For the first time since WW II the UN estimates that there are more than 50 million refugees and asylum seekers world wide.
Politics and causes aside, it is difficult to stomach the thought of children being born in camps, growing up, having children of their own, and never leaving the camp grounds. What kind of life can be lived out there? Camps become breeding grounds for extremists because hope for change must vanish very quickly. Hope that you might be able to go home must die as well, maybe that takes longer, I don’t know.
I have been trying to put myself in their shoes. If I were in a camp, what would I want from the rest of the world? Would I want recognition of my family’s suffering? Would I want some indication that I had some value, that my life meant something to the rest of the world, and that someone cared enough to do something about the situation? How about a future for my family, my children having something beyond the borders of the refugee camp? Would I want another country to take my family and I in, and give us a place of safety, security and hope, or would I hold on to hope that we might just be able to go home and lead our old lives again? How would I handle crowding, the possibility that food, water, toilets and shelter might not be available due to the massive influx of people? What about a job, what if I or one of my children got sick, or we got separated from my wife, and couldn’t find her. What about violence in the camp, boredom, fear, hopelessness and despair? Would I give up and die? Would my faith in The goodness of God falter or fail? Would I be able to believe in the love of God, that he had my best interests at heart, and he had a purpose for me, or would all the suffering push me to doubt all. What if I died there? What would have the purpose of my life have been?
I am having a difficult time imagining it. I don’t have any answers to those questions. Do you?
What do we do about 50 million people? How do we help? Where do we start?
Opening my eyes?
realmikkoy 