My family and I spent four years as missionaries in Italy, where we met hundreds of people from various countries in Africa and the Middle East who arrived in Europe seeking humanitarian protection.
B fled her home in Northern Nigeria at the age of 14 after Boko Haram attacked her village, killing her grandmother (who was also her only living caregiver) and attempting to kidnap her. She spent two years on a harrowing journey to find refuge, including several months of detention and exploitation by armed militias in Libya before being loaded onto an overcrowded, dilapidated old fishing boat set adrift in the Mediterranean Sea. I met her a couple weeks after she arrived in Italy, and our conversation is one I’ll never forget.
We had engaged in a few small, more surface-level conversations about her life and how she arrived in Italy. But that day was different. That day she opened up and shared a part of what was on her heart. And it was devastating. So much pain. So much trauma. So much loss. So much anxiety about whether or not Italy would give her humanitarian protection (they would–at least until age 18–because she arrived as an unaccompanied minor). What would happen after she turned 18? Would they send her back to Libya? Send her back to Nigeria? The fear in her words was palpable; the terror in her eyes pierced my soul. At the end of the conversation, she looked at me and said, “I know there are good people in this world. Why don’t they care about me? Why don’t they care about what’s happening in my country?
I know there are good people in this world. Why don’t they care about me?
Yes, B’s words will stay with me forever. And while it was the first time I heard them said to me by a Black or Brown person seeking humanitarian protection, it wasn’t the last.
In 2015 I ran across this article that talks about the humanitarian caste system, a term that has become a fundamental part of my work as the refugee ministries coordinator for RCA Global Mission. Why? Because it gave me the vernacular to identify (and begin confronting) one of the most egregious phenomena I’ve witnessed for the past eight years in this ministry context–that even when people are fleeing for their lives, we make judgements and decisions about who “deserves” assistance and protection, and who doesn’t.
Why are we more ready and willing to give refuge and legal protection to some people over others? To give humanitarian assistance? To listen to stories of pain and suffering, and to respond with empathy and compassion for some, while responding with apathy and disdain for others? To open borders with a warm welcome to some, and to greet others by closing borders off with fences, barbed wire, and violent pushbacks?
I get it–there are many reasons why we make these judgements and decisions, and many factors that are at play.
Of course there are many more, but you get the picture. Our determination of who deserves humanitarian assistance and protection is complex. Yet, we know that racism and xenophobia are sins with deep roots in our world–including in the United States and Canada–and they bear the fruit of injustice for Black and Brown people seeking refuge and who are in need of humanitarian protection.
Yet we serve a God who loves every tribe and every nation; a God who calls us, as Christians, to be a people who join in the work of justice, peace building, reconciliation, compassionate care for the vulnerable, and bringing about the kingdom of God, on earth as it is in heaven.
So, as we continue to watch the situation in Ukraine unfold, please pray for the people affected by this tragedy, and support efforts to provide them with humanitarian assistance and protection. Please make sure that you include Black and Brown people whose lives and liberties are at great risk in Ukraine as well (including immigrants, international students, refugees, and the Roma people living in Ukraine).
But also spend some time listening to the cries of the people of Ethiopia, Yemen, Haiti, Myanmar, Cameroon, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Mauritania, The Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and so many other Black and Brown people forcibly displaced from their homes who are asking, “I know there are good people in this world. Why don’t they care about me? Why don’t they care about what’s happening in my country?” Let’s put the love of Christ into action for their protection, as well.
Maybe this feels like too much to you. It’s a lot of pain and suffering mentioned in a brief blog post. Therefore, I encourage you to choose one of the countries mentioned above and learn about what is happening in that country that is contributing to the need for humanitarian protection for the people of that country. Pray for that country and its people. Learn about how the United States and Canada are (or are not) providing humanitarian assistance and/or protection for its citizens.
A few advocacy opportunities to consider include:
Afghans continue to arrive in the United States. Will you or your faith community welcome them with Christ-like hospitality? Reach out to your local refugee resettlement agencies for more information, or check out CWS’s Afghan Placement & Assistance Program (which allows groups anywhere in the U.S. to remotely sponsor Afghans for resettlement, even if there is no resettlement agency nearby).
Ask congress to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act, giving better support to, and creating a legal pathway to permanent residence for, those who have fled Afghanistan.
Ask the Biden administration to stop the use of Title 42 to expel migrants from the U.S. and block others from requesting asylum.
Ask congress to pass legislation that creates a path to legal permanent residence for those with DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), TPS (Temporary Protected Status) and DED (Deferred Enforcement Departure) status.
Encourage your church to sponsor refugees in need of protection through World Renew's Refugee Sponsorship and Resettlement Program.
There is currently a backlog of over 65,000 sponsorship applications for resettlement to Canada that are waiting to be processed globally, which is the largest backlog in the history of the program. This means that refugees are waiting years between the time an application is submitted to the government by a sponsorship group and the time the refugees actually arrive in Canada. Write your Member of Parliament to ask that the government put further resources towards decreasing this backlog. You can read more on this, and other challenges in the sponsorship system, in the Continuing Welcome report from Citizens for Public Justice.
Get involved in supporting refugee claimants, who are often some of the most vulnerable in Canada due to lack of adequate support. (See: Open Homes Hamilton and Micah House (Hamilton area); Romero House (Toronto); MANSO (Winnipeg); Mennonite Centre for Newcomers (Edmonton); CCIS (Calgary); Kinbrace and Journey Home (Metro Vancouver); Inasmuch Community Society (Abbotsford).
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