15 BRONX WEEKLY October 27, 2019 www.BXTimes.com
St. Ray’s for Boys restores program offering students new opportunities
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
The revitalized St. Raymond
High School for Boys Campus
Ministry Program is offering
students opportunities to help
improve the quality-of-life in
their community.
The Christian Service Program
encourages and teaches
students the importance of service
and under program coordinator
Damian Carparelli, its
resurgence has made quite an
impact on students offering a
fun, challenging and rewarding
experience.
“When these guys are out
there, they do really good work
and it’s meaningful,” said Carparelli,
who has been director of
the program for a year. “They enjoy
helping people.”
Under the program, seniors
visit community schools such as
St. Raymond’s Elementary School
and St. Helena’s Elementary
School from 3 to 6 p.m. tutoring
kids.
“It was fun helping little kids
with their homework,” said 12th
grader Andres Almeida, who
helped at St. Raymond’s Elementary
after-school program. “I enjoyed
helping the younger generation
and my community.”
St. Raymond’s Christian Service Program 11th graders at Van Cortlandt Park, where the students plant trees, rake the trail, and cut down overgrown vines damaging
trees. Photo courtesy of Damien Carparelli
Juniors are tasked with cleaning
up Van Cortlandt Park every
Friday, preparing the ground
for the springtime and planting
trees, Carparelli said.
Sophomores pick up their
gloves and head out to Orchard
Beach cleaning up the park before
the cold season and after,
while the freshman class spends
time at Pelham Bay Park planting
trees and cleaning up garbage.
It was an enjoyable time for
11th grader Nelson Prevost and
10th grader Justin Abreu cleaning
up the park.
“We cleaned out the tennis
courts and bagged all of the
leaves so the park looked great,”
said Abreu, who visited Pelham
Bay Park.
For Carparelli, who has been
teaching at St. Raymond’s for 17
years, the restoration of the program
was a big task at hand and
a fulfi lling job, he said.
“You have to wear many hats
when it comes to the service program.
I have to organize basically
everything. I am in touch
with principals in the Bronx, the
Parks Department and Van Cortlandt
Park on a weekly basis.
With the kids, I’m making sure
they’re on buses and doing their
work going on trips with them.”
Additionally, St. Raymond
hosts an animal food and toy
drive during the month of October;
the donations are then sent
to animal shelters.
During the Thanksgiving
drive, canned goods are collected
and delivered to the Mercy
Center, and kids receive presents
from the Christmas toy drive in
partnership with the 161st Merchants
Association.
Carparelli is hoping to start a
fund-raiser for students who are
interested in Unearthed Travel,
which offers ministry students
the opportunity to travel to other
countries such as Asia and Africa
to build libraries in communities
that need it.
“My goal is to make sure this
is very successful,” Carparelli
said.
BY COUNCILMAN MARK GJONAJ
April 20, 2019 is a day that I will
never forget. I was speaking in
Prishtina, Kosova at a ceremony remembering
the thousands of women
who were raped by Serbian military
and paramilitary forces during the
brutal war of 1998. Several hundred
women were in attendance. In the
crowd, I could see the unimaginable
pain on their faces.
When we speak of confl ict-related
sexual violence, we frequently
refer to data. We use numbers and
statistics to tell a story. However,
what we often fail to portray is that
we are speaking of people. People
with lives that have been changed
forever. I have seen the misery and
stigma that they live with. But I
have also witnessed their strength,
courage and spirit.
Such a brave person is Vasfi je
Krasniqi, who was only 16 years old
when she was taken from her family
and raped by Serbian forces.
“We will not kill you” they told her,
“because you will suffer more if we
keep you alive.” What these criminals
failed to realize is that Vasfi je
would survive and become an incredible
person who fi ghts for justice,
not only for herself, but for all
the victims and survivors of wartime
sexual violence. As I stood next
to her that day in Prishtina, I committed
myself to helping these survivors
in their fi ght for justice.
There are approximately 70,000
women that were raped by Serbian
forces in Kosovo, Bosnia and
Croatia during the 1990s war. Astonishingly,
nearly 20 years later,
the perpetrators of these crimes
remain unpunished. Although, article
27 of the 1949 Fourth Geneva
Convention explicitly prohibits
wartime rape and UN resolutions
clearly categorize rape and other
forms of sexual violence as war
crimes, international and local
courts and government alike have
failed to hold the perpetrators of
these horrible crimes accountable.
Wartime rape and sexual violence
continues to be treated as a ‘normal’
consequence of war. These institutions
continue to behave as if
these women are merely a casualty
of war. As if their rights, suffering
and lives do not matter.
Whether you talk to women activists
in Bosnia, Croatia, or Kosova,
they will tell you the same
thing. The survivors of these horrendous
crimes feel abandoned in
their quest for justice.
While I will always support reconciliation
between warring nations,
we should not aim to achieve
peace at the expense of the victims.
Peace without justice is not a true
peace nor is it a sustainable one.
We must make sure that the perpetrators
of these crimes, in Serbia
and around the world, realize that
these women are not alone. That the
use of rape and sexual violence as a
weapon of war will not be tolerated.
That is why on Tuesday, October
29 I call on all my fellow New Yorkers
to come and rally for justice for
survivors of sexual violence in front
of the Serbian consulate general
in New York on 62 W. 45th Street.
How many times must we say Never
Again before we fi nally take action?
Now is the time for justice. Now is
the time to fi ght injustice.
We must be relentless in our fi ght
against all forms of sexual violence,
whether it be in our own home, community
or anywhere in the world.
That responsibility lies with each
of us. If you or someone you know
needs assistance with escaping an
abusive environment, please contact
my offi ce at (718) 931-1721. We
have staff, resources and organizations
that are ready to help.
(Mark Gjonaj represents the 13th
District in the Bronx.)
Serbian forces should be punished
for 70,000 wartime rape atrocities
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