The Need

Suscipe St. Ignatius

Receive, O Lord, all my liberty. Take my memory, my
understanding, and my entire will. Whatsoever I have or possess
Thou hast bestowed upon me; I give it all back to Thee and
surrender it wholly to be governed by Thy Will. Give me love for
Thee alone along with Thy grace, and I am rich enough and ask for
nothing more.

Jim Strzok, S.J.
Retreat Director/Construction Manager
strzokj@sjeafr.org

Jim supervises the construction of Ocer Campion Jesuit College. He is the chairman of the Eastern Africa Province's Building Committee. Since first coming to east Africa in 1986, he was responsible for building Xavier House, the Jesuit community in Kampala, uganda and Pedro Arrupe Jesuit Community in Nairobi, Kenya -- a new residence/retirement center on the Jesuit retreat center's grounds. He also presently supervises construction at the Riara Center for Peace and Justice Studies and two resident buildings at Mwangaza Retreat Center, Nairobi, while doing retreat work. Jim graduated from Campion High School in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin in 1957. He taught chemistry, physics and earth sciences until moving to Uganda in 1986. He is Provincial Delegate for Kenya.

The Need

The northern region of Uganda and its main city Gulu have long been marginalized, made even worse by the last 20 years of internal strife and terrible insecurity. Nearly 30,000 children have been abducted and thousands more people maimed or killed by rebels of the so-called Lord’s Resistance Army led by Joseph Kony. Up to 1.6 million people have been “living” in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. Nearly everything in their lives is broken down—culture, family life, morale and morality, health, economy, and education. A senior United Nations official in 2004 called it “the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.” Now, with peace finally dawning, what will be the future for these people? Certainly education will be a key.

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