Fey Alegria wants to educate42 million Africans(Fr Mborong E. SJ)

By Honore Onana Olah, SJ

In response to Pope Francis’s appeal to work in the peripheries, Fey Alegria, a Jesuit social movement for the most disadvantaged, held an international meeting from 28^th August to 2^nd September 2017 in Nairobi, Kenya.

Fr Mborong Etienne, SJ one of the coordinating members of Fey Alegria in Africa, was kind enough to grant us an interview. He shared about the works and mission of Fey Alegria in Africa and the different challenges that this “popular movement” faces in working for the poor:

Fr Mborong Etienne, SJ underlined that the just-ended meeting was “to appropriate Fey Alegria’s identity to the African context.” It was also to share the impact of this “popular movement” in the life of the poor people in many countries especially in Africa. Fey Alegria, according to Fr Mborong SJ, is “a Jesuit work that aims to bring quality education to the most marginalised people in the society.” It is also called a “movement for popular education of the poor that has mission to transform the lives of people so that they can be active protagonists for the transformation of their society.”

Fey Alegria which now has 11 years of presence in Africa gives “quality education to the larger majority.” In fact, underlined Fr Mborong SJ, more than 42 million Africans do not have access to quality education. Inviting people to be generous in supporting the works of Fey Alegria, he added that “this 70 percent of Africans who do not have quality education concerns all of us.” This situation is one of the topmost challenges that Fey Alegria is facing. In other words, “how do you give access of quality education to this population?” The task here is to find funds to manage and administer such schools with large and increasing numbers of students as well as to provide good and quality education for the poor, “in order to cover the cost of education.”

Let us remember that Fey Alegria has been present and is present in many countries in Africa, like Chad (2007), Madagascar (2013), Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Mozambique, Kenya, etc.

To support Fey Alegria and its work for the people, just join them through www.feyalegria.org

By Honore Onana Olah, SJ