm and their advice kept us safe. Alyssa and some of the friends who stayed with the JV community during Hurricane Earl. and had enough food for a week. The National Emergency Management Organization was updating everyone on the progress of the storm and advised businesses to close. Over the radio I heard employees being reminded of their right to safety and that cautioning businesses that they weren’t allowed to raise the price on anything. It took a few days for the power and water to come back on, and there are a lot of clean up and repairs still needed. Belize is a small, but strong country and has come out of this storm a little closer I think. Since that night, I feel more grateful for every person I have met during this past year in Belize. I have had some of my lowest lows this past year (catching A lot of people worked together to help dengue, losing my hair, getting deported, prepare for the storm. We needed each burying two students, hearing of the Watching the city prepare for the storm other not only that day, but also the days Orlando club shooting, witnessing the was overwhelming. For a lot of people, following. I had never realized how violence and poverty that my students live this was their first hurricane and a sense in), but I have also had some of the of anxiety flooded the streets and grocery humbling a natural disaster would be. happiest moments of life (coaching stores. I think our first instinct was to stay Friends texted me throughout the storm basketball and traveling around the far from the storm, but once we realized to make sure we were okay and to remind that our house needed preparing and we me to pray. It was those friends and Justin country with the best kids, meeting lifelong friends, taking in all my students’ would get stuck out of the city for a lot Bieber that helped get me through love, celebrating Carnival, jumping off longer than we had planned, it brought Hurricane Earl from 11:30pm-3am. Trees waterfalls, mass at the border of me comfort to be heading home. and roofs were breaking all around us Guatemala for peace between the two I felt better being closer to neighbors and from the strong winds. The water kept countries, enjoying the beauty that is trying to come in to my window, but I kept Belize, and being able to share my life friends. As much as I was worried about my duct tape nearby and taped the bags us getting through the storm, I was more here with a group of friends from LMU on my windows even tighter. worried about friends and students who and my family). All of these moments over were preparing for the hurricane as well. the past year (Earl included) have taught Once the winds died down a little bit, I If a hurricane was coming, we were all me what it means to find the hope in the slept. I was glad that all of the kids slept going to go through it together. right through the worst part of the storm suffering and how to let my heart be broken then let love come in to fill the since it came in the middle of the night. I One of our friends and her family ended cracks. didn’t want them to worry. up staying with us for the storm. Most of her nieces are my students at St. Martins I can’t believe a year has passed already, We all woke up early the next morning and we are close with all of her sisters too and our street was flooded, but the rain and that a new school year and a new so it was actually nice to have them with group of JVs have come already. I am and the winds had let up. We put on our us for the craziness of the next few days. rain boots to check up on the church and feeling a lot of emotions going into the Our two-story cement house was packed, our friends’ houses. A lot of roofs blew off new year, but the strongest feeling of all is but they helped cook and we spent time happiness. I pray and ask for your or caved in, there was debris in the with the kids to until the storm came and streets, and cable wires were broken and continued prayers for the recovery of passed. those most affected by Hurricane Earl. hanging low over every street. Yet all the people we talked to were just grateful that The day of the hurricane there wasn’t much to do besides wait. We had windows they were safe now. The blessing was that there was no loss of life because of Earl or and doors secured as best as we could, the days following. 