A Discussion with Father Jacques Ouedraogo, S.J., Director, Paam Yoodo, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
With: Jacques Ouedraogo Berkley Center Profile
July 15, 2014
Background: As part of the Education and Social
Justice Project, undergraduate student Hopey Fink interviewed Fr. Jacques
Ouedraogo, S.J., the director of Paam Yoodo, a Jesuit spiritual center in
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. In this interview, conducted in July 2014, Ouedraogo discusses
Jesuit pedagogy and values, spiritual accompaniment, and education in Burkinabè
society.
To begin, could you describe to me a bit your personal
story, how you became involved with the center, and your education?
I am Fr. Jacques Ouedraogo, a Jesuit. I joined the novitiate after getting my bachelor’s degree. After two years, I did a degree in philosophy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I worked for two years in Brazzaville, where I taught courses in biology and civic education at a secondary school. I was involved in the operation of a center that was the equivalent of CERCLE [Center of Studies and Reflection for Students (le Centre d’Etude et de Réflexion pour Collégiens, Lycéens et Etudiants)], called CERC (Center for Study and Research for Students and Professionals). I was the director there. DRC was in a civil war then, and in the city, the schools and universities had no libraries. The Jesuits built a center where there was a library and study rooms. Students, and even professors at the university, could come and work quietly and undisturbed. We also organized conferences and cultural activities in collaboration, often, with the French Institute.
After that I studied theology and was appointed director of studies, the equivalent of dean, at a Jesuit institute that trains engineers in Douala. Every year we educated 40 engineers. Students would spend half of their time working at an enterprise and half their time at school. Here the impact of the Jesuit education was clear, because it was important that engineers be capable to respond critically in terms of time and investment; thus we put them in an environment of excellence and service. We had what we call human formation; when students graduate, they are not just a head, they also have cultivated values. We provoke them to reflect on their life, on society, on the environment, so they can have a more or less balanced life, and a family life. These are the values that we instill in the students. In the language we use, it is called cura personalis: the care of the whole person, individually. Each student in this university had an accompanier in human formation.
I worked there for two or three years before going to Spain to do a degree in spiritual theology, and now I am here at the Spiritual Center, where I give retreats and do spiritual direction.
For you, as an instructor, is there a difference in teaching approach for high school students and those in professional studies?
Yes, there is a big difference! High schoolers are not yet at a level where they can use the same concepts. We speak of the same principles, whether to a primary school student or a graduate student; that is, one must form the whole person. If I want to teach a student how to take responsibility in his life or engage in society, I cannot speak in a professional manner to a high school student, because he does not have the same centers of interest. The pedagogic approach changes, but the message stays the same. For example, if I want to sell this piece of paper to a young student, I could not use complex marketing terms. That’s what makes the difference.
Personally, have you always had an interest in education?
I admit, teaching has not always been my passion. When the Society asked me to do it, I did it well. But what my greatest personal passion is what I call accompaniment, which in lay terms I would call counseling. It is what I do here. Counseling has a very different approach, because it is very personal. When I think about my own formation, I think having been engaged in teaching has helped me not only to understand youth better, but also to understand through feedback and reflection that my true vocation is counseling.
During the time you have been doing accompaniment, have there been any societal changes that have had effects on the problems of individuals? Is there a link between the societal situation and personal lives and stories?
Yes, it is striking, actually. There are two points. I am thinking of my experience as dean, someone responsible for students. I often found myself with students who live in very difficult family situations, oftentimes single-parent homes or orphans or those living with health problems or very strong financial difficulties. This has a direct impact on their success in school. There are some who, to combat these struggles, push and push and have impeccable results. It is an investment for them to conceal what they are dealing with at home or the societal problems. There are others who fall under the weight of these difficulties. Here the Jesuit approach says one must have balance, between these two ways of coping. We cannot say, “You are excellent at school, all is well.” No, you have a problem, and you have the power to address it. And, for those who refuse to fight, we must similarly work with the personal context.
