Advocacy...

It has been a long day for me here but there are still a number of things for me to do. Before I start doing those things I would want to pen a word that has kept ringing in my mind since last Saturday. The word is advocacy. Why it caught my attention, well here is the story…

I was attending a Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) meeting and the Fr Bernard the Asia Pacific regional director touch on one of the three mission element of JRS, which is advocate. Many people have the idea of advocacy as carryout criticizing, going public about certain things, rallying, protesting… but actually advocacy is building relationship. He shares some examples, like it was through communication and discussion with the prison authority that JRS was able to bring medical care to the refugees in the detention camps. It was through building good relationship with the government and authorities that better essential facilities were build for the immigrant community.

It might be a slow process but it works in this region. I guess we have to be creative carryout advocacy and having a good relationship is one of the important ways.