Jenny Cafiso, CJI Executive Director
Every year is a busy one for CJI and the last fiscal year was no different.
As the world continued to hurtle towards climate change last year, I kept thinking about these simple yet powerful words from Br Paul Desmarais SJ, who spent over 40 years as director of the Jesuit-run Kasisi Agricultural Training Centre in Zambia: “If we say that we love God, then we should respect God’s creation.”
Br Paul passed away in August last year, a month after our boiling Earth registered the hottest month in the global temperature record.
Br Paul believed that organic agriculture, which he introduced at Kasisi in the 1990s, would benefit poor, rural farmers with less than five hectares of land. He also believed that organic agriculture was a way to protect the environment. His transformative legacy lives on at Kasisi, which has been a longtime partner of Canadian Jesuits International (CJI).
Our support for Kasisi and for projects in pursuit of ecological justice are in response to climate change, which scientists and experts have called the biggest existential threat of our time. Poor and vulnerable people are already bearing the brunt of this crisis.
In this annual report, we hope that you, our faithful supporters, and friends, will see the breadth and depth of the other projects and activities made possible through your generous contributions. These projects range from providing quality education for poor students in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and Latin America and the Caribbean, to supporting the Jesuit-run radio station network of ERIC-Radio Progreso, which works tirelessly and with courage to uphold human rights and democracy in Honduras.
Our advocacy campaigns in Canada focused on the passage of human rights and environmental due diligence bills in Parliament Hill and on education as a human right, with a focus on girls’ education.
For the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, I visited our partners in India and Nepal and witnessed the positive impact of CJI-supported projects on the poorest of the poor. I also saw how the pandemic has dealt an additional blow to already struggling communities, and how they need our support now more than ever.
We have entered “an age of polycrisis,” according to the UN. In addition to climate change, new wars and conflicts have given rise to unprecedented humanitarian crises and human rights violations. The lingering impact of the pandemic has reversed gains in poverty, education, and health outcomes, among others.
An all-hands-on deck approach is necessary to address these multiple, competing global challenges. With your faithful generosity and the steadfast commitment of our partners, CJI will continue to do all that it can to live out the Gospel call to love and serve those most in need and to bring justice and peace in the world.