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To read our German report: ELIJAH 2025
“For me, the Roma children are like my own family.”
The Swiss daily newspaper Tagespost interviews Father Georg Sporschill SJ and Ruth Zenkert about education as the key to social work and stories of former children who were taken in by ELIJAH and who are now themselves taking responsibility for the next generation. A report on hope, faith in everyday life, and solidarity in action.
Father Georg Sporschill was born in Vorarlberg and invited everyone to join him on August 23rd 2025 for a pilgrimage and gathering from Ludesch to St. Gerold. Roma musicians will also be there to perform a concert. Pilgrimages with Father Georg Sporschill are special events that promote interpersonal exchange.
Maria-Minodora grew up surrounded by poverty in the Roma quarter of the Romanian town of Nou. As a child, she learned about the NGO Elijah, founded by Catholic Jesuit Father Georg Sporschill and Ruth Zenkert, and has now been working for over 8 years as a teacher at the school she once attended as a student.
On October 18, Pope Leo XIV celebrated the anniversary of the Roma in the Vatican with Father Georg Sporschill and Elijah musicians
On Saturday, Pope Leo XIV welcomed around 1,500 representatives of the Roma, Sinti, and Caminanti (an ethnic group living in Sicily) from various countries to the Vatican. Among the guests was a Roma group from our ELIJAH project. The young people from Romania, accompanied by Father Sporschill and Elijah director Ruth Zenkert, provided moving moments with their music during the audience as well as before and after. The meeting took place in the Vatican’s audience hall.
Two wide eyes stare through our kitchen window with a pleading look. We open the door and a small group
Brief aus Rumänien, Ostern 25 „Gib mir die Hand, Tati“, sagt das kleine Mädchen und zieht den großen Mann weiter.
