JCEP

Addressing hope amidst the Palestinian experience is a weighty task, especially when your community is enduring such atrocities.

I am not a specialist on climate matters or, for a matter of fact, on any matter particularly. So how on earth did I become the Ecology Advocacy Officer at the Jesuit European Social Centre (JESC)?

At the beginning of this experience, I must confess that it was not easy to see among those lined up the human beings with stories to tell, with dreams and aspirations, with the desire to start living a 'normal' life again, and with friends and relatives left behind who knows where in the world.

Vitaliy Osmolovskyy is a Ukrainian Jesuit who has been in Poland working to support refugees fleeing the war but also combatants on the front lines. He was in Lisbon a few days ago and gave his testimony.

Anna was a 13-year-old student in Kharkov when war woke her up in the middle of the night on February 24. "My mother woke me up with the words that the war had begun and my native Kharkov was attacked.

"In March 2022, the Russian military launched missile attacks on my city, forcing us to flee. I will never forget our terrible trip.

My journey in the social apostolate could not have lasted for so many years if I did not feel God’s constant, discreet and silent presence around me. He has always been an active participant in my life.

One of my boyhood dreams was to save lives, a dream which is quite common among young people.

Jabhat alNusra, the same that ruined the church, and, most sadly, killed Father François in June 2013. Then FatherFrans in April 2014. Why? This same question stayed in my head for months after I heard about his assassination.

My work in development cooperation began more than 20 years ago. However, previously, I was involved in volunteer projects where I had the opportunity to experience what I call "encounters" with realities and people plagued by poverty and exclusion. I remember when I spent one summer in India,