A Refugee Sleepout sounded like fun. It turned out to be profoundly enlightening.
Last Friday night, 17 Years 10–11 students and two staff joined the Refugee Sleepout, led by Christian Stern from Australian Lutheran World Service, at St Peters.
We were briefed on the nature of the refugee crisis in the world today, learning that there are 68.5 million refugees including 10 million stateless people. We watched a brilliant ABC documentary You Can’t Ask That – Refugees, and learned that no one chooses to become a refugee, simply because they want a better job.
In our simulation, we were evacuated, forced to grab our belongings and make a refugee journey to Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. After a long walk, we realised we wouldn’t make Kakuma and needed to set up camp for the night. So, with cardboard for our bed and a sheet strung overhead, we made our camp.
Around the campfire, we heard the story of one of our own school parents who fled Iran to escape religious persecution. We were moved by his story, recognising the inherent danger and the great upheaval this brings to a family.
In the morning, we journeyed on to Kakuma. We were processed, given a welcome meal, security and medical checks. We learned about life in a refugee camp.
We came to understand the need to treat refugees with love and dignity simply because it is the right thing to do. We are all human beings. Just because some of us were born in Australia does not give us the right to refuse kindness and assistance to those who are fleeing their country due to war, religious persecution, famine or poverty. Our common humanity dictates that we honour other people.
But more than this, we recognised that Jesus was a refugee. At the end of the Christmas story in Matthew’s Gospel, we read:
‘An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod.’ Matthew 2:13-15.
Then follows the rage of Herod who orders the killing of all the baby boys, in Bethlehem, under two years old. Jesus’ family had to flee to another country to avoid being killed, which is pretty much a textbook definition of what it is to be a refugee. Later in the Gospel, Jesus tells his followers:
‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:40.
Our Lord Jesus needed the goodwill of people in a safe country to survive. How can we refuse that same kindness to others in the same situation?
As we completed the refugee sleepout, we returned to our homes for a good feed and to catch up on some sleep – grateful for all we have in our country. We were grateful also for the opportunity to think about the plight of many in our world, convinced of how we should respond to strangers seeking our welcome.
