and could make something of myself." 

 These words were said with wonderment by Zewditu, a refugee from Ethiopia I met last week at RefugePoint in Nairobi, Kenya. She was looking back on the life she had as she fled her homeland from the perspective of being a small business owner in Kenya. The life she and her children now share is one she could not have imagined when she fled persecution at home. (Zewditu is pictured here at right).

Taking part these past two weeks in Episcopal Migration Ministries' Pilgrimage to Kenya and Rwanda has opened my heart as well as my mind to the plight of refugees. Along the way, I discovered anew more about the big-hearted nation in which we live. For those who don't know, my wife, Victoria, and I were in a group of 8 pilgrims from across the Episcopal Church. Our group included Spencer Cantrell, who grew up at St. Michael and All Angel's, Savannah. 

The eight pilgrims and staff on our trip used the lens of the people living in Gihembe Refugee Camp in Rwanda to learn about issues facing refugee populations across the globe. But this was not simply a visit to a developing nation. This was a trip to meet those who faced the ravages of war head on and were now stuck in limbo as their homes and lands have been confiscated and they can never go back (I detailed the reasons this group can never return home in a blog post here). Photo by Wendy Karr Johnson

During the trip, we visited the Genocide Memorial in Kigali, which recounts in some detail how the 1994 genocide occurred in Rwanda (read about that visit here). The tragic 100 days in that small country touched off the war which would engulf most of the nations in the middle of the continent. This became Africa's World War in which three million died, millions more displaced in their own country, and hundreds of thousands refugeed to Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda and elsewhere.

 Stories of Hope

On our pilgrimage, we met people of great resilience, both refugees and the humanitarian workers who assist them. In Gihembe, I met with 38 women who joined together for a farming cooperative program growing mushrooms and passion fruit. These HIV positive women have taken advantage of the little control of their lives made possible while in Gihembe have worked together to till the soil and tend the plants. In the process, they have raised one another up (Read more online here). Photo by Wendy Karr Johnson

We also met Alice Eschuchi of Heshima Kenya who provide a safe haven for girls under 18 and boys under 10 who have suffered rape and other gender-based violence, which is a world wide means of victimizing the enemy in war. Heshima provides childcare, education, mental health and medical services, and a chance to earn income (More on that visit is online here). More stories can be found at http://loosecanon.georgiaepiscopal.org Just scroll down the page to see those above and others from our journey.

The Objective of Working with Refugees
The goal for both war refugees and the 148 countries that assist them through the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) is to keep persons displaced by war and other threats safe until the refugees can return home. This happens in most cases. Another group is resettled in the country to which they fled for safety. The smallest group, just 1 in 100 refugees, must be moved to another nation as these are persons who for various reasons can never return home and can not remain where they have fled. Roughly 3 in 4 of this group resettles in the United States as we are the nation that receives most refugees worldwide according to targets set in a process which involves both our State department and the US Congress. Photo by Wendy Karr Johnson

 How the Episcopal Church Helps

Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM) and the others of the nine agencies which work with resettling refugees in the U.S. Episcopal Migration Ministries, its affiliates, and church partners provide assistance to arriving refugees as they adjust to their new communities and begin building for the future. While our meeting this group serves as an example of one of the many refugee crises around the world, this is one we have assisted with and will continue work on in the coming years (pictured at right is Kaltun, one of three Somali Community Health Volunteers in Nairobi who go door to door where western aid workers fear to tread).

EMM assists in resettling more than 5,000 refugees each year. Episcopalians can be a part of that story through co-sponsoring a Congolese refugee family and other refugees from across the globe with similar stories. In an upcoming article here in From the Field, I will share more about how your congregation can be a part of this effort.

-The Rev. Canon Frank Logue, Canon to the Ordinary