292 Global Ethics for Leadership
operative apartments for families and individuals on tight budgets. In
addition, the Foundation is active in international and European refugee
aid, in ethics, education and training projects, in Women Empowerment
and health programmes and providing emergency relief in crisis situa-
tions. Our partners on the ground are local NGOs and the Jesuits with
whom we are cooperating in Switzerland, India, Africa and South Amer-
ica. Our target groups are the poorest of the poor, the outcast, indigenous
peoples and stigmatized sick and disabled people.
The daily challenge of working with different projects and the vari-
ous people involved is sometimes not easy, but there is always a reason
for deep gratitude. In India, with a population of more than 1.2 billion
people, 30%, i.e. 363 million, live below the poverty line. The question
of just how much impact our work has in this country is certainly justi-
fied. Well, maybe it is just the proverbial drop in the ocean - but it is an
important drop, for which I am grateful.
Certainly we cannot change the world, but it is a moving experience
to feel the joy of the people of a whole village in India at the inaugura-
tion of their new village with houses made of brick instead of makeshift
huts with roofs of palm leaves. I recently visited a sewing school in an
Indian slum where 15 young women of different religions smiled at us
cheerfully and proudly displayed the garments they can now make to
order for a textile shop in the city, after appropriate training and under
the guidance of their teacher, and thus ultimately contribute to the
maintenance of their families. It makes sense to have special schools for
migrant children at brick producing factories in southeast India. While
the parents are working hard, the children are looked after and continue
to be educated in the schools on the construction site in order not to have
to have missed a step in the local schools when the family returns to
their home village. I continue to be deeply grateful that we have partners
who propose such projects and are committed to a good organization.