Refugee Week Reflection
By Diocesan Outreach and Social Justice Lead, Christoph Auckland
‘Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”’ – Matthew 25.45
Refugee Week is a time when we all come together to celebrate the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary. It is a time too for reflection, both on what has happened in the world and what we can do to improve it.
This year’s theme is compassion in action, how we move beyond feeling toward making a change. This theme comes at a particularly trying time for the UK. The slow degradation of standards in public life and the increasingly populist rhetoric towards those seeking safety and sanctuary are of grave concern, with many feeling powerless. All whilst the Illegal Migration Bill continues its journey to becoming law.
It’s been my great joy to partake in many events across the diocese to celebrate Refugee Week and the many refugees and migrants who have come to call Wales home, from an ESOL class in HMP Cardiff to the world premier of St Mary the Virgin Church in Wales Primary School’s amazing poem ‘A Sanctuary Alphabet – Zig Zag Journey’. In particular it’s been great to spend time in Butetown, a place so often unjustly viewed but that stands as a testament to the power, resilience and love of a strong and united community. And just today I’ve been with Young Faith Matters talking about refugees, compassion and dreams with Year 4 at Evenlode Primary School.
But this week has also been the story of two boats in different parts of the world. One of those boats, the submersible Titan, has drawn the attention of the world as the US Coast Guard, US Navy, Canadian Coast Guard, Royal Canadian Air Force, US Air National Guard, the Royal Canadian Navy, and various independent commercial and research ships, race to find the missing 5 person team with whom contact was tragically lost on Sunday.
The other, a small fishing boat called the Andriana, has received far less attention. She was carrying up to 700 people, including women and children from Syria, Afghanistan and Palestine, across the Mediterranean last Wednesday, when she tragically sunk off the coast of Greece. A brief rescue operation by the Greek Coastguard saw 100 people saved and around 80 bodies recovered. With potentially over 500 still unaccounted for, the scale of the loss could make it one of the worst maritime disasters in the Mediterranean. Now the Greek Coastguard themselves are under scrutiny for failing to aid the Andriana in distress much sooner. I fear it is only a matter of time before we see a similar disaster in the English Channel.
How do we turn our compassion into action? How do we move beyond the Good Samaritan to, as Martin Luther King Jr said, ‘come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway.’ We can use our voice to amplify the voices of those who struggle to be heard. We can use our privilege and power to help and support those that need it. We can stand firmly alongside people, and not just refugees, but people of colour, women, the disabled, the LGBTQI community – any group that faces hostility, oppression or marginalization.
"Put simply, we can be allies, but allies who are, as the Revd Dr Charlie Bell says, prepared “to take just a hint of the heat that the oppressed might feel.”
Already, many of our churches, including those in Butetown, are using community organizing to make voices heard by MPs and Senedd members, with the Senedd voting to reject the UK Illegal Migration Bill just this week. The amazing women of WSSAG in Cardiff are advocating and supporting women seeking sanctuary in Wales. Our amazing Schools of Sanctuary are transforming their school and communities into wonderfully welcoming places. Many of our church congregations have welcomed and supported Ukrainians and Syrians through various different housing schemes. And as we look ahead to a general election next year, there is so much we can all do, churches, schools, communities, to push for change on a variety of issues. Together, we can turn the compassion we feel into action that changes lives.
A few years ago I came across an old Gaelic poem called the Rune of Hospitality. Taken from an old oral tradition, the poem ends with a Lark singing ‘Often goes the Christ in the strangers guise.’ The first step on the road from compassion to action is simply recognizing the imago dei, the image of God, in everyone we meet. In those 5 men on the Titan. In those 700 vulnerable people on the Andriana. In everyone we pass on the street, at school, or at work today. “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”