Jesuit Mission News
No 611 March-April 2015
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Good Stewardship
A
Every Dollar
Counts
$1 is enough to
provide a child in
Myanmar with a
meal so they
can concentrate
and learn during
the day.
s I grow into my
role as the
Director –
following in the footsteps
of Jesuits like Fathers
Drumm, O’Donovan,
Curtin and Crotty – I’ve
now met many of our
long-term friends across
the country. I have
heard what Jesuit
Mission means to you.
This has been a
moving and learning
experience, hearing
of the long
connections families
have had with our
efforts on behalf of
the marginalized in
developing
nations. People are
also appreciative
of our management of their generous donations. I
am conscious therefore that I am really now a steward:
of memories, of relationships and of valuable and hardearned resources. My office thus needs to make sure
that we are good stewards, efficient and operationally
up-to-date. After all, every organization can still improve
on its daily practices. When Jesuit Mission operates
efficiently we make sure that the generosity and trust of
our friends is thereby respected and valued. I do not
take this responsibility lightly. Best stewardship also
enables us to help where the needs are greatest and we
can do the greatest good.
I am conscious therefore that there are some
savings that we can readily make. For instance, the
3 raffles we run annually cost my office and the
planet substantially. At present, there are
significant postage costs (around $8000 each
time), printing (a further $5-10,000) and of course
the hours spent by paid staff and volunteers
processing and handling the actual tickets
themselves, which takes them away from talking
more deeply with friends and engaging with our
communities’ needs offshore. There is also a cost
to future generations with all the paper we
produce and the energy we expend.
The usual practice has also been to buy the prizes
we raffle, and even with the generosity of our car
dealership friends, for instance, this is a large outlay.
Thus raffles costs us well over $15,000 each time,
not pricing externalities. Given that total
expenditure for a 4-year teaching degree at our
planned teaching institute in Kasait (Timor Leste) is
only a little under $5000, the question arises as to
whether or not the raffle expenditure is the most
effective way to support the young teachers we are
forming, who will then help a nation. Yet, raffles do
raise us some significant money – around $70,000
or more each time. Thus, much like the meat-tray at
a local footy club, there is obviously an appetite still
for a good raffle! My question is: how does Jesuit
Mission be the best steward regarding raffles? On
the back page I seek your advice, and I am always
open to your comments and suggestions. My
answer today – which will certainly change once I
get all your feedback – is that once again Jesuit
Mission will have a raffle this Autumn. At the same
time, I will try to help the environment, my staff and
the communities we serve. Thus, our raffle
this year is going online. We still have
great prizes, there are still only
10,000 tickets sold so chances are as
good as ever, and now we’re
keeping costs down too. Please help
us help the people we serve and lets
all help the environment at the same
time! Good luck and, as ever, thanks for
your generosity and support!
2 • Jesuit Mission News
Sabai Chet, Happy Heart
By Haley Farrell
R
olling through the gates of Metta
Karuna Reflection Centre, the face
you will first encounter is that of
Sokha. As her head perks up above the
table of sculptures and trinkets at Sokha’s
Shop, her eyes and smile will greet you in
a genuine hallmark of loving hospitality.
Sokha was born without legs and with a
total of seven fingers between both
hands. She spent her early life selling
flowers outside of a hotel in Siem Reap
and renting out mobile phones to tourists
in the 1990s. When she was left out of a
job as the hotel upgraded, she soon met
Father Enrique “Kike” Figaredo, now
Bishop of Battambang Diocese, and Sister
Denise Coghlan RSM, now Director of
Jesuit Refugee Service Cambodia. In
1996, Sokha received her first wheelchair
from Jesuit Service Cambodia.
From 1997 until 2000, Sokha studied
sculpting at Banteay Prieb (Center of the
Dove), a vocational training center and
home for individuals with physical
disability that is run by Jesuit Service
Cambodia outside of the capital city,
Phnom Penh. The Center aims to impart
skills and values that enhance students’
dignity and lay the groundwork for self-
reliance. After graduation in the year
2000, Sokha faced some difficult years as
she was deserted by her husband and
was left heartbroken after putting her
son in an orphanage to allow him the
possibility of a better life.
While slowly rebuilding her life again
with Samnang back in the center of it,
Sokha began working at Metta Karuna
Reflection Centre in 2011. Today, she
continues to work as a member of the
hospitality team, a co-coordinator of the
Women with Disability Project, which
builds community between handicapped
women in villages across Cambodia
through outreach and assistance, and as
the shopkeeper at the Centre.
