Service Trips
Domestic Immersion Trips
"Amazing Breaks" Alternative Spring Break Experience
Students are exposed to different social, cultural, and economic situations in the United States while contributing to the community in which they work. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in a transformative experience through encounters with the poor, cross-cultural communication, action, and reflection. Trips take place during spring break and in May after graduation. Open to all classes.
Past service sites:
Christian Appalachian Project - Lancaster, KY
Habitat for Humanity Intercollegiate Challenge - various sites
Urban Plunge - New York City
Best Friends Animal Sanctuary - Kanab, UT
Camp Restore - New Orleans, LA
View a presentation on the 2013 Amazing Breaks
Download the 2013 Amazing Breaks Application
Contact: Wylie Smith Blake, ext. 2668
International Service and Immersion Programs
The Office of Campus Ministry has had a long tradition of offering students the opportunity to spend time in other countries to learn about the realities, hopes, and struggles of those living in situations of economic, political, or social marginalization.
The goal of the International Service and Immersion programs is for student participants to deepen their relationships with God through:
- Sharing in the lives of those living in poverty through short-term service projects and living experiences
- Reflecting critically on issues of faith and justice
- Being exposed to the wonderful diversity of God's creations through an encounter with those living in a culture different from their own
- Offering their skills, resources, and gifts for the purpose of creating a more just and loving world
Service and Immersion trips typically occur during the semester breaks in January and May, and sometimes over spring break in March.
The application process for participants begins several months prior to each trip's departure date, and the commitment continues for several months after each trip's return. This allows for weekly meetings, retreats, fundraising events, speakers, and in-services - opportunities to make connections through local service work and many awareness-building events.
Contact:
Jocelyn E. Collen, M.Div., ext. 2767
Applications:
Apply for the
Ecuador International Service and Immersion Program
Program Information:
Jamaica | Nicaragua | El Salvador | Ecuador | World Youth Day
San Salvador, El Salvador
Spring Break Pilgrimage and Immersion Encounter
March 9-March 17, 2013
CRISPAZ (Christians for Peace in El Salvador) was founded in 1984. CRISPAZ is a faith-based organization dedicated to the mutual accompaniment with the church of the poor and marginalized communities in El Salvador. In building bridges of solidarity between communities in El Salvador and those in our home communities, they strive together for peace, justice and human liberation. As an organization, they are politically non-partisan and committed to non-violence.
Goals of the El Salvador Encounter program:
- To provide opportunities for North Americans (and other English speakers) to have an intensive educational experience in El Salvador
- To create spaces in which people of faith can mutually support and share experiences with one another
- To facilitate contact that will encourage commitment to the accompaniment of the poor in El Salvador
- To provide opportunities for the experiences, insights, struggles, needs and hope of the Salvadoran people to be heard and recognized
- To remember the martyrs of El Salvador including Archbishop Oscar Romero, the six Jesuits from the UCA, their housekeeper, and her daughter, and the four North American Church women
Encounters are designed to provide a well-rounded and in-depth experience. In order to do so, CRISPAZ believes that much preparation is required both on the part of Encounter participants and CRISPAZ staff. They also believe that education is a permanent and continual process, involving both reflection and action. Therefore, CRISPAZ staff in El Salvador and Cincinnati will do everything they can to assist before, during, and after the trip to make the Encounter the best possible experience.
Information about CRISPAZ
Application for Pilgrimage and Immersion Trip to El Salvador, Spring Break 2013/p>
Application Due December 10, 2012 by 10 p.m.
Quito, Ecuador
May 20-June 2, 2013
Program Description
While in-country, Ignatian Solidarity Corps Program participants will partner with the Working Boy's Center, a family-centered total development program, geared towards providing education, vocational training and life-skills development for the working children of Quito and their families.
Founded in 1964 to address the educational needs of boys working on the streets shining shoes, the WBCs objective has been to eliminate poverty among working children and their families. To date, over 6,000 families or around 30,000 people have left poverty forever as a result of the Working Boys' Center program. In 2007, the Working Boys' Center commissioned an external study of the impact of operations on its beneficiaries. The results concluded that the WBC method has successfully inserted 75% of its graduates into society and the labor market, due to the integral education received at the WBC.
While partnering with the work and accompaniment of the WBC, program participants will have the opportunity to engage with a variety of programs and projects, including teaching with year-long volunteers, working in the center's workshop, dispensary, soup kitchen and surrounding mission stations, as well as working to build a house for a local family in a community-sponsored program called a "minga." Through their work and daily living, participants will be immersed in the daily reality of center, eating meals with the children and their families, and spending time learning their stories.
