My contribution to Sunday Nation, Kenya

April 12, 2020October 25, 2020 selvam Articles/Chapters, Varia

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26 April 2020
Covid-19 tests self-learning skills of students today

Covid-19 pandemic has challenged the status quo of the contemporary society on several fronts. Its impact has been felt across almost every aspect of life, including healthcare services, economics, entertainment industry and sports, work and family life, and in religious and educational practices. Amidst these global disruptions, the winners have been the contemporary twins, Information Technology (IT) and internet.

On the education front, the immediate focus has been on providing an emergency response, to keep the learning going remotely via the internet. If our investment of resources right now just targets a stop gap measure, we might miss an opportunity to make a systemic change to education. Covid-19 has thrust us by force, as it were, into how education ought to be carried out […]

Epiphany Video

January 6, 2017January 6, 2017 selvam Varia

Youth Development in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities

March 13, 2015 selvam Talks & Presentations, Varia, Youth Research

DSC_0008_4 Youth Development in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities
My presentation on 9 March 2015, at a joint teleconference between Institute of Youth Studies at Tangaza University College, Kenya and the Institute of Family Studies at the Catholic University of Lublin, Poland.
The purpose of the paper was to provoke some discussion among the students of both the institutions.
Preliminary Remarks
0.1. It could come as a surprise to some of my listeners that the speaker this afternoon is not an African. This is the advantage that scientific method offers us. A person from anywhere could scientifically look at a global or local phenomenon anywhere using the methodology of science. This said, having lived in two countries in the African continent for the past 23 years, and having travelled across the continent visiting at least 10 other countries, I […]

A Tribute to Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)

August 31, 2013October 5, 2013 selvam Varia

Digging

BY SEAMUS HEANEY

Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.
Under my window, a clean rasping sound
When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:
My father, digging. I look down
Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds
Bends low, comes up twenty years away
Stooping in rhythm through potato drills
Where he was digging.
The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft
Against the inside knee was levered firmly.
He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep
To scatter new potatoes that we picked,
Loving their cool hardness in our hands.
By God, the old man could handle a spade.
Just like his old man.
My grandfather cut more turf in a day
Than any other man on Toner’s bog.
Once I carried him milk in a bottle
Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up
To drink it, then fell to right away
Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods
Over his shoulder, going down and down
For the good turf. Digging.
The cold smell of potato […]

The First Words of Pope Francis

March 14, 2013May 16, 2013 selvam Varia

The First Words of Pope Francis[SS1]
(Unworthy Comments by Sahaya G. Selvam, sdb)
(Shyly waves one hand. Stands still for long time. His eyes on the people in the front rows[SS2] .)
Brothers and sisters, good evening[SS3] !
You know that it was the duty of the Conclave to give Rome a Bishop[SS4] . It seems that my brother Cardinals have gone to the ends of the earth to get one… but here we are… I thank you for your welcome. The diocesan community of Rome now has its Bishop. Thank you! And first of all, I would like to offer a prayer for our Bishop Emeritus, Benedict XVI. [SS5] Let us pray together for him, that the Lord may bless him and that Our Lady may keep him[SS6] .
Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory Be…
And now, we take up this journey: Bishop and People. [SS7] This journey of the Church […]