4 Through Your Eyes: A Prayer to Contemporary Saints Greg Stryker, Brother Booker Ashe House, Milwaukee 16, California State University. Greg wrote this prayer as part of his role as Program Assistant at the Casa Romero Renewal Center. To be able to see life through your eyes—difficult it must have been. To be able to see people through your eyes—beautiful and suffering, they must have seemed. To be able to see the world through your eyes—vibrant and terrifying, it must have been. To be able to see myself through your eyes—capable, I must appear. In this prayer, we ask for your guidance and support, as we strive to make this community and world a better place for us all. Marianne Cope - Pray for us. Dorothy Day - Pray for us. Bayard Rustin - Pray for us. Harriet Tubman - Pray for us. MLK Jr. - Pray for us. Cesar Chavez - Pray for us. Mahatma Gandhi - Pray for us. Kateri Tekakwitha - Pray for us. Mother Teresa - Pray for us. Damien De Veuster - Pray for us. Father James Groppi - Pray for us. Edith Stein - Pray for us. Oscar Romero - Pray for us. Maximilian Kolbe - Pray for us. Those who remain in our hearts and in our minds – Pray for us. Thank you for the deeds you performed while living and for the legacy you left behind for us to follow. May we recognize our own internal flame and allow that flame to ignite within us, the passion, the love, the courage, and the strength, to fight for what is right and to change lives as we go. Amen. Dorothy Day Marianne Cope Harriet Tubman Bayard Rustin Now, to pray for individual intentions, we address each person listed... • Marianne Cope - For courage, especially in the face of adversity. • Dorothy Day - To be able to write as you wrote, writing to comfort the Martin Luther King, Jr. afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. • Bayard Rustin - For open-mindedness, acceptance, and understanding. • Harriet Tubman - For strength in times of weakness. • Martin Luther King, Jr. - For power in oratory and speech. For the ability to move a crowd, to tears if necessary. • Cesar Chavez - For diligence to tasks and dedication to a cause. • Mahatma Gandhi - For the will to fight without actually fighting. For the will to continue amidst oppression. For the desire to keep on going. • Kateri Tekakwitha - For steadfastness and honor to one's own self. Mahatma Gandhi • Mother Teresa - To be able to feel what others feel. To recognize pain in its many forms. To develop the ability to console those in need. • Damien De Veuster - To keep on working hard, despite personal struggles. • James Groppi - To be able to recognize the needs of the people today. • Edith Stein - For the courage to be me, regardless of the pressures, the influence, and the temptations that exist in society. • Oscar Romero - For a bigger heart, more compassion, and a deeper connection with people (especially strangers - namely the oppressed, the lonely, the depressed, the addicted, and the sick). • Maximilian Kolbe - For the innate ability to forgive, to overcome envy Kateri Tekakwitha and disgust, and to be a guide for those who suffer. For the ability to recognize my mission, to make moral choices, and listen to what my heart is telling me. We remember you today and together, we ask for your guidance as we aspire to do as you did, in helping to make this world a more just and hopeful place. As we stand here, united by a similar mission, we call out to you: We ask you to see us as we are today; we ask you to help shape and mold us into the people we have the potential to be tomorrow. In times of great pain, help us to see the light. In times when we are blind, help us to see the light. In times when we are faced with a challenge that seems unconquerable, help us to discover our inner courage. When Edith Stein the going got tough, you were the few who kept going. Fill us with your strength, so that as a community and as individuals, we can be a light for others. Together we pray: Amen. Page 5 @JVCNation Cesar Chavez James Groppi Mother Teresa Damien De Veuster Oscar Romero Maximillian Kolbe jesuitvolunteers.org To Equalize Power Among Us Despite our best intentions we find, more often then not, that we duplicate the patterns of power we find so abhorrent in a culture of domination. Following are some guidelines to help us equalize relations. Privilege is invisible to those who have it. To create a context which embraces diversity and in which no one is marginalized, a conscious, ongoing effort is required. By noticing and changing what we take for granted, we make room for everyone’s contribution. This list is offered as a way to help privileged group members reflect on their own behavior. Feel free to use this as a basis for discussion during a community night. For more resources, check out toolsforchange.org. Do take responsibility to learn about the history, culture and struggles of other groups as told by them. Don’t interrupt. Do make sure the context welcomes everyone’s voice and listen. Don’t patronize. Don't unilaterally set the agenda. Do appreciate efforts to point out mistakes. (You must be doing something right, or no one would bother to tell you what’s wrong.) Don’t assume you’re more capable. Do regard people as whole human beings with families, interests and ideas beyond those of the particular task. Don’t challenge tone, attitude or manner. Do address the many dimensions of accessibility, including such things as money, space, transportation, child-care and language. Don’t take responsibility