Participants will also have an opportunity to meet with the community leaders and learn about the hopes and struggles, as well as the rich cultural heritage of Quito, a UNESCO World-Heritage Site, through participation in a variety of cultural and immersive excursions. Participants will share in community-based activities to maintain the living quarters such as shopping at the market, cooking and cleaning and participants will stay in the Center's primary house, located on the Center's main campus, on the outskirts of Quito. The sights, sounds, and experience will help each participant realize what it means to live in Quito, and be a member of the Center's "Family of Families." Some knowledge of Spanish is helpful, but not necessary.
Site Description
The Working Boy's Center
Quito, Ecuador
The Working Boys' Center, a "Family of Families," is a joint social-work of the Jesuits and the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This unique family development movement focuses all its attention on working children and their families. The Center has many programs to achieve its goals of helping the poor become agents of their own prosperity and the prosperity of others.
Family of Families
The strength of a society depends on the welfare of the whole family. All members of the families of the working boys receive the benefits provided by the WBC and learn a technical profession. In this way they contribute to the elimination of unemployment, one of the determining factors of poverty.
The Ten Values and programs to achieve the goals are:
- Loyalty
- Personal formation
- Family
- Religion
- Education
- Health
- Work
- Recreation
- Economy
- Housing
The family is the essential component of the WBC, which seeks to strengthen mutual respect and solidarity of the family and the community. There are weekly meetings directed at personal formation and strengthening families so that they may become agents of their own prosperity. Service to the community is an important aspect of formation. Each member participates two hours daily in "family activities" aimed at strengthening commitment in this area. Consolidation of religious formation is helped by daily Eucharistic celebrations, faith sharing groups, and opportunities for annual reflection or "retreat experiences." Sunday community mingas strengthen the commitment to the neighborhood. This program focuses on helping one another to build better housing and basic neighborhood services. Budgeting and savings programs promote financial planning and putting money aside for housing and other family needs.
Magis & World Youth Day
July 12-July 28, 2013 - Brazil
Magis and World Youth Day is a pastoral experience of Ignatian programs and events in the days leading up to World Youth Day for pilgrims from Jesuit institutions. The motto for this year's Magis comes from the 35th General Congregation of the Jesuits and is "the nations await us." Magis will be held in locations across Brazil, beginning in Salvador da Bahia.
Organized by the Society of Jesus and other institutions, the Magis initiative gets its name from the Jesuit phrase meaning "the more." The roots of the phrase come from St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, who encouraged those who follow Christ to examine their ability to do more for him and, in turn, for others. It is an expression of an aspiration and inspiration of Ignatius and is a tenet of Ignatian spirituality.
2013s Magis initiative will particularly resonate with Jesuits in the U.S., their partners, and those with an interest in the Society of Jesus in the Americas because it is taking place where the Society first gained a foothold in the new world, and where so much of the inspiring missionary work took place in the Jesuit reductions of South America, made popular in the film "The Mission."
It all started with a meeting hosted by Pope John Paul II in 1984. It was an encounter of love, dreamed of by God and embraced by the youth. Voices that needed to be heard and a heart ready to receive them.
The World Youth Day (WYD) as it was named in 1985 continues to show the world the witness of a living and renewing faith, transforming the face of Christ in every young person.
They are the young, the protagonists of this great gathering of faith, hope and unity. WYDs main objective is to make known to all youth in the world the message of Christ, but it is also true that, through them, the 'face' Young Christ is also shown to the world. The World Youth Day, held annually in the dioceses of the world, provides every 2 or 3 years an international meeting of young people with the Pope, which lasts about a week. The latest edition of the International Youth Day was held in August 2011, in Madrid, Spain, and brought together more than 190 countries.
The XXVIII World Youth Day will be held from July 23-28, 2013 in the city of Rio de Janeiro and has as its motto, "Go and make disciples of all nations" (Mt 28, 19).
The WYD has its origin in large meetings with the youth celebrated by Pope John Paul II in Rome. The international youth meeting on the occasion of the Holy Year of Redemption came in 1984, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. It was there that the Pope gave to the WYD Cross which became one of the main symbols of WYD, known as the Cross Day.
Managua, Nicaragua
January 3 - January 13, 2013
Nicaragua, the "land of lakes and volcanoes," is known for its natural beauty. Its three main regions present a diversity of settings: the Pacific region offers lakes, volcanoes, tropical forests, and ocean beaches; the mountainous central region is home to coffee plantations and rivers; and the coastline of the Atlantic region boasts rainforests and coral reefs.
Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, is home to the Universidad Centroamericana, a Jesuit University very similar to Fairfield University. While in Nicaragua, Ignatian Solidarity Corps program participants will partner with the UCA and have the opportunity to work with communities in the city of Managua. Partnering with the UCA under the direction of the In-Country Director, participants will have an opportunity to immerse themselves in the urban reality of Nicaraguan life. In the spirit of accompaniment, participants will work with a community building project, an outreach project and a health and wellness project. Through living and working in Managua, participants will also have an opportunity to spend time with people who are economically marginalized in Nicaragua, and learn about the realities of their lives, and bear witness to their struggle while assisting them to meet their daily needs.
