Hello from Rome; ( I still can’t believe I am living in this wonderful place ) 30.Nov.2008
Well, I have now been here long enough to have learned quite a bit about my job. However, it still feels I have so much left to learn. Everyday there is something new. My work is interesting because of the wide range of stuff we deal with. I’ll give a summary.
During the course of a week we may use as many as five languages. I am not fluent in five but I have to work with them. Just yesterday, I made up an invitation to an Economic Seminar in French, Italian, Spanish and English. The last two were a piece of cake. Italian I can write. But French…I have no idea. My boss is extremely busy and therefore, just gives me work and doesn’t ask if I can do it or not. It is assumed I will do it. So I look in dictionaries and I do a lot of spell checks with different language programs on the computer. In the end, I ask a friend who is completely fluent in six languages to review it for mistakes. I also receive emails in even more languages including Chinese!!!
Now what is it that we are actually working on at Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC)? Well, have you heard of the problems in Dem. Republic of Congo? This office helped organize a meeting in Rome of organizations who have people there and discussed what joint declarations, activities or actions they could take. Of course, you know about the worldwide economic problems. This office is designing a seminar to educate others on the issues. This office is preparing a seminar on Ecology and another on Africa and it’s special needs.
There are many meetings throughout the weeks and each has a different focus. There is a Fair Trade Group working on a booklet and a campaign to promote Fair Trade. There is an Anti-Human Trafficking group working to get governments to stop illegal trafficking and implement laws. There is a group that works with the United Nations to speak for the voiceless poor. There is a group that lobbies governments on behalf of African nations to help them relieve their debts and stop wars. There is an Environmental group, there is a Migrant group, there is another group that works on publications. There is an HIV/AIDS group. …there are a lot of groups trying to help the poor….
All these groups are integrated and working together on these issues. Involved are large organizations like Caritas International, PAX Cristi, Catholic NGOs, and many Pontifical offices as well as other Christian religions, NGOs and UN groups. The scope is really amazing. You should see the email listings. Literally, tens of thousands of people all over the world. The problem is that emails are constantly changing and we just can’t keep up. In addition this office is publishing all sorts of manuals, texts, diskettes, power points and resource material to support all the above activities.
Now realize that this office has only ONE full-time person plus me as a volunteer doing the coordinating of all the above activities. We rely upon the volunteer spirit of the people we work with. Without their selfless giving of time, expertise and energy it would not be possible to do so much. Translators here cost about 300 USD per day!!! We don’t have a budget for that so we need volunteers to translate. I have also been called upon from time to time to do Spanish translations. During a recent workshop I translated the movie called "Shawshank Redemption" !! You can imagine how exhausting that was. But it was also fun.
That is the word I think of most because I am having fun. Fun learning. Fun living here. Fun meeting all these interesting people and Fun working for God. This is a blessing and I am privileged to be here. I am busy but it is good, honest work. I hope and pray that YOUR life is fulfilling too.
Love and prayers…gabe
PS: Two pictures attached. One of me. One of a 2,000 year old city called Ostia about one hour west of Rome on the Mediterranean coast.
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