The other societal impact I see is that of modern and modernizing society. This is very visible. When society evolves, when people have more material goods to feed their hunger and move them from place to place, this has a great positive effect on their education. And access to information—with the Internet—opens even more the possibilities for young people. Access to information gives them an opportunity also to reflect on the society in which they live. They can understand that they are not alone in the world, and that their actions have an impact on others. As Jesuits, we are able to regard society and encourage students to reflect on it: so that they can be neither slave to it nor apart from it; so they find what is good and what is dangerous; so they forge a personality.
I am Fr. Jacques Ouedraogo, a Jesuit. I joined the novitiate after getting my bachelor’s degree. After two years, I did a degree in philosophy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I worked for two years in Brazzaville, where I taught courses in biology and civic education at a secondary school. I was involved in the operation of a center that was the equivalent of CERCLE [Center of Studies and Reflection for Students (le Centre d’Etude et de Réflexion pour Collégiens, Lycéens et Etudiants)], called CERC (Center for Study and Research for Students and Professionals). I was the director there. DRC was in a civil war then, and in the city, the schools and universities had no libraries. The Jesuits built a center where there was a library and study rooms. Students, and even professors at the university, could come and work quietly and undisturbed. We also organized conferences and cultural activities in collaboration, often, with the French Institute.
After that I studied theology and was appointed director of studies, the equivalent of dean, at a Jesuit institute that trains engineers in Douala. Every year we educated 40 engineers. Students would spend half of their time working at an enterprise and half their time at school. Here the impact of the Jesuit education was clear, because it was important that engineers be capable to respond critically in terms of time and investment; thus we put them in an environment of excellence and service. We had what we call human formation; when students graduate, they are not just a head, they also have cultivated values. We provoke them to reflect on their life, on society, on the environment, so they can have a more or less balanced life, and a family life. These are the values that we instill in the students. In the language we use, it is called cura personalis: the care of the whole person, individually. Each student in this university had an accompanier in human formation.
I worked there for two or three years before going to Spain to do a degree in spiritual theology, and now I am here at the Spiritual Center, where I give retreats and do spiritual direction.
For you, as an instructor, is there a difference in teaching approach for high school students and those in professional studies?
Yes, there is a big difference! High schoolers are not yet at a level where they can use the same concepts. We speak of the same principles, whether to a primary school student or a graduate student; that is, one must form the whole person. If I want to teach a student how to take responsibility in his life or engage in society, I cannot speak in a professional manner to a high school student, because he does not have the same centers of interest. The pedagogic approach changes, but the message stays the same. For example, if I want to sell this piece of paper to a young student, I could not use complex marketing terms. That’s what makes the difference.
Personally, have you always had an interest in education?
I admit, teaching has not always been my passion. When the Society asked me to do it, I did it well. But what my greatest personal passion is what I call accompaniment, which in lay terms I would call counseling. It is what I do here. Counseling has a very different approach, because it is very personal. When I think about my own formation, I think having been engaged in teaching has helped me not only to understand youth better, but also to understand through feedback and reflection that my true vocation is counseling.
During the time you have been doing accompaniment, have there been any societal changes that have had effects on the problems of individuals? Is there a link between the societal situation and personal lives and stories?
Yes, it is striking, actually. There are two points. I am thinking of my experience as dean, someone responsible for students. I often found myself with students who live in very difficult family situations, oftentimes single-parent homes or orphans or those living with health problems or very strong financial difficulties. This has a direct impact on their success in school. There are some who, to combat these struggles, push and push and have impeccable results. It is an investment for them to conceal what they are dealing with at home or the societal problems. There are others who fall under the weight of these difficulties. Here the Jesuit approach says one must have balance, between these two ways of coping. We cannot say, “You are excellent at school, all is well.” No, you have a problem, and you have the power to address it. And, for those who refuse to fight, we must similarly work with the personal context.
The other societal impact I see is that of modern and modernizing society. This is very visible. When society evolves, when people have more material goods to feed their hunger and move them from place to place, this has a great positive effect on their education. And access to information—with the Internet—opens even more the possibilities for young people. Access to information gives them an opportunity also to reflect on the society in which they live. They can understand that they are not alone in the world, and that their actions have an impact on others. As Jesuits, we are able to regard society and encourage students to reflect on it: so that they can be neither slave to it nor apart from it; so they find what is good and what is dangerous; so they forge a personality.
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