Fairfield University maintains a special relationship with the Universidad Centroamericana (UCA). Founded in 1960 by the Jesuits, UCA's mission is to prepare young people for leadership roles in the development of their country. With that in mind, this program offers students an opportunity to understand the challenges facing Nicaraguans as they confront issues of poverty, economic competitiveness, and infrastructure development, and offers insights into Nicaragua's relationship with world powers and trading partners. The program provides students with a transforming experience, develops awareness of social justice issues, and prepares them for committed citizenship.
Participants will also learn about the larger context within which the Nicaraguan issues are situated and attend several presentations on the social, economic, and spiritual issues currently at play in Nicaragua, including the devastating effect of the civil war of the 1980s and the challenges that have resulted from many social issues. Additionally, participants will have an opportunity to work with the micro-finance and development programs of the UCA, and learn about how Nicaraguans are responding to the needs of modern Nicaragua and local artisans are using the social, financial, and health tools to help create a livelihood of dignity and a sense of self-worth.
Kingston, Jamaica
January 3 - January 13, 2013
Program participants will travel to Kingston, Jamaica where they will immerse themselves in the urban reality of Jamaican life. They will serve primarily at several different outreach ministries, including a state-run orphanage, a Sisters of Charity home for the sick and dying, a low-income community vocational center, and a home for children who are severely disabled. Through these ministries participants will have an opportunity to spend direct time with the poor and suffering of Jamaica, learn about the realities of their lives, and bear witness to their struggle.
Participants will also learn about the larger context within which the Jamaican issues are situated. Participants will attend a number of speakers on the social, economic, and spiritual issues currently at play in Jamaica, including the devastating effect of Jamaica's international debt and the world market, and the violence that has resulted from a number of deeply seated social issues. Additionally, participants will have an opportunity to bear witness to the vibrant cultural life of Jamaica, and a number of Jamaican-based community development projects.
Mission of Jamaica Volunteer Foundation (JVF)
The Mission of the JVF is to provide an international volunteer service opportunity for U.S. university students on the island of Jamaica in the Caribbean. The Program is designed to give the students an exposure to another culture, working with those of the greatest need.
The program is also designed to provide support and assistance to the residents and staff of the various placement sites in Kingston, Jamaica. Volunteers will work with the elderly, the young, and others who are disadvantaged.
- Lead a simple lifestyle
- Build an intentional Christian community
- Be in relationship with the Jamaican people and reflect on the face of Christ in their joys and struggles
- Work with the Jamaican people to find long-term solutions to the problems of poverty and together seek opportunities to improve the lives of the people
JVF participants are thus witnesses to the Gospel and a source of hope and light in the community. These experiences inspire life-long commitments to service, social justice, and solidarity with the people of Jamaica and the world.
Primary Sites for Participant Service
The Jamaica Volunteer participants will work at one or at several Catholic social service sites in Kingston, the capital city of Jamaica. Volunteers work with the elderly, the young, those with disabilities, or in need.
- Missionaries of Charity Home
Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity have a home for elderly and homeless in a poor urban area of downtown Kingston. Volunteers would assist with feeding, cleaning, and bathing, shaving of the men, sweeping, and miscellaneous tasks. There is also a need to visit and to spend quality time talking with and listening to the residents. - St. Margaret's Community Center
St. Margaret's Community Center is run by the St. Patrick's Foundation and is located in a poor urban area of Kingston. It has a school for at-risk primary and high school children, including pregnant teenagers with a nursery; a sewing shop for young women and a woodwork shop for young boys; a health clinic; and a dining area which serves meals for local elderly. Volunteers would assist at any or all of the areas which includes teaching and tutoring, assisting to serve meals and wash dishes, and helping as needed at the health clinic. - Pre-Primary School at Riverton City
There is a small pre-primary school located in an economically poor area known as "Riverton City," a shanty town built on and next to the old Kingston city dump. The school is located on a fenced compound and is a small four-classroom cement building, with an attached a health clinic for people of the area. There is also a vocational training center in a separate building. Volunteers would primarily teach and serve as teacher's aides for the small children of the school or assist in games and sports activities. Volunteers could also help at the Health Clinic or at the vocational center, if it is open. - St. Monica's Home
St. Monica's is a home run by the St. Patrick's Foundation located on the Mandela Highway in an area near Spanishtown, outside of Kingston. It is a home for the elderly and for victims of Hanson's disease (leprosy). Volunteers would assist in feeding, cleaning and sweeping, writing letters, and talking with and listening to the elderly residents.
In the past volunteers have been asked at the various sites to help in serving meals, washing or shaving, entertaining or writing letters, tutoring or physical education/ sports, health clinic assistance, and physical labor (painting, building, cleaning, etc.).