TESTIMONES
From our partners, benefactors, & friends around the world!
Birgit Dittrich & Albert Recknagel
The suffering and hardships of the world cannot be denied. You have to light a fire, start something that others will continue. It is forbidden to be discouraged. This is a sentence by the Terre Des Hommes founder Edmond Kaiser, who spent his life striving for a world of humanity. During our visit to Afghanistan, we truly understood how difficult it is sometimes to maintain this vision.
Margarete Erber with CSR Erber Group
Thank you for letting us participate in your impressive work. In the midst of permanent crises, you discover the challenges and find the chances for a better development. We congratulate JRS and we gratefully make our contribution to your work with the people in Afghanistan.
P.M. Jose
JRS programs were carefully chosen based on the real needs of the local Afghans. This and the simple lifestyles of your team facilitated high level of acceptance of you and your work by the Afghan authorities and communities. In spite of starting small, I see that you, as true witnesses to Christian love, have now diversified and expanded your programs impacting the various facets of the lives of Afghans. May God bless JRS the team, your collaborators and supporters and above all the Afghans you serve.
One afternoon in Herat, almost 15 years ago, Jerome invited me to the Technical Institute to see the electrical engineering lab that JRS built. That afternoon, I began to understand how that lab was the cornerstone of something enduring – Jerome, the school director (Mr Karimi), and the students were engaged, talking together about building their future. Formation and education, cultivating a generation of leaders, grounded on principles of integrity and the common good. This was my introduction to the Jesuit way of integral human development. Thank you for that formation.
Bill Schmitt
During my time in Afghanistan (2008-09 and 2012-2015) with CRS, it was my sincere privilege to be associated with and support JRS and it programs throughout the country. Like the JRS colleagues who dedicated themselves to the mission of serving those in need, the country of Afghanistan and its exceptionally hospitable and resilient people quickly came to occupy a special place in my heart. On this the 15th anniversary of JRS’s programming in Afghanistan, I offer my gratitude and admiration to all in the JRS family for the remarkable commitment, hard work and sacrifice that they have demonstrated in service to our Afghan sisters and brothers. Congratulations and thank you!
David Gandhi
It is my pleasure to congratulate JRS on completion of 15 fruitful years of service in Afghanistan. I am witness to the path-breaking work in the field of education being done at the community, higher education and policy levels. I had the privilege of working in Afghanistan between 2008 and 2015. The seed of this venture was sown by Fr Stan Fernandes who introduced me to Catholic Relief Services, which was looking for a consultant to support their fledging watershed development program in Afghanistan.
Br George
As co-workers and friends of JRS, we realised that not only was our motivation to serve in Afghanistan similar, but also our willingness to help each other, given our different abilities. Thus, the Kabul IDP Camp community, to which JRS provides education, got a bore-well providing drinking water. In turn, JRS arranged medical treatment in Delhi for a GMS co-worker suffering from a rare disease. JRS also arranged for intensive professional training in Delhi for an Afghan engineer working with GMS. Silvia assists in the GMS reporting to donors. We helped establishing the solar system in the Kabul JRS office. If the Corona pandemic had not suspended our ongoing collaboration, the GMS workshop would continue to offer internships for trainees of Herat Technical Institute. Such friendly relationships are the best that can happen to us.
Lenny Lobo CFC
It is a matter of great joy for us to join the Jesuit community in thanking God for the marvellous ways in which He has nurtured and sustained the pioneering mission in Afghanistan over the past 15 years against the many life-threatening challenges in a situation so volatile that it is capable of exploding at any given moment.
Philippe Bertonèche & Berengere Hauer
Our heart is with you and the people of Afghanistan. AFRANE and JRS met a long time ago, when Stan D’Souza SJ wrote his first article in "Les Nouvelles d'Afghanistan". Since then, we stayed in contact but never found the opportunity to work really together, as partners. However, in November 2019, everything accelerated: a first meeting and, the week after, we had plenty of ideas to work together. AFRANE's new program provides the opportunity we were looking for. JRS with expertise in training of school directors will provide tools to AFRANE's trainers. AFRANE will probably train JRS' Dari and Maths trainers in Kabul and, maybe, a rapprochement between our two peace project officers can help each other to improve our programs. We had to wait 15 years to really plan something together and the Coronavirus has prevented us from giving it shape. Anyway, we waited 15 years, so we can wait a few months more. The relationship is there now, it's just a question of time and opportunity.
Etienne Gille
I think that the start of JRS work in Afghanistan dates back to Stan D’Souza, a Jesuit demographer who worked in Afghanistan for several years in the early 1970s, not least to prepare a population census. He was present in Afghanistan as a high-level scientist. Knowing the natural friendship that Afghans have towards Indians, and thanks, of course, to his natural qualities, he created solid friendships. Later, when other responsibilities moved him far from Afghanistan, he kept a deep desire to continue to help this country.
Maria Sibille
As one of the Little Sisters, I had the joy to live from 2005 to 2015 in Kabul. My Sisters had been there already some 50 years, so I could join a lively and friendly community. I worked at the Red Crescent, with mentally challenged women. I tried to help them and to find time to play and laugh inspite of all the tough stuff. Until today I remember all of them with love and pain.