for, think for, or speak for others. Do notice what you expect from and assume about others, and note what experiences formed your ideas. Do name unacknowledged realities, so that the parameters of the situation expand to include everyone’s experience. Do expect discomfort when relating to people different from yourself. Do remember that others speak about more than the conditions of their own group. Do take responsibility for equalizing power. Do name dominating behavior when you see it. Do encourage pride in your own and other’s ancestry and history. Do understand individuals in the context of their social history. Don’t trivialize the experience of others. Don’t assume anyone is more “suited” for anything. Don’t assume someone is exceptional compared to the “average” person of their group. Don’t assume an individual speaks for or has the same opinions as others from their group. Don’t be the only one controlling the organization’s resources. Don’t reduce difficulties to personality conflicts. Don’t assume the root of a problem is misunderstanding or lack of information. Don’t ask others to explain, prove, or justify themselves. Don’t mimic other cultural traditions or religious practices. Don’t expect to be treated as an individual outside of your group’s history. Don’t flaunt your differences from others in your group. Don’t take up all the space or always speak first. Do look for political differences rather than personality conflicts. Don’t ignore or minimize differences by emphasizing similarities. Do ask questions. Don’t overlook history and equate all oppressions as equal. Do struggle over matters of principle and politics. Don’t expect “others” to educate you about their group’s history, conditions or sensibilities. Do respect disagreements. Do make accessible all information and so others can decide if they are interested. Do appreciate the risk a person takes in sharing their experience with you. Do take risks. Do trust others. Don’t expect others to be grateful. Don’t defend mistakes by focusing on good intentions. Don’t take everything personally. Don’t assume everyone has the same options you do. Don’t try to guess what’s needed. Don’t assume that the visible reality is the only one operating. Don’t expect to be trusted. 6 I Believe in the Gift of Laughter Becca Carney, Julius Nyerere House, Dodoma, Tanzania 14, Loyola University Maryland. From her blog: beccacarney.wordpress.com The following reflection was written while I was on retreat in April. A fellow JV led the session with material inspired by the NPR program This I Believe. I believe in the gift of laughter. If this experience as a JV in Tanzania has taught me anything in the past 18 months, it’s that the power of laughter unites individuals while healing the heart, mind, and soul. I never realized how healthy laughter was and how much I needed it in my life to feel connected with others. But first, let me be clear: laughter is not humor or being funny. A person who is funny says or does funny things to generate a response out of others—sometimes to feel good about her/himself or sometimes to distract. It’s not all bad, but however it is, that funny person is at the center. A lack of balance is created if one is in the center and others are merely responding. Laughter, on the other hand, is a shared experience above everything else. Sure, we can laugh by ourselves and sometimes one person starts the laugh, but at the heart of laughter is that connection. Everyone can and does laugh. Not everyone can be funny. I believe in the gift of laughter because it weaves connections between people from all walks of life. When I first arrived in Tanzania, I struggled with the newness of everything, and especially with the language. As a person who values great conversation and meaningful relationships, I felt lost not being able to feel connected with anyone due to a complete inability to communicate. Then, one day while I was on the daladala for one of the first times alone, I was sitting next to an old woman who had a baby on her lap. Conversations were going on around me that I did not understand and I was scared to look the woman in the eye for the fear that she would start talking to me. Then suddenly, the baby started hiccupping. And after each hiccup, he would giggle. He continued to do this until the laughing escalated and I couldn’t tell which one was causing the other—the laughter or the hiccups. I, of course, couldn’t help myself and started chuckling. I then glanced at the mother who joined me in laughing at this innocent and beautiful moment. I became at ease and I felt a bond to this woman and her baby. Call it God or the spirit or a shared humanity, I believe in laughter because it crosses cultures, generations, and identities. People might express laughter differently, but each one of us has that innate physical reaction. It’s a form of communication— that