Month: August 2011

Jesus Experience: the Book

selvam Uncategorized

Jesus Experience: The Core of Christian Life Journey
by Sahaya G. Selvam, sdb
Mumbai: St Pauls, 2011 (151pp; Rs.90; $6.95)
Born out of personal experience and reflection, the book can be a valuable guide to anyone who seriously desires a God-experience. For a Christian, the experience of God through an encounter with Jesus is a journey that is marked by different milestones.  The author traces some of the patterns that emerge in the gospel narratives of the encounter between Jesus and different people like the Magi, the first disciples, Zacchaeus, the Samaritan woman, and the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
At least seven steps are discernible in these encounters: the beginning of the journey as a result of the awareness of an inner thirst (or desire for God), the recognition of the pointers on the way, the search that takes us along meandering paths, the timely invitation from God/Jesus, the peak of the journey […]

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Capabilities Approach to Youth Rights in East Africa

selvam Leave a comment Articles/Chapters, Youth Research

ChosenLogo_V02ABSTRACT:
Early physical maturity and delayed social maturity, contributed by the Industrial Revolution, make youth a vulnerable group.  Governments, including those of East Africa, attempt to respond to this situation in their National Youth Policies.  However, these policies remain weak and uncommitted to youth rights. Capabilities approach, pioneered by Amartya Sen and developed by Martha Nussbaum, challenges the naivety of debates on human rights, by calling for affirmative action.  In the light of Capabilities approach, this article critically examines the existing National Youth Policies of the three countries of East Africa – Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. It suggests certain elements that need to be added to youth capabilities in the African context.
Find below the electronic version of
Selvam, S.G. (2008). “Capabilities Approach to Youth Rights in East Africa”, International Journal of Human Rights, Vol. 12, […]

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River Me (DVD)

selvam Productions


The river of our life goes through different phases:
1. The origin
2. Tributaries
3. Peaceful Flow
4. Unseen (Hidden Flow)
5. Detours
6. Diversions
7. Obstacles
8. Dry Spell
9. Stagnation
10. Rapids
11. Deepening and Widening
12. Destination
13. My Deepest Desire
14. Contributions
15. Ocean
This award-winning DVD is ideal for youth retreats and vocation seminars.  Borrowing the image of the River-Mee proposed by Margaret Silf in her Landmarks, the video offers a reflection on the human life journey.  Just as the river goes through different terrains in its journey towards the ocean, our own life journey has a purpose: God.
Thanks to Glen Lowe,sdb for popularising this image in Nairobi.  Thanks to Tom who came up with the idea of the video production.  Produced in 2003. Copies are available at BEAMS, Nairobi.  Also at the Catholic Bookshop, Nairobi.  This production has two language option […]

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Walking with the Young: A Theology of Youth Ministry in Africa

selvam Leave a comment Articles/Chapters


Christian Youth Ministry is a faith-journey of accompanying young people towards an experience of Christ. Accompanying is a process; it is not sporadic interventions of activities done for the young.  It is walking with the young.  In this essay, I would like to reflect on the theological implications of the process of accompanying young people, in the African context.  Taking the cue from the experience of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Lk 24: 13-35), I would like to present Jesus as the prototype of a youth minister, thus also to trace the progressive stages in youth ministry.
The two disciples are on the road to Emmaus.  Why are they on the road?  It is Easter Sunday – “that very same day”, and these disciples are running away from Jerusalem – the epicentre of the great event!  They have […]

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