World Refugee Day - 20th June 2015
There have been many warnings to tourists not to come to Kenya because of terrorism. The headlines in a Kenyan newspaper yesterday announced the following about Mombasa:
1. 40,000 hotel workers have lost their jobs
2. More than 40 hotels on the coast have closed
3. Nearly 1000 tour vans are idle. 50-70 vans used to go to the game parks each day. Now it's only 5.
4. There used to be 40 chartered tourist flights each week. Now there are only 2 from Germany.
5. A local grocery store is losing over $50,000 each month because there are no tourists buying goods.
Perspective and context are very important. While the tourists are avoiding Kenya, refugees are coming here because it is safer than their own country.
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| St. Joseph Shelter of Hope
One of the workers at this hospital, Dr Eric, is a refugee from Burundi. See the map below if your geography is not quite sure where that country is! It's a tiny little country west of Tanzania that has suffered many wars in recent years.
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I went to do a clinic at this hospital last month but didn't find Dr. Eric. His mother had died and he flew to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda expecting to take the next flight to Burundi. On that very day a coup was announced in Burundi and he couldn't proceed. He waited in a hotel for three days and finally realized that he would not be able to travel to his own country. He told his brother to proceed with the funeral and returned to Kenya.
He came to Kenya 5 years ago because he wanted to become a surgeon. He worked in a mission hospital for three years because they told him they would send him on for surgical training. After three years they told him they didn't have the money for more training. His hopes of becoming a surgeon are now gone. Because of the fighting in Burundi he now has several family members who have come to live in his home here in Kenya and he expects more people will follow them.
Last week I heard a lot of people downstairs. We live above a large Muslim family and when I looked out the window they invited us down to supper. Their daughter/sister and her family (husband and two sons) have just come from Yemen and are now 'refugees' in Kenya. They came through Saudia Arabia and were treated badly in the airport but were finally allowed to proceed. The fighting in Yemen is so bad they don't know when, or if, they will be able to return.
Yesterday I received a phone call from Fr. Nicky who works here in Mombasa. He has a priest friend in Rwanda who needs medicine that is not available there and asked if I could get it. I was able to find only 60 tablets and now the challenge is to get it to Rwanda. Dr. Eric knows someone in Mombasa who is going to Rwanda next week. They said they would take the medicine.
I have been displaced but I have never had to leave my own country and not know whether I could ever go back. So, when I think I have problems I remember Dr. Eric who was not able to attend his mother's funeral and may never return to his own country. And when I get a chance to help someone who has trouble in his own country I try to do something to help them. I am sure that, with Dr. Eric's help, we will find a way to get medicine to the priest in Rwanda.
PEACE OF THOSE WHO MAKE ROOM FOR OTHERS WHO NEED A PLACE TO STAY
