Dean Brackley SJ, who volunteered in 1989 to replace the murdered Jesuits at El Salvador's Central American University, d. of cancer on 10/16/2011. Among other things he greeted countless U.S. college students on immersion trips--thus encouraging a culture of solidarity.
Conversation
As he told them: "Have the courage to lose control...to feel useless...to listen...to receive. Have the courage to let your heart be broken...to feel...to fall in love. Have the courage to get ruined for life. Have the courage to make a friend."
Some people misunderstand volunteer programmes. Their direct effects are minor, but they can change people, making them lifelong advocates for the poor/oppressed.
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