Last week, three of us from ECBC went to Calais to take supplies to the refugees there. Here is Charity's story:
The refugee crisis across Europe seems catastrophic, and for those of us fortunate enough to live in the UK we are often left feeling as though there is little we can do. With this same feeling of uselessness, we decided we would go to Calais for a couple of days to volunteer in any way that we could.
We packed our car so full of supplies that the border control into France had to search for Seven and Abie in the back under the bags! Thank you to everyone who responded so quickly, inundating us with needed items to aid the refugees in Calais and further afield in France. We were able to be a part of the small team processing the donations once we got to French coast and packed the vehicles that would distribute the items around France to the many wandering, sleeping rough, children and adult refugees, to the ones who are without home, without family, without stability, without hope. Thank you for clothing them, caring for them and declaring that you have not forgotten them.
The experience was eye opening and distressing. Seven and I (Charity) had the opportunity to meet two boys from Eritrea, boys that were not yet 16, who had been wandering for longer than they could recall. Boys who were longing for a home, a community, a place they were welcomed and at peace.
The exposure to this situation that isn’t stained through the media has left me contemplating matters bigger than I can hold. However, I know one thing, that I too am a refugee, one with a home on earth, a family, a community, an understanding that I am loved and I am wanted, but I was not made for this earth, I am a refugee here. Suffering with perpetual Fernweh, a term meaning, “for a deep longing for somewhere I have not yet been”. These two Eritrean boys have a longing stronger than death, which they would risk their lives for a place that they have not yet been; that they are told is better.
I have this longing for heaven, for the Kingdom of God on earth, one I have not yet been to fully, but am commit to seek.
We all have a responsibility to the Refugee crisis, to the two Eritrean boys, and to the injustices of the systems that put them there. Part of it is to respond to the fernweh within us that seeks for the Kingdom of God, which looks like love, peace and joy. It looks like including others, loving without borders and barriers it looks like being sold out to encountering God so that we would like more like Jesus, who loved all, cared for all, accepted all, gave all.
Because we have a responsibility, and we can all do something.
ThreadsUK offer five ways in which you can respond - https://www.threadsuk.com/5-ways-we-can-all-help-vulnerable-children