During the 36th General Congregation for the Society of Jesus, JRS had the opportunity to meet with Jesuits that previously worked for JRS.This is the first of a series of articles featuring their experiences in the field.
Rome, 5 December 2016 - Fr Varkey Perekkatt SJ, former field director for JRS in Nepal, believes that education is what enabled more than 100,000 Bhutanese refugees to be resettled and find a better future.
Fr Varkey started working for the Jesuit Refugee Service South Asia Region in Nepal in 1998 after tens of thousands of Bhutanese people of Nepali origin fled persecution and crossed into India and Nepal for protection and asylum. The Bhutanese government cracked down on minorities, using rape, arson, deportation, and other tactics in an attempt to "protect" Bhutanese culture. By 1991, one-sixth of Bhutan's population was seeking asylum in Nepal and India.Since 1994, JRS and Caritas Nepal along with UNHCR and other NGOs have worked together providing emergency relief, medical care, shelter, primary and secondary education, teacher training, vocational education, and education for adults and refugees with disabilities. JRS staff also visited refugees and their families in their homes to emphasise the importance of education.
In 2003, Fr Varkey become the field director in Nepal where he oversaw all levels of JRS' Bhutanese Refugee Education Programmes (BREP). During that time, he made constant visits to schools through the camps and noted that students were always eager to do well. Some schools had nearly 7,000 children.
Working with a largely Hindu population, Fr Varkey described how people of different faiths would stand in solidarity with another.
