Yesterday, I had occasion to go to the Education Office in Clonkeen near Dublin. I took the LUAS tram and for my reading I had purchased the London Independent (a habit of mine, as keen readers of this blog will know!). Not for the first time the front-page graphic said it all. It is feature on this website on the Darfur Christmas page. That silhouetted armed figure against the flames of a burning village captures well the tragedy that is Darfur. It is a tragedy, as everyone keeps reminding us, is about to unfold into a human disaster of Tsunami proportions. Except this time, no Western tourists will be among the victims. Instead, it will be the usual roster of Africa's poor.

Earlier this week I was in a meeting with some Edmund Rice Centre colleagues at the offices of TROCAIRE, the Irish Church development aid NGO. During the meeting we touched on the theme of powerlessness. When faced with human rights abuses, with situations like Darfur, with the plight of children and young people in Lusaka, Wadeye, or Kokata, we feel absolutely powerless. Not even the most powerful and well-resourced NGOs can effect the kind of change that is needed. Change is slow and often invisible. But the experience of powerlessness, as we agreed at the meeting with TROCAIRE, is the first painful step towards compassion and genuine solidarity.

On reflection, it was not without significance that this insight arose in the offices of TROCAIRE, the name of the NGO is the Gaelic word for "compassion".

Compassion, solidarity and commitment: this is the journey we undertake each day in the work of advocacy and justice.

Happy Christmas!