Covid-19: Stronger together
Struggling families receive dry rations at the height of the pandemic in Darjeeling, India. Photo: Jesu Ashram
In the face of unprecedented challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, Canadian Jesuits International (CJI) and its partners in Asia, Africa, and Latin America remained steadfast in working with the most vulnerable communities in the Global South.
CJI supporters responded generously to a CJI appeal for donations. Between 2020 to 2022, CJI provided over $410,000 to fund 16 Covid-19- related projects by its Jesuit partners. The projects gave shelter and care for Covid-19 patients, dispensed medical supplies and relief kits, made vaccines available to poor and marginalized people, ensured testing and treatment in isolated rural areas, raised awareness on safety measures, and off ered online counseling services.
In Asia, a national lockdown imposed by the government in India to contain the spread of the coronavirus forced the exodus of millions of migrant labourers who were left without jobs and housing in major cities.
CJI partners Lok Manch and the Indian Social Institute provided food, healthcare, safe shelter, transportation fare, and psychosocial support. Basic necessities were distributed to thousands of households that included migrant workers and their families, women who are the sole wage earners of their families, the elderly, temporary workers, and the homeless. They also provided para-health training for 600 community volunteers.
The pandemic accelerated and heightened forced migration in Central America and Mexico; migrants faced restrictions and had fewer resources. In response, the Jesuit Migration Network (RJM), a CJI partner, increased its services and adapted the delivery of services: shelters remained open and provided psychological, legal, and spiritual support; hospitality campaigns were launched in host communities.
In South Sudan, CJI partner Jesuit Refugee Service implemented online and socially distanced radio tutoring when schools were closed. It also launched programs on hygiene and safety.
CJI engaged Canadians to become aware of how the pandemic exacerbated inequalities around the world. In June 2021, it hosted “Leave no one behind: Vaccine equity in the Global South,” which brought together four experts from India, Canada, and the US to talk about the stark disparities in vaccine access between the Global North and South. In November, it hosted “Solidarity in a Covid-19 World,” which focused on the challenges faced by marginalized communities in the Global South and how Covid-19 has exacerbated them.
Today, CJI remains in solidarity with the world’s most vulnerable communities as they continue to grapple with Covid-19 and its crippling impact, along with the intractable challenges of poverty, human rights violations, war, political violence, climate change, forcible displacement, and lack of access to education and healthcare.
