Social Justice Hero by Jacob Benavidez

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Social Justice Hero

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Jean Donovan was born in Westport,CT. Donovan growing up had a strong connection with children and the call to be a mom.
Donovan attended Mary Washington College in Virginia and studied abroad in Ireland at the University of Cork.

Donovan quit her accounting job to become a lay missionary. She was accepted by the Maryknoll Lay Mission program to serve in El Salvador.
She closely followed Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador. He gave El Salvadoran people hope in a time of despair in El Salvador. He was assassinated in 1980 during mass by an El Salvadoran militia group.
Donovan continued his work by helping the poor people of El Salvador.
Donovan worked with the church in El Salvador to protect the rights of the poor and protest war.

"Leave or Stay? The Peace Corps left today and my heart sank low. The danger is extreme and they were right to leave...Now I must assess my own position, because I am not up for suicide. Several times I have decided to leave. I almost could, except for the children, the poor bruised victims of adult lunacy. Who would care for them? Whose heart would be so staunch as to favor the reasonable thing in a sea of their tears and helplessness? Not mine, dear friend, not mine." -Jean Donovan

On December 2, 1980, Donovan and 3 others, on their way to a Maryknoll conference in Nicaragua, their van was stopped on the way to the airport by five guardsmen. The men took them to a remote location and beat them, raped, and eventually murdered them. Jean was only 27 years old.