Yesterday, I met with a refugee I have been helping for 18 months here in Bangkok. I thought it was time to share a few home truths as I understood his situation. I had my say and then invited him to say whatever he wanted. What he had to say was an eye opener to me. As always, I didn't have the whole picture in focus or rather it was in my focus. It was not that it was completely new stuff but that what he had to share was so real and so full of feeling for him.
Basically, as a refugee who has been in Bangkok five years with his family, he feels abandoned by the UNHCR, an instituion that he had seen five years as an institution that would help him and his family. After five years of going nowhere in Bangkok where life is so tough for ones illegally present in this country, he now sees UNHCR as not wanting or being unable to help him and his family. I could feel by how he spoke, and not just what he said, his frustration, his anger, his very sense of hopelessness. By the end, I was nearly in tears, thinking that life was not meant to be like this for anyone.
After he left, I just sat thinking and praying. My prayer was -
God, what can I do to help these people?
Then I opened my emails and there was one from my mate in Australia. It gave me an answer to my prayer.
Christmas is here; Christmas is real.
I am John Murray, an Australian, Catholic priest of the Order of St Augustine. I live and work in Thailand and have been here since October 2005. I have many stories from my life journey and would simply like to share some of them. So hope you enjoy and go away sometime with a smile or a helpful little insight.
We gather
to give thanks for my 25 years.
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