This past June, Julie Mughal, associate director for Humanitarian Action within the Center for Social Impact, organized a trip to the Encuentro Project in El Paso, Texas for faculty and staff from seven member schools of the Jesuit Universities Humanitarian Action Network (JUHAN). Mughal holds the leadership position of convener of JUHAN.

The Encuentro Project is a Jesuit-run encounter program that hosts retreats to facilitate learning and promote peaceful, effective action for greater justice and compassion for migrants and refugee persons at the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez border. Encuentro staff arranged for the JUHAN group to meet with frontline workers who provide care and accompaniment to asylum seekers at the border, including men, women, and children who have survived harrowing experiences to reach safety.

“The numbers of people forced to flee are increasing every year, and humane, ethical solutions need to be explored," said Mughal. "It is clear that globally and nationally, refugee and asylum systems are broken, and a paradigm shift to care for the world’s displaced populations is desperately needed.”

Mughal shared the powerful Encuentro Project experience with 11 JUHAN members and two colleagues from the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS/USA). Representing Fairfield alongside Mughal were Suzanne Marmo-Roman, PhD, associate professor of family therapy and social work, and Karl Uzcategui, associate director of the Office of Student Diversity and Multicultural Affairs.

"This trip illustrated the personal stories behind the headlines, highlighting the struggles, hopes, and dreams of individuals seeking a safer and better life,” said Uzcategui. As a result, participants returned to their home campuses re-energized and eager to continue empowering students to advocate for refugee and migrant causes and to challenge the societal borders in their own communities.

Stressing the importance of empathy, informed dialogue, and active participation when promoting research and supporting advocacy efforts, Uzcategui noted, “Conveying the human side of migration and the challenges migrants face is essential.”

JUHAN, a program convened by Fairfield's Center for Social Impact, was launched in 2006 by Fairfield, Fordham, and Georgetown Universities to raise awareness on Jesuit campuses about the meaning of humanitarian response and its implications for the Jesuit ideology of “men and women for others.” The Network aims to jointly address the humanitarian needs of those who are suffering, driven by the belief that Jesuit academic institutions can be more effective when working together rather than independently. JUHAN seeks to advance both undergraduate humanitarian education and the professional field of humanitarian action. 

Reflecting on all that she and the JUHAN group learned and experienced at the U.S.-Mexico border, Mughal said, "The value of university faculty and staff exploring these issues is critical to our work with students as we help guide them to become civically engaged adults who are able to address this important issue from an individual, national, and global perspective.”