The massive earthquake hit Port-au-Prince in Haiti on 13th January with the magnitude of 7.0. The Red Cross has estimated the death toll as 45,000 to 50,000 in that small country.Following information has come from Peter Bisson of the Jesuits of Canada: “… While information is spotty, as of the last communications from Montréal and Port-au-Prince all the Jesuits in Haiti are all accounted for except for Dérino Sainfariste, in Canapé Vert, who was not in the house at the time of the quakes. The novices who have just begun their long experiment in Port-au-Prince, Edmund Lo and Artur Suski, are fine, and are in communication with Erik Oland, the novice master.” The Archbishop Miot of Port-au-Prince has died and that the Cathedral has been destroyed. There are more reports of about 100 priests and seminarians of the Montfort Order having died when their retreat center collapsed. In addition to the devastating loss of religious workers, UN workers and peacekeepers have also had heavy losses and Parliament and the Presidental Palace have collapsed. There are heavy losses of life generally, certainly in the thousands or tens of thousands. The JRS is already established in Haiti and will be able to use our funds directly. JRS has also set up a facebook group which communicates what is going on in Haiti.

At this moment of massive tragedy in Haiti, We in South Asia assure our prayerful support to all people in Haiti particularly Jesuits and others in JRS.  We grieve with the distressed and mourn with the suffering people of Haiti.

Prominent among those who addressed the gathering were Mr Oscar Fernandez, Union Labour Minister, Mr J D Seelam, Mr Harsha Kumar, Members of Parliament from the ruling Congress Party, and Mr Ali Anwar, MP, Janatha Dal United, Jose K Mani, MP, Kerala Congress.

Twenty years ago today in El Salvador, six Jesuits, together with two women who were sharing their university residence, were murdered by the Salvadoran military. Dean Brackley SJ tells the story of the Jesuit martyrs, who will today be bestowed with El Salvador’s highest honour. What can we learn from these teachers who stood up against an unjust regime and remained firm in their commitment to serving the truth?

Sometimes, late in the game, justice is done and the truth served. Just two weeks ago, the President of El Salvador, Mauricio Funes, announced that on 16 November his government would bestow its highest honour, the Order of José Matías Delgado, posthumously, on the six Jesuits who were murdered twenty years ago on that same date.

Even after a year of violence, the plight of the victims of the genocide in Orissa still remains the same.  The stories of the suffering of the victims of Kandhamal Carnage need to be told.  The narratives by victims need to be heard.  There is a need to document the perceptions of the victims.  Orissa Citizens' Initiative, (OCI), a secular forum coordinated by the Jesuits working with the victims in Orissa, is doing the documentation of trauma narratives, and Narratives of Hope, viz., peoples' own efforts at conflict resolution and peace building.

With this objective in view, OCI, has produced a video documentary 'Kandhamal'.

This entire documentation is also available to view in three parts on youtube.