Joseph Batac
I met Fr. Santiago when I stayed in the Kabul Guest House in late spring 2005. I highly admire the deep sense of purpose about what was at that time still a work in progress. I always looked forward to having dinner and breakfast with him, trying to figure out how to find ways to support the people in Afghanistan. In 2008, I was given the chance to host Fr. Maria Joseph when teaching in Balkh University.
Dr Anant Sinha
We sincerely thank you all for successfully involving our Devkamal Hospital for the reconstructive surgery of little Nooria. It was the sustained dedication shown by your team that made our job easy. I am glad to be associated with JRS, and even though one trip to Kabul was aborted, another one in near future is not ruled out. I also appreciate the dedication of Silvia. Please continue the great work.
The world is looking up to you all. God bless.
Ronald D'Costa
Fr Jerome Sequeira brought to us the magical world of Afghanistan with his pictures and presentations. We are privileged to have been part of this journey in assisting a young, enthusiastic, brilliant doctor from Afghanistan who requested an opportunity for training in treating tropical diseases. Dr Tahera turned out to be our window to Afghanistan. The Jesuit influence on her was very evident. Perceptive and warm, she reached out to patients and her co-workers making her mark as an ambassador for JRS and for her country.
We are grateful to JRS for having given us an opportunity to collaborate with you. We hope that we will be able to work not only in the medical field but also in entrepreneurship and educational fields.
Jamila Ahrari
JRS is one of those rare organizations to maintain its reputation for honest service. Over the years, the Afghan people have benefited from the JRS valuable services especially in the field of education. JRS supported me to continue my education at Master’s level and I graduated this year. Also this organization supported my classmates and me to establish the Management Studies Organization (MSO). I, as one of the MBA Team and as a member of MSO, have a special congratulatory massage for anniversary of JRS establishment in Afghanistan. Thank you for your support.
Mohammad Arif Nastoh
In the name of Allah, the most merciful and the most compassionate
I am one of the students who did an online MBA with JRS support with the Assam Don Bosco University of India. We graduated in 2019 and, after that, I with the other MBA students established an organization named MANAGEMENT STUDIES ORGANIZATION (MSO).
Since 2005, your humanitarian services have immensely impacted every sector of our society especially education, as have your tireless efforts to harness peace and educational programs. I would like to thank all the people working in JRS. You are all working hard and tirelessly. JRS does an amazing job and makes huge efforts to organize educational programs. What a privilege it is to be a partner of such an amazing organization, which is filled with such amazing people.
Herat is one of the cities in Afghanistan to which most of the refugees, who have returned from Iran, have settled and reintegrated. So also, a high number of IDPs from different affected provinces have settled and reintegrated in Herat Province. Because of the high number of returnees and IDPs, JRS opened an office 15 years ago in Herat Province to serve and provide equality education, vocational training and emergency relief for the retegration of returnees/IDPs and minority ethnic groups.
Hamid Reza Zaher
As we are celebrating the 15th anniversary of JRS’ great and constructive presence in Afghanistan, I take this opportunity to extend my sincere thanks to all skilled JRS national and international staff for their efforts and commitments towards developing the Afghans’ living conditions especially of returnees, IDPs and the most vulnerable ones in the country.
I heard the name of JRS on a sunny day from a man who was like an angel of God and who found us in such a rural area. I joined JRS after losing my father to an incurable illness. My father was the most precious person of my life, determined, religious, and brave. I feel I can be as strong as he was. When JRS came, it was amazing and unbelievable that we could learn English in our own community. I was very interested in studying English, like I was dreaming to study more and professionally. When I travelled to Bamiyan to study English and Computers, it was the first time I was travelling out of my province. It opened a new window towards a new world. The most effective thing that the new world introduced me to was online learning.
Mohammad Taqi Delsoz
Congratulations on 15 years of JRS meaningful journey in Afghanistan. Since we cannot come together on such an important day due to Coronavirus, please accept my true congratulations and thank you so much for inviting me to this anniversary. As founder and head of KACSO, I am proud of being a partner of JRS since 2006. Of 31 years of my life, the best, sweetest, and most useful part is considered to be working in the education sector with the JRS team, particularly Fr Stan.
Professor Mohammad Arif Yosufi
Congratulation to all the JRS AFG team on its 15th anniversary. Since its inception, JRS has carried out fundamental work in Afghanistan. When Bamiyan University started and I was Chancellor, JRS provided basic and fundamental assistance to Bamiyan. JRS helped our professors and students in the English language section and the necessary trainings on teaching principles and teaching methods.
Zakia Frogh
The more you grow up, the more you have to engage with society. For some it becomes very difficult to find their proper place in society. Fortunately, for our Hariva Village of Peace Organization (HVPO) team, it was easier than for many others who live in Afghanistan. Still it was very clear to each one of us when we joined the JRS team for the first time. “JRS” was a word that attracted most of us. Nowadays, it is the team we are thankful for. We suggest that other people join our family, because the position we have currently, the only reason is JRS. We are helping our students to learn a new language by which they will be able to get their higher education, access technology and make a bright future. As part of the big JRS family, HVPO is extending the reach of JRS and we commit to follow this path in the future.