Walking together: Healing and hope for Colombian refugees

100 w a l k i n g t o g e t h e r
MESSAGE FROM SHALOM
During my four years as an MCC Service Worker in Colombia, I walked together with dozens of
displaced Colombian families in their pre-refugee stage. I saw them carry on despite suffering threats,
hunger, isolation and rejection from society. I saw many physical scars - testimony to miraculous
escapes from attacks meant to kill and kidnappings meant to disappear innocent victims. Through this
suffering, one of the greatest sources of hope was the knowledge that one day peace would come.
For some, this peace was to be found in the loving embrace of a new community in Canada, made
possible through the MCC Canada Refugee Sponsorship program. Although I saw nearly every family
I accompanied in tears at one point or another, I rarely cried myself, no matter how poignant or tragic
their story. However, there was one time with each and every refugee family that was sponsored by
a Mennonite church in Canada that it was incredibly hard for me to hold back my tears and keep my
voice strong. In each refugee sponsorship process there came a time when I was able to share the
happy news with the refugee family that they would be received in Canada by a Mennonite church.
It was in those conversations, when I would tell the family that there was a church community
in Canada that loved them even though they had never met them, that my voice would, without
exception, begin to waver. It would be all I could do to hold back the tears. The first time I experienced
this I was surprised - I had no idea that I would be so deeply touched by the experience of sharing
this happy news with the family. However, this depth of emotion continued each and every time I
had the chance to tell a family that they would be sponsored by a Mennonite church. To be able to
tell a family that has been living under threat that they will have a second chance at life, and to tell
them that they will be accompanied, loved and supported by a community of people that are yet
strangers is a powerful, moving and beautiful experience. Lives are changed forever because of the
love offered by sponsoring churches.
In the fall of 2010 I had the opportunity to travel to several provinces and connect personally with
members of churches that sponsor Colombian refugees through MCC. Many of the people I met had
worked with the very same families that I had worked with in Colombia. In the conversations I had with
individuals who had dedicated their time and resources to sponsor Colombian families, I was deeply
touched to learn of the myriad ways in which the calling to the ministry of refugee sponsorship is heard.
For many, it is a biblical call, rooted in the numerous passages in which we are instructed to welcome
the stranger or in passages such as Matthew 25, in which Jesus reminds us that “whatever you do for
the least of these you have done it for me.” For others there is a close connection to family experiences;
many had come from refugee families themselves and felt a strong call to welcome and assist other
families in need of safety and a new beginning. For some the call grows from exposure to other cultures
through experiences such as MCC assignments. Most concluded that upon hearing real life stories of fear
and threat and recognizing a need it was only natural to respond. “We are to do good,” explained one
person. In light of a world that is increasingly preoccupied with self gain, often at the cost of the well-being
of others, being surrounded by so many people who generously give of themselves to assist families
they have never met was inspiring. The fact that so many Canadian church communities have chosen
to answer this call to welcome the stranger, opening their doors, their hearts and their pocketbooks to
offer a new chance at life for Colombian refugee families is nothing short of amazing. As I heard of the