What colors and sounds come to mind when you think of
fleeing your country in fear and desperation? Are brilliant yellows and glorious greens in
your mind’s eye showing you sunny days and prosperity? Do lilting laughter and babbling
birds tickle your mind’s ear? Perhaps your mind sees black, gray,
and brown making you
think of destruction, despair, and decay? Possibly crying and wailing resound
like a percussive peal of bells in your mind’s ear from death by starvation or
gun fire.
The latter are not the sounds or colors most people hear
daily. They are unfathomable to millions of people. People of the world cannot imagine
living through these daily cries of horror, pain, and desolation. They cannot
comprehend this myriad of mental and physical assaults each day. Still, 20+
million people daily experience this life.
The life of refugees and asylum-seekers occurs because of conflict
and environmental disaster. Conflict most often is politically based. It arises
from prejudice, greed, selfishness, hatred, and fear. Environmental disasters such
as earthquakes, droughts, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, and fires cause
people to leave their homes and countries, too. For people who exist in these situations,
no end to despair seems to exist. With nothing to lose, they flee within moments,
days, or weeks of the conflict or natural disaster. Often, they leave with only
the clothes they wear, thinking primarily of saving their lives.
These stories do not arise only from one region of the
world. They come from around the globe. The media in first-world countries
portray most refugees coming from war-torn areas in the Middle-East and in north
Africa where religious or political strife causes fear, persecution, and death.
Refugees and asylum-seekers come from around the world. After the hurricane in
Puerto Rico, the floods in Bangladesh, the tsunami in Indonesia, and other places
where catastrophes occurred, people left destitute and un-aided sought rest and
help in other countries. They hoped one day to go home.
The stories below form the first of several articles in this
series that will reveal to us daily experiences of refugees and asylum-seekers.
Refugees wrote their stories in answer to three questions. The names used are pseudonyms to protect the refugees. This interviewer only
made grammatical changes to their written answers. The refugees in this article
are from central African nations. Three questions were asked of each refugee
and asylum-seeker. They were as follows.
1. What was life like in your
home country?
2. What made you decide to leave
your country?
3. What has life been like in
your host/adopted country?
Interviews
Jean Baptiste
Question 1: What was life like in your home country?
Life in Burundi was good before 1993, but after that became
worse because of the war.
Question 2: What made you
decide to leave your country?
In 2004, I started university studying electrical
engineering. By the time I was into my second year there, the rebels came to my
school and were forcing everyone to follow them and join the army. I left
Burundi and went to Tanzania where I lived in the bush without spare clothes
and food. By God’s grace, I managed to communicate with a Tanzanian person and
explained to him where and how I was suffering in the bush. He helped me a lot
to escape the army by hiding me in his and friends’ houses. They told me
someone could take me to Malawi where I could get a small job.
I left Tanzania with no government papers. They helped me
cross the border. It was not easy for me in Malawi. Communication was
difficult. I sold water and peanuts for food. By God’s mercy, I managed to get
a small amount of money. I was living on the street. I met some guys who were
going to Mozambique, and I decided to follow them. Mozambique was worse for me because
of the Portuguese language.
Question 3: What has life
been like in your host/adopted country?
In 2007, I moved to South Africa. I was sleeping under the
bridge for three months in the cold. To survive, I begged on the trains. I managed
to get a job as a car guard and I was happy to get a small bit of money. [A car
guard is an informal guard that sometimes receives tips from the car owners
while they shop.] From there I started to communicate with my parents via
letters. In their minds, they thought I was no longer on this earth. I did an
electrical course and got married. God blessed me with 3 kids. I have a family
and friends. I have spiritual parents who are local Baptist missionaries. I am
a servant of God as a pastor for other people from Burundi at a Methodist
church. I don’t have a job that pays and life has been hard physically and
spiritually. I struggle to get government papers from home affairs, first
refugee status then work permit. That is the thing that makes me worry most in
South Africa. Without papers, I cannot work a regular job.
Alleyah
Question 1: What was life like in your home country?
In my country of Burundi, my life was wonderful. I was a
student at university majoring in economics, but after that the war started and
everything was ruined.
Question 2: What made you
decide to leave your country?
I decided to leave my country because there was no peace.
People killed each other because of insecurity. After my brother was killed, I decided
to leave my country.
Question 3: What has life
been like in your host/adopted country?
Oooh, my life here in South Africa is very, very difficult.
I have no job. To get a job is a very difficult thing. Sometimes if you get a
job, they pay you a small amount because you are a foreigner. Some companies
don’t want to hire foreigners so that makes it difficult to get money for rent
and food. It is difficult to get the government documents so we can stay here legally
and work. Because of these things, we have so many problems here in South
Africa.
Pierre
Question 1: What was life like in your home country?
Life is difficult in my home country. Something which makes
life very difficult in my home country is poverty. It is not easy to get a job
because there are not enough companies where many people can get a job. Even
when you get a job, the money you get per day is not enough for all you need. Per
day, they pay $1. Imagine if you have a family, how you will be able to feed
your family with $1 a day.
