Filipino scholastic Richard Fernando SJ lived in Arrupe International Residence (AIR) from 1994 to 1995. He went to Cambodia for his Regency, and died in Banteay Prieb at the age of 26 while trying to prevent a student from releasing a grenade at the vocational institute. As AIR celebrates its Silver Jubilee, we remember one of the house’s martyrs.
Richard (Richie) Fernando SJ arrived for his Regency in Banteay Prieb, Cambodia, in May 1995. Located 23 km from Phnom Penh, Banteay Prieb was set up in 1990 to provide vocational training for people disabled by landmines, polio and accidents to enable them to earn a living. It was the start of the Jesuit Mission in Cambodia.
When Richie arrived, his love for the students quickly won their trust. He began learning the Khmer language and came to appreciate their religious traditions. He would listen to their stories – stories of survival during Pol Pot’s genocidal regime; stories of the devastation of their society through poverty, displacement and the millions of landmines and unexploded ordinances that still plagued their land.
One of the students was an orphan named Sarom, who became a soldier at 16 and was maimed by a landmine two years later. Sarom had finished his courses at Banteay Prieb and wanted to stay on, but the school authorities found him disruptive and asked him to leave. Richie had mentioned Sarom in a letter to his friends in the Philippines, saying that although Sarom was “tricky” he still had a place in Richie’s heart.
On October 17, 1996, Sarom came to the school for a meeting with the school director and staff. Angered, he suddenly reached into a bag he was carrying, pulled out a grenade, and began to move towards a classroom full of students. The windows of the classroom were barred, leaving the students no escape. Richie went behind Sarom and grabbed him.
“Let me go, teacher; I do not want to kill you,” Sarom pleaded. But he dropped the grenade, and it fell behind him and Richie. In a flash Richie was dead, falling over with Sarom still in his arms, protecting him from the explosion.
Just four days before his death, Riche had written a long letter to his friend and fellow scholastic Totet Banaynal SJ (now a Jesuit priest serving in Cambodia). In it he had written, “I know where my heart is. It is with Jesus Christ, who gave all for the poor, the sick, the orphan … I am confident that God never forgets his people: our disabled brothers and sisters. And I am glad that God has been using me to make sure that our brothers and sisters know this fact. I am convinced that this is my vocation.”
Three days after Richie’s death, his family and friends in the Philippines celebrated his funeral. At the same time, his Cambodian friends carried an urn containing cloths soaked in his blood to a Buddhist funeral mound in Banteay Prieb. In their shock they mourned; and in their mourning, they gave thanks for the Richie they knew and loved. Shocked by what he had caused, Sarom sat in his jail cell and mourned too.
In March 1997, Richie’s parents wrote to King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia, asking for pardon for Sarom. Somehow, someone had to stop the violence. Sarom had not wanted to kill Richie. “Richie ate rice with me,” Sarom said. “He was my friend.”
Arrupe International Residence’s Silver Jubilee celebrations continue until February 6. Read about AIR’s 25th anniversary celebration here.