Alliance members are working with some of the most marginalised groups both at home and abroad: asylum seekers, refugees and prostitutes. Hazel Southam reports...
Jesus said, “I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger and you received me in your homes, naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me, in prison and you visited me” (Matthew 25.35-36).
In a country busy spending itself into billions of pounds of personal debt, it is the marginalised members of society who often get overlooked and trampled in the rush.
There are at least 82 million refugees in the world today, according to the United Nations. That’s more than the population of the UK. They have been driven from their homes because of war, famine, flood, persecution or destitution.
As global warming increases and land becomes unsustainable because of drought or flood, scientists predict that the number of refugees will dramatically increase. Many Alliance member agencies have taken up this cause, and are working on the ground to help refugees around the world.
The rains of Africa
In Sudan, rain that’s often a blessing and cause for joy among African farmers is becoming a curse for 1.2 million Sudanese refugees fleeing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Above the Bredjing refugee camp in the stifling heat of the Chadian desert, where 27,000 Sudanese have fled in fear of their lives, a vast dark blanket of cloud slowly rises from the distant horizon. Within minutes the region for miles around is enveloped in a maelstrom of forked lighting and gale force gusts of wind. Seconds later the heavens open, dumping tonnes of rain on the parched earth and people below.
“This rain would be good for the ground back in our village, but here we are exposed,” says one refugee farmer.
Aid agencies are increasingly worried that in Chad and across Sudan, where 1 million people have been displaced, the rains will bring more suffering and death as aid struggles to reach them and the problems of flood, disease and hunger deepen.
Well over 10,000 people have already died in the past 15 months, most of them murdered by Janjaweed militias who have attacked, looted and terrorised villages across the Darfur region of western Sudan. Refugees in the Bredjing camp claim the government is engaged in ethnic cleansing and is backing the Arab fighters in a campaign to rid the region of black Africans. The Sudanese government dismissed such allegations.
The resultant situations have been described as the “biggest logistical nightmares in the history of humanitarian assistance”, according to UN’s Emergency Relief Co-ordinator, Jan Egeland. The rains are only just beginning to make things worse.
Pastor Ngarndeye Bako, general secretary of Entente des Eglises et Missions Evangeliques, a Tearfund partner, co-ordinates church aid to the refugees. “Early on in the crisis I appealed to the Christians for assistance, and they started giving clothes, sugar, millet, tea and other materials from their own supplies,” he says
“Of course it is not a huge quantity – we are not the United Nations – but some very poor churches in Chad have proved themselves by the quality of their love. We are wanting to do whatever we can, including praying that they will be able to go home soon. In this kind of situation we need to come closer to God because only in Him do we have our security and are able to share what we have with other people.”
Closer to home
In the UK, a similar motivation is behind the work of Open Door North East, a church-based project in Newcastle that aims to house failed asylum seekers. Project Manager Julian Prior explains, “As a Christian, I see these people as the poorest of the poor, and we have a duty to care for people while they are in this country. I want to make sure that they don’t end up on the streets, destitute and starving to death or driven underground into prostitution.
“I’m driven by the injustice of it all. It appals me. People’s lives are being treated as a political game. It’s not an easy decision for the Government, but the reality is that there is a huge injustice and I abhor it.”
Open Door currently houses five failed asylum seekers and hopes to home a further 11 when work on additional facilities has been completed. “There’s a common perception that these people are taking our jobs, clogging up the NHS and having things that we should have,” Prior says. “The reality is that it is a very small number of people but they get big headlines.”
The latest government statistics show that the numbers of people seeking asylum in the UK is actually falling. An estimated 7,015 people sought asylum from January to March 2005, the most recent figures available.
Helping individuals is an inspiration to Julian. Seeing each life altered has had a huge impact on him, he says. “The fundamental motivation for me is that I do the things that Jesus did,” he says. “When He was around He helped the most victimised, marginalised people who were around. His ministry was about caring for the poor. These are the kind of people He would be helping.”
There are not always happy endings in caring for asylum seekers. One man, Mehdi from Iran, was helped by Open Door during a period of mental illness resulting from feeling that he was in a hopeless situation. The organisation housed him with a Christian Iranian family and provided a church community that could support him. Mehdi converted to Christianity and returned to Iran, despite knowing that his faith could result in the death penalty.
Mohammed, also from Iran, was given support through the writing of letters representing his good character. He’s been given leave to remain in the UK and is now studying at university.
The work of Open Door has found national recognition as it beat more than 50 other contenders and scooped last year’s Faithworks Individual New Project award. It was presented by Stephen Timms, MP, at the House of Commons.
Faithworks’ leader, Rev Malcolm Duncan, believes that working among the marginalised is a key element of any Christian’s calling. “It’s important for Christians to be working with refugees, prostitutes and asylum seekers, because the Bible clearly calls us to speak out on behalf of those who can’t speak out for themselves,” he says. “It is the Church’s responsibility to help them, serve them and to be the hands and feet of Christ to people who are in a most desperate situation. In doing so we demonstrate God’s love to them.”
A lifeline
The love of God is also being shown to women who are trying to leave prostitution in the Democratic Republic of Congo, by the charitable trust ROPE.
Three million people were killed in the country’s five-year war, which spilled out across the region. In its unstable wake is a humanitarian crisis. Life expectancy has dropped to the early 40s and the bulk of the population lives on around 20p per day. In this context it is clear why some turn to prostitution.
ROPE runs training schemes in sewing, jam-making, hairdressing and beauty treatments to provide the women with an alternative source of income. The programme has been running for nearly three years and so far seven out of ten women are staying out of prostitution as a result of their training.
“The problems are enormous, so it is good to be involved in whatever way we can,” says ROPE’s chief executive officer, Andy Jong. “Poverty drives them to take up prostitution, and we want to show the compassion and love of God. These projects get in among the places where these women live. Seeing them come to know Christ was not enough; we wanted to do more, to meet their real needs. It is about living out what Christ would have wanted to see in responding to their issues.”
It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the numbers of people who need help; 82 million refugees sounds like too many to handle. So we turn off the TV, switch off the radio and block out the news. But Alliance members are showing that offering help can transform lives, families and communities.
Putting Christ’s message of love into action is as radical and life-changing today as it was 2,000 years ago. And just as badly needed.
For more information on Alliance members working with refugees, do an organisation search at www.eauk.org or contact:
