Welcoming Refugees, 5 Years On

 Members of Belleville’s refugee sponsorship group welcomed their sponsorship family of five outside of Albert College for a short and intimate ceremony on Friday Dec. 11

A couple of weeks ago Canada recognized the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the airlift of Syrian refugees to this country, perhaps the finest initiative of the federal Liberals since they were elected to office. In September of 2015 the United Church congregation I served, Bridge St, began the sponsorship of a family of five. Our initiative, which soon involved other UCC congregations and members of other faith communities, including the local mosque, was not part of the federal sponsorship program but coincided with it. 

Thanks to an astonishingly dedicated group of volunteers, including readers of this blog, the emotional response to the photo of a drowned Syrian child on a beach in Greece became the reality of a family plucked from the limbo of a refugee camp in Lebanon. 

The family left Lebanon on December 6th, and arrived in Belleville to a warm welcome from 40 of those volunteers on the 11th. I went back to my journal entry from that day and the emotion rose in me as I recalled us standing on the steps of Albert College, welcoming the family. We sang O Canada, and a member of the mosque, an immigrant himself, greeted them in Arabic, in tears. What a moment. 

Now there are 23 members of this family in the community as we expanded our sponsorships. Children are being educated and receiving the health care they deserve. The adults speak English. Those who sought employment have found it and are contributing to the economy. Life in a new country and culture has posed its challenges, but they now consider themselves Canadians and a number of them have become citizens.. We've met other Syrian families who've come as immigrants to our community and when we see each other we greet each other warmly.

This work of welcoming immigrants is far from over, even though it may have slipped from the minds of many Canadians. A group in Trenton has been waiting five years for the family they endeavoured to sponsor and the persistent of these folk is admirable.

We know that people are still risking the trip across the Mediterranean in a desperate hope for a better life, and people still die in the attempt. Earlier in the Fall the Moria refugee camp in Greece was destroyed by fire. It was intended for 3,000 but housed 13,000. 

Despite this tumultuous 2020, a year when fear of the stranger and "taking care of our own" has prevailed, I pray that there is still space in our hearts for compassion and hospitality.

 If there was room in the stable for a family on the move 2,000 years ago, surely we can demonstrate the love of Christ for those who so desperately need us to respond.