EVERYBODY'S CHALLENGE - Jesuit Refugee Service | USA

were strange. I was singing, and that is what counted. After each session a
new spirit filled the air. People began to look at one another and smile.
My final example comes from Fr Gildo Dominici, then working
in Galang, Indonesia. He described his experience this way: Working
in a refugee camp is often hard and physically tiring. And the attitudes
of the refugee do not always help. He is a person who has lost everything,
uprooted from his culture and social background, and therefore extremely
insecure. It is natural he should strive to recover this security. Hence the
overwhelming urge to leave for a third country as soon as possible. This
concern dominates everything else and pushes all other activities, religious,
cultural, social, into the background. This mentality is the reason for his
passivity and indifference and constitutes the first obstacle for constructive
work in the camp.
The same need for security leads the refugee to grab and cling on to
everything. He is extremely demanding, wanting everything immediately.
This is sometimes a heavy cross for those who work with refugees. A refugee
camp is a rough school.
But it is also a wonderful human and spiritual experience. I am rediscovering
humanity here in Galang. Greed and selfishness exist but the positive
aspects of human nature are in much greater evidence. Here human solidarity
is a reality and not just nice words.
And here I find God. The refugees are my greatest benefactors because
they reveal Christ and give him to me. They help me make the Gospel flesh
of my flesh. They give me the opportunity to spend my health, my time and
all my energies for Christ in them.
I am the happiest of men to be here. I don’t long to go back to teaching
theology. Kuku and Galang are showing me God in man and therefore
helping me to become myself, to realise my own genuine humanity.
So there we have three examples of what was being done.
What needs to be done?
Our third topic at the September Consultation was: What needs
to be done? The non-Curia participants at the meeting made several
important points. They emphasised that the refugee problem was
a human rights problem. It was therefore necessary to influence
governments. It was also a political problem, a symptom of unjust
economic, social, political and religious structures. Thus there was
a great need for more information, research, and co-ordination. Also,
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