I am grateful to have been selected to go on a pilgrimage with Episcopal Migration Ministries in March. I have immersed myself in books, web sites, and videos, devouring information about the Democratic Republic of Congo, in preparation for the #ShareTheJourney pilgrimage to Africa. The statistics, the history, the case studies, the testimonials, the photos, the processes, all wash over me and even invade my dreams.
Living in the Houston, TX area, I've met several refugees and immigrants, and even connected with Interfaith Ministries of Great Houston (https://www.imgh.org/), the local affiliate of Episcopal Migration Ministries of the Diocese of Texas. I still don't know how these families manage to survive going through the multi-phased process, relocation, and resettlement in America! I know the practicalities of the interviews, the training, the sponsors, and the basic provision of shelter, food, and clothing when they arrive. But, I am talking about finding life, making a home, and maintaining self-sufficiency in a new world in a relatively short time frame.
In a nutshell view of what a typical Congolese refugee might go through from flight to resettlement, here's what it looks like. Try and place yourself in a similar situation.
First of all, you hear that rebels are on their way to your village. It has been a constant pattern of flight and hiding for a few years. Most women you know have been raped, many of your friends have died or disappeared, so you flee and hide your family the minute you hear of trouble. You have one minute to grab what you need in a bag and run.
You then join with other people from the village, some from other villages, on their way to a refugee camp across the border. It is safer in numbers, but you most likely will face many dangers: rape, hunger, dehydration, illness, violence, and even death. (I have a friend who lives in Houston who fled the Rwandan genocide in the 1990s. She had a daughter and twins. She fled the village without knowing where her husband was. She made it to Kenya, but not before she was raped and one of the babies beaten to death tied on her back. The surviving son graduated high school at a Jesuit school in Houston recently. He wants to become a priest becaues it was the Jesuits in Kenya that took them in, kept them safe, and helped get them to the United States.)
Once in the refugee camp you still must find ways to protect yourself from rape, illness, violence, etc. Did I mention that the Congo is considered the rape capitol of the world? Yes, rape is an often practiced weapon of war these days.
At this point I am aware that apart from the physical damage suffered, most refugees are dealing with extraordinary degrees of psychological, emotional, and spiritual assault. Living in cramped quarters with several thousand who are also trying to get a grip on what just happened to them and their families probably does not allow one to process and heal very easily. These temporary settlements become rather permanent.
I think it is easy to generalize in this way and never actually interact and hear from a person who has lived as a refugee. Those few I've known who have fled violence in their countries and endured horrible hardships have also been joyful, grateful, and full of dignity. I guess I'm just not sure I'd fare in the same way, and I am sure a number do not, but there is something about suffering that can either destroy a person or make them what I'd call human plus. It's the plus (we might call this God, Spirit, Christ, or a Higher Power) that seems to be the thing that makes the difference.
In some of the research I've read on the reesettlement of peoples in the US, it appears those that "make it" are the ones plugged into a faith community right away. They are invovled with this community several times a week. Now, that's the plus I am talking about becuase once they reach the US, they may be free from persecution and have access to education, but they have to learn a new language, learn all the unspoken rules about a new culture, learn the laws of a different society, and find a way to become financially independent in six to nine months. When a church steps in to sponsor a family, it appears most of refugee families are able to do just that.
So what does that mean for us who represent the faith communities in the United States? If case studies and other research are finding that these commuities, and in our case the Episcopal Church, do aid a family fleeing persecution in becoming productive citizens of the US and engaged members of the Church, then how could even the skeptic refuse to step up and become a friend?
In an age when the Church is often purported to be losing its relevance, here is yet another example of why that might not be the case at all. Church, faith, community, relationship. That is the link to survival, it is ministry, it is hope.
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