Immigration at our home - CCU Girona

Last Tuesday, November 18th, 2003 Catalan Jesuit Ignasi Maria Azinzua gave a talk about immigration at University Christian Centre in Girona (UCC). Ignasi Maria Azinzua has been working as a missionary in Chad over the past 32 years. We received the invitation to attend this lecture from our friends at the UCC-Girona Maria Àngels Garcia and Cristina Bosch, who are establishing a group focusing on third world concerns in Girona. Some of us were able to attend the interesting discussion which served as a great opportunity to greet our friends.

Ignasi talked about so many things. The tone of his voice and his facial expressions reflected peace, his message carried a very special hope that can’t leave you indifferent. His slide show allowed us to get closer to an unfamiliar country, Chad, where despite having one of the highest poverty index in the world, people live with happiness and a sense of community frequently missed in our stressful first world. He insisted on the importance of knowing history to realize that our stability is based on exploitation of poor country, such as Chad, by our past generations. He also stressed the fact that observation is the first step towards embracing and loving a distant reality in our journey of experiencing a different way of life.

The second part of the discussion focused on our local immigration issue. Ignasi told us that we often have judgments against ‘the different’ by despising their capacities and potential, even unconsciously. He presented a different view by defending the rights of immigrants to seek a better future outside of their countries of origin. At the end of the session, he handed us some working materials along with an interesting conclusion.

We came back home tired but excited with the testimony of a man who believes in a fair world of solidarity. We were also happy to meet our friends Cristina and Maria Angels and felt at home in UCC Girona, although it was our first time there, because of what we share in our unity in Christ.

Good luck with your third world project. See you soon!