Volunteering at Metta Karuna has gifted
me many special moments. One of the
most notable moments occurred while
talking to Sokha. Her eyes welled with tears
as she reflected, “Before it was just me with
nothing. But now, sometimes I wake up in
the middle of the night and I am happy,
happy, happy because I have work I like, I
bought a moto tricycle, I have land and a
house, and I can help my son. Sister Denise
always tells me ‘la-oh na! (very good!)’.
Now my heart is strong, strong, strong.
Now I have a sabai-chet (happy heart).
Haley met Father Jeremy Clarke, current
Director of Jesuit Mission Australia, while
studying International Studies and
Theology at Boston College in the USA.
Wheels for Cambodia
Usually, the Autumn Appeal is a raffle. This raises much money, but also costs us: printing, postage, the prizes and the time it
takes our staff to process. Raffles use lots of paper. Thus, this year our Maytime Fair Raffle is online, via Trybooking system.
We believe your generosity should support the people we serve, not go into
administration costs.
2015 Raffle Prizes:
1. Kia Cerato S Hatch MY 15
Automatic $25,290 drive away
2. $1500 travel vouchers
3. $500 worth of quality wines from the Sevenhill Jesuit Cellars
Car sourced from Essendon Nissan & Kia
Please follow this link www.trybooking.com/GXYX to purchase tickets
Jesuit Mission News • 3
Our New Abode
I
n the early 1960s Jesuit Mission was
given outright the property we have
been using as our office, at 31 West St,
North Sydney. The wonderful donor’s
express wish was “that the property
should be used or disposed of as the
Australian Jesuit Mission” saw fit. Since
then this fine federation house has been
making do as an office facility, and has
been the nerve centre of our national
operations. That act of generosity has
enabled us to help so many communities
over the years, first in Hazaribag and now
more recently in places like Timor Leste.
The building has also accrued in value
and is now a substantial investment
property. In the interests of good
stewardship therefore my Board asked
me to investigate whether or not the
best use of this house is as an office
space or could it be leased and the
income used in a better way. Had 31
West Street become a ‘lazy asset’?
Having done the figures, and consulted
widely, it does seem best practice for us
to move to the Ron Dyer Centre – the
parish centre next to St Mary’s Church,
North Sydney – where we will be in a
modern building constructed for
contemporary office purposes rather
than making do in a converted house.
This will enable us to be even more
professional in our daily operations and
will also connect us more
deeply with the North
Sydney parish communities.
A particularly attractive
aspect of the move for me
is the fact that the Ron Dyer
Centre also has an elevator
and thus our elderly
volunteers and supporters
will be able to visit us more
easily. I have always found it
embarrassing and
unfortunate that the people
we serve in Cambodia, like
Sokha for instance, would
not be able to visit us in our office
because we have too many steps. Now,
not only will the income we earn enable
us to work more efficiently, we can also
do more for more people in even more
accessible ways. Please come and visit us
when you can.
BEQUESTS
“I’ve been volunteering for Jesuit Mission since the
time of Fr Drumm in the ‘70s. After 30 years of service
I wanted to ensure I could continue to support the
work Jesuit Mission does into the future so I decided
to include them in my Will. ” Pauline
If you would like to remember us in your Will, or want
more information about how you can support the
work we do abroad please feel free to contact the
office on (02) 9955 8585.
Adelaide Valentine’s
Day Cocktail Fundraiser
$13,000+ raised for Kasait
A huge thank you to Stephanie Hamra and the
St. Ignatius College students who gave up their
Valentine’s night.
Fr Mark Raper SJ with two of our stalwarts
/jesuitmission
@Jesuit_m
@jesuitmissionaus
Fr Prem
JCAP Meeting
Released from
Captivity
Development Officers of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific
recently met at Metta Karuna, at Siem Reap Cambodia. Each of
the officers represents a different province or region and it was a
good opportunity to share resources.
W
e were delighted to hear this morning that one of
our co-workers was delivered from grave
circumstances.
In June last year we informed you that Fr Prem SJ, who had been
Director of Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in Afghanistan for the
previous 5 years, had been abducted by Taliban gunmen. He had
been visiting a school in a remote village supported by JRS. Fr
Prem had spent the majority of his priestly life working with
Afghan and Tamil refugees. News broke early last month that
the Indian Government had negotiated the release and Fr Prem
was on route to his family and friends in Tamil Nadu, India.
Save the Dates
GOLF DAY
April 17 Melbourne, Kew • April 23 Sydney, Manly
MAYTIME FAIR
May 2 Fair Day, Xavier College, Kew
Sydney Tel: 02 9955 8585 • Email: Fr Jeremy Clarke, SJ, [email protected]
Melbourne PO Box 6149, Hawthorn West, VIC 3122
Christchurch Tel: 03 359 5069 • Email: Kerry Moore, [email protected]
Jesuit Mission News is published six times a year • Print post approved PP 349181/0037
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