Showing posts with label wapping. Show all posts
A simple mind and heart to reciprocate
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Paul Anthony, a Jesuit scholastic and member of the Hurtado Jesuit Community that lives with JRS UK, reflects on a recent conversation about migration.
I was fortunate to attend the session on ‘Migration Conversation’ by Br Stephen Power SJ at the Hurtado Jesuit Centre. It was very informative and the statistics presented were an eye opener. Later, we had a discussion in different groups and I was very much drawn to their sharings. Some of the participants were migrants themselves. Many shared their feelings of sentiments, and what they did with migrants and refugees. What they said was inspiring and heart touching and came from deep down themselves.
When I was in Andhra Province (one of the South Asian Provinces of Society of Jesus), I used to share more often about JRS and its mission to the novice candidates, and in my Vocation Promotion talks to them. The little knowledge I was gleamed from books and newsletters of our congregation I never had met any refugee or volunteer working in JRS. Now I am fortunate enough to be placed in the Hurtado Jesuit Community, in London, as a part of my theology studies. JRS is part of Hurtado Jesuit community’s mission, now I can meet people involved in refugee works as well as asylum seekers and refugees as well. My interaction with refugees is short but it has created a huge impact on me. Simple ‘smiles’, ‘hellos’ and ‘goodbyes’ produce ripples of happiness and joy in their faces. I am not able to advise them on legal matters but simply present myself and share the rapport of a mutual smile. My experience has been similar to that of all those who shared during the discussions, though their sharing has enriched my understanding and feelings towards refugees and migrants.
It is not qualification and experience which matter to have but a simple mind and heart to reciprocate ‘Hi’, ‘Hello’ to those who are in need. ‘When I was hungry, you gave me to eat and when I was thirsty, you gave me to drink’. People not merely long for the satisfaction of physical needs but also for emotional and relational needs. They are hungry for the food of communication and communion and thirsty to receive the water of compassion and acceptance. They desire a space to share their feelings.
The sharing was a great breakthrough and showed me how I need to respond and grow spiritually. It made me realise that the best present I could give to the refugees is my pleasure at our presence together. I have discovered ways to make others happy and to be happy myself.
God Has Blessed Me Since I Arrived in This Country
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| Diluckshun in front of JRS centre |
Diluckshun, staff member at JRS-UK, writes of his own journey and what JRS means to him.
I am Sri Lankan. I claimed asylum when I arrived in the UK on the 18th of September 1999.
My first interview for my asylum claim took place in Liverpool on 19th January 2001. After attending the interview I received a refusal letter from the Home Office. I appealed. There was no reply and my solicitor advised me to leave the matter to one side and continue my studies. My solicitor wrote several letters to the Home Office to grant me permission to work; all were refused without any explanation. After November 2004 I was reporting monthly to the immigration authorities.
My aunt, who has been my guardian since I arrived in the UK, helped me to continue my studies, including a BA in Business and Finance and Level 3 Accountancy (AAT).
I first met JRS in November 2007.
My first contact was to attend the JRS founder’s anniversary celebration. I visited the JRS office and was offered voluntary work. I worked once a week on a Thursday and managed to continue my studies.
My contacts with other asylum seekers like me have been very rewarding. I came to know a lot of their problems and we comforted each other by listening and sharing our problems. This experience made me to be a happier and a stronger person inside. I welcomed each and every individual that I met at JRS and this enabled me not to bother about my asylum status. I became very busy by getting involved with my studies, voluntary work, and other social commitments. In November 2008, I visited my solicitor and asked him to make a fresh appeal. He advised me that he will make a phone call and will find out the present work on my file, which he did. He phoned me to make an appointment to see him and bring three passport size photographs. Soon after that, when I went to report on the 11th December 2008 as usual, the officer at the desk at the reporting centre informed me that I had been granted leave to remain. When I heard the news I was so happy and praised the Lord in silence.
God has blessed me since I arrived in this country and I am really grateful to all who have helped me in many ways. I remember and pray for all asylum seekers whose cases are still pending.
I express my sincere thanks to all of at JRS for offering me a part time paid job as an assistant administrator at JRS in Feb 2009.
Finally, I got married in 2010 and now I am a father of a child.
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Three Types of Listening
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Photo by Steven Shorrock, from Flickr.com
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Jesuit Refugee
Service UK is based at the Hurtado Jesuit Centre in East London. The Centre has
just completed a “listening exercise” in
the local neighbourhood. Kate, who works with JRS and at the Centre reflects on
the importance of listening when we are building relationships with other
members of our community.
What does listening
mean to you? What does the dictionary tell us it might mean? Here are three
meanings I found: “to give one’s attention to a sound” i.e. to be attentive, to
give ear to, to concentrate. Another
meaning: “to take notice and act on what someone says” i.e. follow what they
say, bear it in mind, take it into consideration, an active response to a request or some advice shared. And finally:
“make an effort to hear something, be alert and ready to hear” i.e. a sense of
listening out for something that might be missed, trying to catch something at
a deeper level or from a place
beyond where we already are.
Over the last six
months, at the Hurtado Jesuit Centre, we have set time aside to build
relationships with our neighbours and community partners in Wapping and across Tower
Hamlets. This meant us concentrating our attention on those around us, being
curious about their work, caring enough to find out what their needs are and
enjoy getting to know them. Sometimes it meant easy connections, otherwise it
was about popping by, building trust and creating space to listen.
Now we are at the
stage of reflecting on what we have heard: it is about taking notice of what
people were generous enough to share with us. Now we have gained the privilege
of being welcomed into other people’s projects and priorities, we need to
follow up on what they have said, to consider it carefully and explore with them
how we can act on what they have said matters to them. This is less about us
reaching out to offer something to others, but a process of getting to know
another and developing something jointly.
And as we search for
a sense of what is beyond where we are now, in terms of our programme, we hope
that we will be alert to the unexpected, open to fresh wisdom and willing to
respond to surprises. Community engagement is never boring, but hopefully we might
avoid being so busy that our imaginations get tired or that we get pressured
into taking the easy option. So we trust that as our Centre grows in maturity,
we continue to have time to welcome people each week, be responsive to real problems
and get involved in creative, challenging activities.
I wonder if these three types of
listening are ones that we can all bear in mind as we go about our busy
community work in our neighbourhood and local borough? To listen to one another
with respect as we share different perspectives and learn something new. To
listen with a view to putting what we have learnt into action, to really make a
difference in practical ways. And to listen out for that deeper wisdom or clues
for future community needs, changing trends and creative opportunities to work
together over the months ahead.
Read the
report of our findings “Welcome to Wapping: The Value of Community in a Tower
Hamlets Village” . One of the themes emerging from the report is Migration and
Immigration which will be developed with JRS-UK.
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