Another thing that makes life very difficult is insecurity.
Since 1993, there has been no peace in our country because of war. All
presidents want to reign many years. That makes the political opposers (rebels)
fight to chase away a president who doesn’t want to share the power with
others.
The country's economic problems come down to these problems-poverty,
insecurity, and war. It's why so many people flee from our country to South
Africa where they think life might be very good.
Question 2: What made you
decide to leave your country?
In 1994, I left my home country to go to Tanzania, my neighbor
country, where I spent fifteen years as a refugee because of war. I started
studying in primary school and finished secondary school where I got my degree.
Life was not good because I could have no job in the refugee
camp. We were not even allowed to go out of camp to search for something to
eat. Although the situation was not good in my home country, I decided to go
back home with my brother.
When I returned home in 2009, I got a job in the government
because UNHCR (United Nations High Council on Refugees) helped the refugees who
repatriated to their country. To get a job in my home country, you have to be a
member of the political party that is in power. They forced me to support them
but I refused because I remembered what happened in the 1993 war when
ten people in my family died because they were in a political party.
After four years back there, I was teaching and they (the
president’s supporters) told me to join in their political party in order to
make all people love and support their party. It was the president's second round.
I refused again to join their party. What happened? They sent five policemen in
the night to catch me at me home and they hid me for seven days in an unknown
place. My family weren’t happy and went out to search for me, but they didn't
find me. The policemen hit me and did anything they wanted.
After seven days, they took me to court and accused me of
having five guns in my house. They said I trained people to fight against the
government. Immediately, they took me to jail where I stayed imprisoned for
seven months. When they called me to court three times, I explained what
happened to me and how they did violence to me. The judges listened to me and decided
to release me from jail. The government allowed me to continue my daily job with
no problem. I continued my job as well as I did before.
Unfortunately, I received three letters warning me to stop
teaching otherwise they would cut my head off. I didn't stop teaching. After
that, I heard men knock on the door during the night. They wanted to kill me so
I opened my back window silently and ran away. I walked all night climbing up
the highland to save my life. I passed through Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, and
Zimbabwe. That’s why I am now in South Africa.
Question 3: What has life
been like in your host/adopted country?
My life was not good in my adopted/host country. One year
ago, I spent six months without a job. I was not able to pay rent or get money
to buy food. I was asking help from everybody, especially Christians in the
church, so I could survive.
Another problem I was I was not able to speak English. That
means my communication with the citizens of this country was not good. Because
of what happened to me in my home country-the violence done to me, I am not
able to do hard, physical jobs because my health is not good. I work temporary,
part-time to keep my life/health good. Even when I get a job, I only get enough
money to pay rent. Sometimes I don’t have money to pay rent and buy food
because I am not permanently employed. I am worried about my future!
Conclusion
These refugee stories come from people who fled two
countries. They come from at least two different faith backgrounds. Persecution
does not occur against only one faith system. Prejudice abounds. In these three
stories, each of the people-men and woman-stated war, political corruption,
greed, and fear were the motivators for leaving their home countries. They
loved their home nations. Each of these refugees/asylum-seekers was in a university
or planned to attend one. They were intelligent, contributing members of
society, yet they were persecuted.
Race, religion, and intelligence did not define who would experience
persecution in these people’s circumstances. Fear by one political group of
another caused persecution in these three lives and the lives of their
families. Jean Baptiste, Alleyah, and Pierre want to return to their home
countries, but for now they cannot. Fear of persecution and death by the
reigning political party cautions their decision-making.
How should we respond to these three people and others like
them who fled their countries to protect their lives? How do many people
respond to them? We must remember, refugees and asylum-seekers are not a
“them.” They are “us”, humans seeking safety for them and their families, hope
for the future, peace, and a chance to contribute positively in the world.
Refugees, generally, are not a threat, but a people needing help because of
horrific circumstances before and appalling situations afterwards. What we do
when they seek to preserve their lives determines what most defines us. Will we
be compassionate or merciless while striving for our own self-interests? Our
self-interests should be united with our care of all people. When we do not
care, we withhold and suppress one of the greatest parts of who we are, a part
of what makes us human and not an animal. Compassion, care, mercy, and love comprise
the greatest part of our human-ness.
When a person or people group faces mass conflict that seeks
to destroy lives for personal gain, prejudice, or power, people should respond by
giving assistance and relief. When natural disasters cause people to face starvation,
thirst, disease, and exposure to severe weather elements, humanity should
respond with compassion, mercy, and love in tangible ways. Instead of these
catastrophic experiences dividing humanity into “us” and “them,” it should
cause a greater bond to occur and create a “we” who unite for our brothers and
sisters. Whether you are Christian or follow another faith system, we each
understand these words written by Paul. What he said is written in our beings; we
each seek love and relationship. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, & 13 [NASB],
Love is patient.
Love is
kind and is not jealous.
Love does
not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly.
It does not
seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account wrong suffered, does
not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.
It bears
all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.
But now
faith, hope, love, abide these three, but the greatest of these is love.