same communication in which I was so frustrated because I couldn’t express myself. Maybe we laugh at ourselves in the simple mistakes that we make. Maybe we laugh at a situation because it brings us to a comfortable place. Laughter brings us together. It has helped me to not feel so selfconscious and afraid when I have messed up with Kiswahili. So that even if ‘I understand’, telling people I’m drunk is just as good (the words sound similar in Kiswahili). We laugh at the small mistakes. Or when the priest at community mass falls asleep during the homily, why can’t I giggle at how uncanny that is? Laughter is best shared with others. Ranking my favorite laughs among St. Peter Claver High School staff members is a fond past time. It feels good that Becca dances with a chicken, bringing it to a community mate as a birthday present, while laughter ensues. another person has the potential to make my guard come down through a communal laughter. I believe in the gift of laughter because it helps me to be vulnerable. If I can let the wall I built around me chip away by joining in a beautiful and uplifting moment with someone, I can push myself to share other things. And more often than not, laughter opens up doors in levels of mutual comfort and support that allows space for the sharing of deeper emotions—regardless of how well I know the language. I believe in the gift of laughter because it has brought me back to connections with other people that help me feel alive. Page 7 @JVCNation jesuitvolunteers.org Life is Short… Keep it Spicy! Katie Coffey, Julius Nyerere House, Dodoma, Tanzania 15, John Carroll University. From her blog: katiebcoffey.wordpress.com Staring into a foreign kitchen, needing to feed 8 mouths with unfamiliar foods and utensils, is daunting. What spices should I add? How do you sort rice exactly? (My sorting time went from one hour to 5 minutes once I learned I have to pick out the rocks rather than pick out each grain of rice). Is ugali flour good for anything besides ugali? What is Blue Band and how much is too much? (Blue Band is a “medium fat spread” aka margarine. Once feared, now beloved). I was self-conscious about my cooking; preferring 4 cups of coffee with heavy creamer or a Chipotle burrito bowl as common dinner options throughout university. My fear of cooking without a recipe quickly shattered along with my ideas of what “eating healthy” meant. Your Writing in Future Editions of In The Field What’s on your mind? Contact your Program Coordinator to share submissions or ideas for content you’d like to read about in future issues of In the Field. Although hot sauce isn’t a meal, it is something I have always cherished around the dinner table. Pili pili, the Kiswahili name for hot sauce, was one of my first kitchen adventures and now is a staple in our home. Ingredients – 6 pili pili (small hot peppers, also called piri piri) – 4 red onions – 6 tomatoes – 1 lime – 6 garlic cloves – 2T ground ginger – pinch of salt – a few splashes of vinegar – a few splashes of water – some oil – 1 packet of coconut milk **add more of one ingredient or another to suit your taste buds! Directions 1. If you haven’t already, download Beyoncé’s anthem “Formation.” Listen to this song, and or the whole Lemonade album, while preparing the pili pili. 2. Cut the onions, ginger, garlic, and pili pili into small pieces. Sauté in oil for about 15 minutes or until softened. 3. Cut tomatoes and add to sautéed mixture, sauté for another 15 minutes or until it becomes paste-like. 4. Add some splashes of water and vinegar, then coconut milk, salt, and lime juice. 5. Blend together. Add more liquid until you are satisfied with the texture. Though your destination is not clear You can trust the promise of this opening; Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning That is one with your life’s desire. Awaken your spirit to adventure Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk Soon you will be home in a new rhythm For your soul senses the world that awaits you. ~John O’Donohue 6. Enjoy! “I got hot sauce in my bag, swag.” – Bey Continued from page 1 You are not alone. You have your housemates, who will offer support even if they don’t understand what you go through every day and vice versa. Let them accompany you as you accompany them. And your coworkers are amazing. Bring your stress and uncertainty and tough stories to the bullpen and you will find astounding love and understanding. This year will be a rollercoaster, but you can handle it. Ask questions. Ask for help. Let your heart break every day and let yourself be inspired every day. You are passionate and strong and you will do an incredible job. And I’m here if you need anything. Love and peace, Clare 8 Connect Share, post and explore the JVC community online. Our social media outlets can be accessed from jesuitvolunteers.org.
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