“I am not, and I don’t want to become, another Dun Ġorġ Grima.”
That’s one thing Fr Alex Cauchi makes amply clear early in our interview.
“He was one – the founder of the movement. I’m simply keeping his legacy alive as its director.”
This is not the first time since taking on the directorship that Fr Cauchi has had to explain what an enormous feat it would be to fill the shoes of Fr Grima, whose missionary work spanned 40 years.
Fr Cauchi, who turns 49 on Monday, has returned to Malta after 22 years in Brazil and Peru. His mission here is to make sure the movement’s wheel continues to turn, after slowing down slightly following Fr Grima’s demise.
Among its major projects, Ġesu fil-Proxxmu (Jesus in Thy Neighbour) feeds 23,000 children taking part in education programmes in Brazil, Kenya and Ethiopia, and has built several dwellings, schools and hospitals, its latest being a centre for children with disabilities in Ethiopia.
Gozo-born and raised, Fr Grima embarked on his missionary work in 1977 in Brazil, founding the movement a decade later. He passed away in September 2017 after undergoing heart bypass surgery.
Since then, donations have declined while expenses are ever on the rise.
Fr Cauchi observed that the most loyal benefactors had kept up their donations but others seemed to be getting cold feet and some thought the movement had died with the passing of Fr Grima.
As things stand, the movement’s outlay is higher than its revenues. Its feeding programme alone costs €80,000 a month.
All beginnings are difficult, and I’m taking it day by day
Fr Cauchi said a request for assistance was made to him by Fr Grima in July of 2017, only a couple of months before he passed away. The younger priest had promised to return the following summer and spend a year with Fr Grima to learn the ropes and understand whether he could take on the role.
But that decision was made for him. That September, he was asked by Bishop Mario Grech to assume the directorship of the movement.
He has since visited the movement’s projects in Africa and believes there is huge potential to turn things around in Kenya and Ethiopia, where the situation is similar to that of northeast Brazil 50 years ago. In Africa, he says, people are willing to work and the tourism industry, among others, is picking up, creating new jobs.
Inspired by the work of the Church in Brazil, where the poor are empowered rather than simply assisted, he hopes that small initiatives in the African countries will kick off sustainable projects.
“We plan to provide residents with brick moulds and cement, so that they can produce bricks for the movement’s own projects, rather than resorting to buying them off a producer from a faraway city,” he explained.
“This way, the residents can learn a skill and start their own business, becoming self-sustainable.”
When it comes to donations of animals like cows and sheep, the movement would be tying the beneficiaries to providing the diocese with a calf or a lamb, which would then be gifted to another family in need.
By empowering people to become self-sustainable, they would in turn become less dependent on the movement, and the organisation could then move on and focus on other areas in need, he says.
“All beginnings are difficult, and I’m taking it day by day, believing, as Dun Ġorġ did, in providence.”
Still, he is well aware of the fundraising difficulties faced by smaller charities like the movement.
He has started networking with Maltese migrant benefactors in Australia, Gibraltar, and the movement has opened two charity shops on Triq l-Ewropa and Pjazza Savina in Victoria – a concept that has gone down well with residents and visitors.
Visit www.gesufilproxxmu.com or call on 2155 6453 for more information about how to help out the organisation. Donations can also be made by SMS on 5061 7365 for €2.33, 5061 8083 for €4.66 and 5061 8933 for a donation of €6.99.