www.canisiushigh.org
25
Mumbai, India. His plan was to do
fieldwork to understand how it was
that millions of people in Mumbai
could live below the poverty line yet
never experience a true famine.
Unfortunately, while David was
walking through the slums ofMumbai
during monsoon season, he caught a
virus for which his body had no nat-
ural immunity. Although the doc-
tors did everything they could, David
died three days later, surrounded by
friends, never realizing the severity
of his illness. When our sister, Clare
O’Brien, went to pick up his body
and make arrangements for his body
to be flown back to the United States,
she was met at the airport by a group
of six students who had won a lot-
tery among 40 or 50 students at Tata
University, all of whom wanted to be
the ones to greet David’s sister when
she arrived.
PC:
When I came back to Canisius,
I spoke to Fr. Fred Betti and [then]
Principal William Kopas about start-
ing a service program in the Dominican
Republic. One evening, Chris O’Brien
came to a Kairos retreat and spoke to se-
niors about his brother’s life of service. I
chased him to his car to talk to him. We
met a number of times, and I talked to
him about what we wanted to do.
CO:
Nine and a half years after
David’s death, Paul approached me
about a project that he was thinking
of, building a bridge to help impover-
ished children to be able tomake their
way to school during the rainy season
in the Dominican Republic.
His timing was perfect. My fam-
ily members, my law partner, Steve
Boyd, and several extraordinary peo-
ple of the Canisius community who
requested anonymity banded togeth-
er to raise the funds necessary to con-
struct the bridge in 2008. Canisius
students studied Spanish all year to
prepare themselves for the trip, a trip
that meant days of back-breaking
work in the hot summer sun mixing
tons of cement by hand.
When my family learned that the
villagers had named the bridge Puente
Davide in David’s honor, we could not
have been more touched. Once the
bridge was built, Paul reached out to
me on numerous occasions to ask if
I would accompany him back to the
Dominican Republic.
PC:
Over years, Chris always said
he’d love to go see the bridge. Finally, a
couple of weeks before Christmas 2011,
three alumni from the 2008 trip (one
of whom was Chris O’Brien’s nephew
Patrick Burns) were all available, and we
decided to make a pilgrimage to the vil-
lage of La Norita see the bridge and other
projects. The alumni had a strong desire
to visit because they had lived with and
worked side-by-side with the villagers
who planned, designed and supervised
the construction of their bridge.
CO:
This past fall, Paul asked me
again, and I realized that I had noth-
ing planned that would interfere with
my going in December. As the trip ap-
proached, I foundmyself gettingmore
andmore irritable about going . . . I was
scared about being in a place with no
running water and intermittent elec-
tricity. I just wasn’t sure that I wanted
to give up those creature comforts. I
have to admit that I was inspired and
perhaps a bit challenged to make the
trip by the fact that my son, a junior
at Canisius, was going to Nicaragua in
several months on a bridge-building
project of his own. I knew he had not
wanted to give up his winter vacation
but did so perhaps because he had de-
cided to challenge himself.
[After arriving in the Dominican
Republic,] I sat in the back of a
pickup truck as Paul began our
three-hour trip (“just a little
Had David O’Brien ’87 been a student at Canisiu
in 2007, he likely would have relished the opportu
nity to join a new service initiative that began tha
year, the Compañeros Program (and its domesti
branch, Companions). Administered in conjunctio
with the Office of Campus Ministry, Companions
Compañeros offers students an extended, im
mersive experience of service-oriented, intention
community living. The program is based on th
four components of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps
community, spirituality, simplicity and justice. Pa
Cumbo ‘97 and then-history teacher (now Assistan
Principal for Curriculum and Instruction) Ada
Baber ’01 founded Companions/Compañeros wit
a unified curriculum, mission statement and orga
nizational structure
Working with organizations like Habitat fo
Humanity, the Institute for Latin American Concer
and the Crossroads Foundation, Companions
Compañeros engages students and faculty i
work, prayer, reflection and community. Project
range from one week to a month and have include
bridge and housing construction, serving in sou
kitchens and other activities. Students apply to joi
a Companions/Compañeros project and are cho
sen based on an interview, essay and other criteria
Before the organization of the Companions
Compañeros Program, various immersion trip
had taken place that worked toward several of th
same Companions/ Compañeros goals, includin
a brief excursion to Ecuador with a small group o
students, Kentucky, West Virginia, Buffalo, Ne
Mexico, and many years’ work in Camden, N.J.
Seven Compañeros immersion projects and 1
Companions immersion projects with Habitat fo
Humanity have taken place since the program’
inception.
✠
Companions/Compañero
Students Answer
Ignatian Call to Service
continued on page 26