Walking together: Healing and hope for Colombian refugees

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w a l k i n g t o g e t h e r 101 joys and challenges of sponsorship I was impressed by the dedication, love and call to service that was so apparent in each person I spoke to. During this same visit to Canada, I also visited with a number of Colombian refugee families that I had accompanied while they still lived in Colombia. I will never forget how one Colombian family explained to me that a Canadian family from their sponsoring church had a family tree, complete with pictures of their biological family members, on their wall. The Colombian family beamed as they told me “They put our pictures in their family tree. We are part of their family now!” A wave of emotion swept over me as I realized that this family had not only been given the gift of a new chance at life or of new friends but of new “adoptive” family. Nothing could be more meaningful as they begin again in a foreign context. Many other families spoke of similar experiences of being welcomed into new Canadian families and quickly feeling at home in their new communities. I’d like to emphasize that this kind of support is a very special characteristic of the MCC Canada Refugee Sponsorship Program and the churches that participate in it. The accompaniment that you, as church sponsorship groups, offer to refugee families is very unique and valuable, and has a significant effect on the lives of refugee families. As someone who has primarily worked “on the other side,” in Colombia, with families before the come to Canada as refugees, I want to express my profound appreciation and admiration for the churches and individuals who give so much to offer new beginnings, complete with new communities and even new “extended families” to these Colombian families. I hope you will find this material useful as you walk together with the families you have welcomed into your hearts and communities. Your comments on this material are welcome and invited. I would also be delighted to hear any stories that you may have. If you have any feedback, reflections or stories that you would like to share with me, please feel free to write me at shalomwiebe@gmail.com
102 w a l k i n g t o g e t h e r MESSAGE FROM THE JUSTICE AND PEACE COMMITTEE Teusaquillo Mennonite Church, Bogotá, Colombia Dear Sisters and Brothers of the Mennonite Churches of Canada, We don’t have words to express our gratitude to you for the solidarity and love you have shown our Colombian brothers and sisters who have had to flee their homeland to save their lives. The joining of your actions with ours in accompanying refugees is a testimony to the compassion of faith communities reaching out across borders and standing in solidarity with those in need. As many of you know from the experience of your own ancestors, when you live in fear and under persecution, and someone extends a hand of friendship and help, that hand is as the very hand of the Lord who comes to rescue us in our time of need. You have been that for dozens and hundreds of refugees from different parts of the world. We at the Teusaquillo Mennonite Church in downtown Bogotá, Colombia, have been accompanying people living under threat and insecurity for more than 10 years. In this ministry, being able to work closely with you has been vital to those who have fled to Canada They have not only found refuge, but also a church home in your congregations. In the course of our working together and in our follow up contacts with those who have left, we have identified many learnings, some of which Shalom has gathered into this resource material. It is in the spirit of our joint mission and commitment that we share this material with you. We are aware that not everyone fits in smoothly or easily at first and that our compatriots often carry deep scars and emotional wounds that have not been entirely cured. But with your patience and love many of them have recovered their lives, have been able to look to the future, and we hope have made contributions in the various congregations where they are participating. Many of them have been helping relatives here financially and some of them have remembered to help our church ministries as well. Truly God does wonderful things when we join hands to do God’s work. We are called as followers of Jesus to do good, and in receiving the refugees that arrive in Canada and giving them a church home you have been doing just that. Thank you very much. Fraternally, Peter Stucky, pastor For the Justice and Peace Committee Teusaquillo Mennonite Church Bogotá, Colombia
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Shalom Wiebe serv
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Walking together: Healing and hope for Colombian refugees

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