Voices from the Communion: Janka Adameová, head of the education diaconal programme
Already in Slovakia, Janka Adameová understood that a good education is valuable, but that in her youth it was more important to be together with people who are different because of their background or life story. Adameová, who now fights for justice, is the director and co-founder of the International Academy for Diaconia and Social Action, Central and Eastern Europe (interdiac).
Interdiac is an educational agency that supports the churches and ecumenical partners of the Lutheran World Federation by teaching and promoting principles of good practice in diaconal ministry in the region.
Adameová is a member of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Slovakia.
Through her work with interdiac, Adameová passes on what she learned in her youth, providing a learning environment for those who are called to care for “the least of these”. (Mt. 25)
What motivates you to work for justice?
My deep motivation is to give people the opportunity to receive an education. This stems from the influence of my parents and my grandparents. I remember what my grandfather told me in my youth: “School can teach you and give you a good start in life, but the most important thing is to be together with people. Being together with people is an opportunity to discover the world.”
During the Cold War, we did not have much freedom of movement, but when I was 13 years old, there was a change in the political regime, and the world opened up to me. I was offered a scholarship to study abroad together with other international students. In a diaconal programme, we went into homes for the elderly and among other young people who had the same calling to work with marginalized people. Working with the elderly taught me what it means to be weak and to ask for help. I was moved by society’s response to death and the process of dying, and by how important it is to accompany a person who is dying. At such an early age, this affected me deeply. I learned how to uphold people’s dignity.
What is the difference between diaconia and social work?
Ten years ago we held discussions with our interdiac partners: diaconal agencies and churches. We wanted to understand what leads people to work in faith-based diaconia, how they differ from those employed in other social assistance institutions. We concluded that a values-based approach is one of the key differences. That is why it is visible in our curricula – in addition to the knowledge and disciplines that are taught to social workers.
The fact that we are values-based means that we incorporate spirituality and theology into our approach to learning and teaching diaconia. We offer reflection, prayer and the reading of the Bible. That is why we do not look at poverty only from a cognitive level, but rather at what the biblical text tells us about our calling in relation to poverty. These are the spiritual reflections of the interdiac participants.
Explain Interdiac’s approach to education.
Under the leadership of interdiac‘s head of education and co-founder, Tony Addy, our approach to learning is rooted in “liberating pedagogy”, which originates in the work “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” by the Brazilian philosopher and educator Paulo Freire. In the learning process, we want to ensure the active engagement and reflection of participants; they are invited not to stop in the process of cognition and to ask questions about visible and invisible boundaries that threaten social cohesion and hinder social integration.
What is part of the injustices that people face in this region?
One of the problems is the limited access to visas for some nationalities who wish to enter the Czech Republic. This has affected whom we are able to invite as guest lecturers and lecturers to our seminars.
There are also low-income families, a high level of unemployment, injustice against the Roma population and elderly people without family.
How can churches practise diaconia?
By understanding the signs of the times, fulfilling the prophetic calling and speaking on behalf of those people who are unable to do so themselves. Also through the stories of marginalized people who have been affected by the consequences of collapsed systems. The church should be a voice in the world and in society. The church can be a facilitator of change; it must go out to the people and become more diaconal.
What is the LWF’s relationship with your work?
Our cooperation with the LWF began in 2011 with the first seminar in Finland on conviviality, defined as “the art and practice of living together”. We have worked together within the framework of the European Diaconal Process. Since the LWF Assembly in Namibia in 2017, we have continued this process, paying particular attention to “People on the Move”. LWF members from all three European regions take part in this process. We have just begun a new phase of cooperation, in which we plan to incorporate the ideas and experiences of local congregations as we seek conviviality. We are planning other activities together with the LWF, including the creation of a new website.
SILESIA, Czech Republic/GENEVA
16.04.202.
Source: Lutheran World Federation news
LWF/A. Gray