Eduardo Jorge Anzorena’s (25 February 1930 to 22 February 2025) life was an unquestionable dedication to the urban poor. Better known as Father Jorge, his mission was to promote and support community-driven solutions to rapid urbanisation, homelessness and slums.
Father Jorge spent his childhood in Argentina, but his calling to the Jesuit priesthood and commitment to low-cost housing initiatives took to him to informal settlements across the world. He completed a PhD in architectural studies in 1973 at Tokyo University. He later taught young students of architecture at the Sophia University in Tokyo. While volunteering at Mother Theresa’s Missionary Brothers of Charity in Calcutta, Father Jorge reached the conclusion that technical knowledge alone would not solve the global housing crisis, “From that moment, I tried to find out how to combine the priesthood, architecture and working for the poor.”
Father Jorge connected with Jesuits involved in housing and learned from activists building low-cost housing in Latin America. He participated in the Bureau of Asian Affairs’ (BAA, now known as the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific) Low-Cost Housing Program in Manila for several years. In a report drafted in 1978, former BAA President Father Bernard Chu SJ describes Father Jorge as, “Living out of a suitcase, he has accommodated a continuing variety of climates, foods, and accommodations to a degree that most would find impossible…”
Father Jorge also worked closely with the housing advocacy group SELAVIP. A big champion of information exchange, he launched the Journal of Low-Income Housing in Asia and the World, more popularly known as the SELAVIP Newsletter. It was ‘issued twice a year, every year since 1978. Without fail’ and described as a newsletter that,
Housing advocates could read about approaches being tried in Bombay, Manila, or Mexico City, to organize communities and reduce the cost of housing linking new economic opportunities to the poor while arranging professional assistance and links to government programs.
Father Jorge firmly believed in the organising agency of the urban poor and that programmes executed by governments and aid agencies often failed if the intended beneficiaries were not actively involved. While he acknowledged that NGOs had a critical role to play, he formulated guidelines for professionals working with the poor such as respect the poor; change is possible; people’s energy is the greatest resource; people do things best together; and all willing people can participate.
He encouraged the creation of the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR) in 1988. In a presentation he made to the ACHR Regional Meeting in Bangkok in 2011 titled What I have learned in 34 years, Father Jorge said that although the organisation didn’t have much money it was founded in the spirit of “Lets help each other. Let’s learn from each other.” He strongly advocated for uniting slum dwellers across the world through people-to-people exchanges, remarking, “Why shouldn’t poor people from slums also visit each other and learn with their own eyes how other people do?”
Father Jorge was a friend of the SDI movement since inception . About the creation of the SDI network, Father Jorge once commented,
A very important part of all this work – are the growing links between these good groups. They are breaking down of the concept of “my project”, “my organisation” and even “my country.” It is no longer necessary for each group to sort out the problems of the world alone, in isolation, and through their own limited perspective! The work of SDI has helped to expand these principals of sharing and mutual support between the groups into Africa and Latin America.
Father Jorge was a recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding in 1994 which recognised that he “fostered a collaborative search for humane and practical solutions to the housing crisis among Asia’s urban poor.” In his acceptance speech, Father Jorge said,
To tell you the truth, when I was called to this podium to receive the prize, I had a very strong feeling that I was not the real recipient of this award. The only thing I did was to try to understand the heroic struggle of millions of human beings who, for survival, left the countryside and are enduring the inhuman conditions of urban slums. Of course, I will transfer the whole amount of the prize to them, but still that is not enough.
Over the years, he would travel annually to meet and engage with SDI Federations and visited the SDI South African alliance once a year. In a presentation he made during one such visit to the Community Organisation Resource Centre (CORC) in 2011 he stated that,
The basic things are that the poor have the energy to solve their problems. This means that it is not the government or the NGO, but basically the people need to solve their own problems. But they need some help in organising to solve the problem. The people should be the main actor in their activities.
Tributes paint a picture of a man who left a rich legacy across the SDI Network. SDI Secretariat’s Executive Director Beth Chitekwe-Biti describes Father Jorge as, “a beautiful soul and amazing theologian who lived as his religion required. What a privilege it was to have known and spent time with him.” Rose Molokoane, the National Coordinator for South African SDI Federation, says Father Jorge, “became a Saint for the poor of this world” and that his “support gave strength to all of us who fight for the good of our people.” Joseph Kimani, SDI Kenya Director says that “SDI’s strong foundation is embedded in the spirit and philosophy of great people. Jorge was such a soul in our midst.” Anna Muller from Namibia Housing Action Group (NHAG) shared that, “I always think of him as the one that enabled our process to start. He was key in getting me involved in community driven initiatives in Namibia in 1988.”
Patience Mudimu the Executive Director of the Dialogue on Shelter Trust says, “We remember Father Jorge for the humility and wisdom he showed the times he visited Zimbabwe.” Sheila Magara from the Zimbabwe Homeless People’s Federation (ZHPF) says she will ‘always remember him through his encouraging words.’ Sheila recalls that during one learning exchange which Father Jorge attended, federation members were discussing all the challenges they were facing in their countries. She says Father Jorge listened intently and only once everyone had spoken, he responded,
You got the answers – you from the community. You are building houses, so it will be good to also build communities, to build people in your communities, so that they can become active. If people are not together, nothing will happen. Build people in the communities. Build houses in the communities.
Father Jorge never wavered in his faith and life’s work. His call in 2011, to always strive towards more people-centred slum transformation, remains as relevant today as it was then,
“We all need to grow: people in the NGOs need to grow, people in the government need to grow, and people in the communities also need to grow. This is a people’s process.”
Umeme Father Jorge, may you rest in Perfect Peace.
