Be The Answer

People have had to flee their homelands for hundreds of years, mainly because of their personal faith, war, violence or political viewpoints.

There is an estimated 12 million refugees in the world today.

This week Australia celebrates Refugee Day.  Whenever we think of refugees, the first thing that comes to mind is the people coming in by boat trying to smuggle in for a better life.

Many of these are on boats overpacked to capacity and people are charged exorbitant fees in the hope that if one of their family members make it, life can change for the rest of the family.

When I was a child growing up in rural New Zealand many people came from Cambodia to be resettled.

I’ve also had a friend who had issues getting her visa extended and ended up in a refugee detention centre, probably one of the hardest experiences for her to date. Thankfully she wasn’t sent back but the Government had all the right to.

I’ve also had friends who have spent thousands of dollars trying to get their visas to stay permanently in the country.

Photograph by Steve McCurry

I now live in a country (Kenya) that has what many people call refugee camps, but are more commonly known as IDP (Internally Displaced People) Camps. It hit the news last year when there was an outcry about the number of refugees fleeing Somalia and Sudan and then ending up in camps in Northern Kenya. What most people don’t know is that those camps have been operating for over 20 years. There is a new generation who have ever only known what it’s like to live in a tent. Not a nice tent from a camping store, but more likely a blue tarpaulin or at it’s best a mud hut. Once inside the camp you must obtain permission to move and cannot go out of the area. Thus, you cannot look for employment or education outside of the camp. In essence, it is a city on it’s own, just with guards, fences and soldiers.

It’s very easy when you’re living in safety and comfort to try to begin to understand what it must be like to have to flee your home. It’s also very easy to criticise and try and say ‘they should do this’.

“You never really know a man until you understand things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird.

I think Miss Harper had some words of wisdom for us today.

There are many complexities to why there are reasons for refugees and I think it’s important not to jump in with our opinions too fast before finding out the facts.

It’s the same with poverty in general. Afri-Lift works with the most disadvantaged families here in Kenya. While we can spout all the reasons of whose fault it is and what should be done, people are struggling to put the next meal on the table or to pay school fees. So, do we wait for a change of Government (every 5 years), change in policies, the emergence of a social welfare system or anything else that will change conditions for the absolute poor?

The Bible has some very cool thoughts about poverty and meeting the need:

Jesus – The poor you will have with you always

James - Faith without works is dead

Luke – Ask people who can’t afford to pay you back around for a meal

Moses – There are plenty of poor people around in your country, help them out

Jeremiah - Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.

At Afri-Lift we will not wait, we will be the answer. You can too where you are, why not reach out to someone today?