“We are encounters”: A communications campaign on forced migration in Latin America and the Caribbean

The Network of Provincial Communication Offices of the Conference of Jesuit Provincials of Latin America and the Caribbean (PCO Network) and the Jesuit Network with Migrants for Latin America and the Caribbean (RJM-LAC), have joined the Hospitality team of the RJM-LAC to develop and launch a communication campaign on forced migration in our continent under the name “We are Encounters”, we walk together in the promotion of a Culture of Hospitality with people forced to migrate. We would like to seek a greater coordination of efforts, discourses and actions among the different networks of the CPAL, so that we may have a greater impact while recognizing ourselves as a single apostolic body.  

Those responsible for the campaign are: Natalia Salazar, Luis Gómez, and Javier Cortegoso on behalf of the RJM-LAC, and on the part of the OPC NETWORK: Enilda Ruiz, in charge of communication in the province of Central America, Schirley Echenique, responsible for communication of the province of Venezuela, and Fernanda Falcone, coordinator of the PCO NETWORK and of the Institutional Communication Office of the CPAL. To carry out the project we have the support of the communication offices of all the provinces and their work teams.  

The campaign wants to be a space of broad participation, in which the members of the communication teams of the provinces can contribute their work and raise other efforts that make visible the anguish and sadness, the joys and the hopes of so many people who are forced to migrate between countries within our continent or to other destinations beyond our continent’s borders. The works and contributions should be a channel to share stories of coming together and hospitality, stories that allow us to help rebuild the humanity of those whose dignity has been violated in the midst of the tragedies of forced displacement, as well as that of those with whom they enter in contact. 

In the following 2 paragraphs, those responsible for the campaign summarize the purpose and meaning of the campaign:

“We believe that forced migration is a reality that affects us way beyond just countries, provinces and works; it is truly a tragedy/drama in our Latin American society that challenges us every day and that calls us to respond in a shared way. The works, the institutions, and the people that collaborate in the Society of Jesus have the challenge of articulating and weaving together conversations and actions in the different processes and areas of our mission.” 

“There are more things that unite us than those that separate us; and regardless of where in Latin America and the Caribbean we are, human mobility and the act of humans coming together are part of our lives. We want to tell stories that lead us to recognize, in our own areas of action, the way we are responding to the challenges of forced migration, through the leading actors (protagonists) who experience and weave this reality in each Province.”

 From the CPAL, we want to thank the RJM-LAC and the Network of Communication Offices, because by getting together to work on this campaign, they not only give an answer to the recently published Apostolic Preferences, but also embody the spirit of creative and strategic collaboration that the networks are capable of setting off or generating/provoking. They remind us that networks are a powerful means for us to carry out our mission and go beyond national, provincial, and regional borders.

 Whoever may possibly wish to join this initiative can write to us to: [email protected] requesting the guidelines to follow and the corresponding instructions.

For more information on how to get involved in the campaign, check out this document.

Source: CPAL