Walking together: Healing and hope for Colombian refugees

w a l k i n g
t o g e t h e r
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they need. When your questions lead to stilted
answers, it is better not to push farther.
It is probable that conversations about the refugee
family’s past will occur spontaneously, whenever
the refugee family feels ready or feels the need
to share. It is likely that the refugee may feel
most comfortable, at least initially, talking about
their past in the security of their home and in the
presence of one or two trusted people. Once they
begin to trust you with their story, you may be
able to start exploring their interest in sharing with
others in the church as well. Some families may
be very interested in sharing their stories with a
wider audience, while others may prefer not to.
If you sense an interest in sharing their story more
widely, find out what kind of setting in which they
would feel most comfortable. Would they prefer
to share with a small group? Or would they like to
share their story with a larger audience, perhaps
as special speakers at a church event? What
about through art, music, writing or drama? Some
refugees may be glad to share their story openly
and publicly, others may wish for a more intimate
setting, perhaps in their home. If the church is
interested in having the refugee family share their
story with a group, why not consider a story-circle,
in which not only the refugee family shares their
story, but also other members of the group share
stories of difficult experiences they have lived in
the past as well? This kind of exercise creates a
special sense of unity while humanizing all of the
stories and also assuring the refugees that they
are not alone.
Because the refugee family likely feels so indebted
to the church, they may feel obliged to accept any
invitation to speak about their past that the church
extends. With the best of intentions, churches can
unintentionally force the refugee family to revisit
their past before they are ready, and thus cause
“It’s very important that churches
keep in mind that the families need to
talk. It’s good for the church to provide
opportunities for the families to tell their
stories, to talk about their experiences in
Colombia. I think that churches might
think that people want to forget. But for
us, every time we were invited out for a
meal we were asked about our experience.
Talking about our past helped. In our
church there were ten couples that spoke
Spanish, German and English. We always
laughed together, sometimes they made
mistakes and translated into German
rather than English. They compared their
experience of being refugees as well. One
man’s entire family had been killed when
he was a little boy. He says he saw how
they took his father and he never saw him
again. They talk about the forced work and
the concentration camps. They say that
they see the reflection of what they lived in
their era in us.”
- Pablo
“It would be very good to be able to talk
to people we trust in, so that they could
help us. Possibly it would let us unload or
unburden ourselves a little, feel some peace.
Maybe the other person could understand
a bit more why one is here, the problems
that we had. The problem is the language
barrier.”
- Dora
“Here in the church they haven’t asked me,
but when they ask me I am willing to talk.
I think that it would be beneficial for me to
talk to people from my church, to help me
feel more free. Sometimes, from thinking so
much, you feel bad. You need to unburden
yourself, talk about what happened.”
- Sara