Quarterly Bulletin

Bulletin 65
3rd Quarter 2005

THE JCTR UPDATE: PEOPLE AND ACTIVITIES

WHAT KEEPS US BUSY AT THE JCTR?  HERE ARE SOME RECENT ITEMS OF INTEREST

DEBT AND TRADE PROJECT

ack Jones Zulu attended the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in New York in September. Focus was on the meaning of debt cancellation for HIPC countries like Zambia. He and Saul Banda have been communicating that message to our provincial Jubilee-Zambia teams, most recently with visits to Ndola, Livingstone and Monze.

The United Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was help in New York in mid-September. Pete Henriot participated in the week of civil society meetings, chairing a session on “IMF and MDGs.” He took part in the events of the Summit with press credentials from THE POST (Lusaka). He also went to Washington DC for the launch of a collection of essays edited by Frans Wijsen, Rodrigo Mejia, S.J. and him on The Pastoral Circle Revisited: a critical Quest for Truth and Transformation.

CHURCH’S SOCIAL TEACHING PROJECT

The JCTR Church’s Social Teaching calendar for 2006 prepared by Arthur Garande, S.J. from Hekima College in Nairobi was printed. They are now available for sale at our offices.

Pete Henriot traveled to South Africa in July for a board meeting of Dennis Hurley Institute.  The Institute is involved in peace and reconciliation programmes.

SOCIAL CONDITIONS RESEARCH

Chris Petrauskis and Innocent Ndashe traveled to Malawi in September to share the methodology and use of the Basic Needs Basket (BNB) with our colleagues at the Centre for Social Concern in Lilongwe. They also spent an evening with the Jesuit Community there. Plans to launch a pilot BNB survey in two rural areas are underway; to supplement the monthly data now gathered from six urban areas.

The monthly surveys, along with the press releases by Muweme Muweme, continue to get wide circulation in the media and active use by trade unions, government and civil society.

Elias Omondi, S.J., from Hikimana centre Nairobi visited JCTR in August to share experiences with us.

JCTR SOCIAL FORUM

With the constitution making in process JCTR Staffs had time to reflect on some of the clauses in the constitution. Among the clauses discussed were the Christian nation, citizenship, bills of rights and loan contracting process. Land, culture and attitudes were topics that enriched our indoor sharing.

JESUITS CENTENARY IN ZAMBIA

The Jesuits launched the centenary stamps in July. They are four types that have Bishop Paul Lungu, Jules Torrend, Joseph Moreau and St. Ignatius. They are already in use in the Zambian postal services.

In August celebrations were held in Chikuni, while Kasisi celebrations were in October. It was good to see all the missionaries that had worked in Zambia to come back and celebrate with us.

THANK YOU TO CHARITY

We experienced a sad loss but a joyful opportunity with the movement of Charity Musamba to PhD studies at the University of Duisberg in Germany at the end of September. Charity had been with JCTR for almost six years, coordinating our debt cancellation effort and the Jubilee-Zambia campaign.

 In recognition of her outstanding work, she has been awarded a full fellowship for development and economic studies. We will miss her greatly, but are very proud and appreciative of her achievements and look forward to her return to Zambia after three or four years.  To Charity we say Twakalumba twakatandabala.

Bulletin 65

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