Of all the tragedies afflicting youth, one of the hardest for workers to handle is youth suicide. The numbing effect of grief, the undertow of despair, often render our efforts fruitless. Yet Brendan McCarthy cfc in Kolkata, and his co-workers, run an NGO called SERVE, which says it all – Students’ Empowerment, Rights and Vision through Education.
The founders, ex-students of Edmund Rice schools, were deeply moved by suicides of school students in India. But they were also moved to act. What was it in our school systems that produced so many needless deaths?
Advocacy sometimes uses images of ‘finding voices’ and ‘the voiceless’. SERVE stands as a group of passionate people who advocate even for the dead. These short young lives have people here who are listening to them still.
Moy Hitchen, April 14, 2010