MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES
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| Dates To Remember |
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February 1 – Blessed Benedict Daswa 2 – World Wetlands Day 4 – International Day of Human Fraternity 6 – International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation 8 – International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking 11 – World Day of the Sick 11 – International Day of Women and Girls in Science 13 – World Radio Day 20 – World Day of Social Justice 21 – International Mother Language Day 22 – Ash Wednesday March 1 – Zero Discrimination Day 3 – World Wildlife Day 5 – International Day for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Awareness 8 – International Women’s Day 15 – International Day to Combat Islamophobia 20 – International Day of Happiness 20 – St Joseph, Husband of Mary 21 – Human Rights Day 21 – World Down’s Syndrome Day 22 – World Water Day 24 – World Tuberculosis Day 25 – International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade |
103 MILLION LIVES
MIGRATION IS a very complex and extended phenomenon among human beings worldwide. There are many reasons why a person leaves his/her home and moves to another place. The right to freedom of movement and residence is a fundamental human right (Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, Article 13), and is also acknowledged by the Church, as Pope St John XXIII stated: “When there are just reasons in favour of it, anyone must be permitted to emigrate to other countries and take up residence there” (Pacem in Terris n. 25).
A CHAMPION OF FAITH
GOD’S EXTRAORDINARY wonders continue to be revealed in humanity. Despite our limitations and fragilities, God still manifests His indescribable daily presence and mercy. What a gift for the people of Kalongo in the Archdiocese of Gulu, Northern Uganda and for the entire Church, was the beatification of the Venerable Servant of God, Dr Giuseppe Ambrosoli, on Sunday 20 November 2022! Thousands flocked to Kalongo Mission on a pilgrimage which started weeks before the beatification day, praying through the intercession of the Blessed-to-be. A medical
PROMINENT HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER KILLED IN ‘COLD-BLOOD’
“Thulani Maseko was a stalwart of human rights who, at great risk to himself, spoke up for many who couldn’t speak up for themselves,” Türk said.
A DEFINING MOMENT FOR THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
POPE FRANCIS’ planned visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan in February 2023 intends to be a dialogue with African Catholics and to listen to political leaders and the youth.
UNDOCUMENTED CHILDREN DO HAVE THE RIGHT TO BASIC EDUCATION
A NEW school year has started in South Africa. Thousands of learners commenced their schooling and others returned in continued pursuit of their dreams. This glorious event should be celebrated. Unfortunately, circumstances arise where the right to basic education is undermined
and learners run the risk of being denied to it. For example, Gayton McKenzie, mayor of the Central Karoo District and president of the
Patriotic Alliance, has repeatedly expressed on Twitter that undocumented children “should not be allowed at all in schools in South Africa”.
CALLING FOR A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO THE REALITY OF MIGRANTS
A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
According to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), by the end of 2017, there were 25.4 million refugees across the world. By mid-2022, the figure had risen to 32.5 million. There are also 103 million displaced people worldwide. The 2022 report of the United Nations International Organisation on Migration (IOM) estimated that, in 2020, there were about 281 million international migrants—people living in a country other than their birth—meaning 3.6 % of the global population
THE PERVASIVE DISREGARD AND VIOLATION OF HUMAN DIGNITY
SINCE THE unceremonious expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden and the obedience of Abraham to God’s call to leave his home for a foreign land as narrated in Genesis 3 and 12, respectively, migration has been part of human existence.
IRREGULAR MIGRATION TO EUROPE INCREASED IN ALMOST ALL ROUTES IN 2022
FLYING OVER Lesotho, one can clearly identify the border separating it from South Africa, which completely encircles one of the smallest countries in continental Africa. The gullies that can be seen, huge fissures in the earth, reveal the erosion which has been in action for decades and is currently being tackled with an international project led by the Department of Water Affairs with a budget of R620 million. Lesotho is known as the Kingdom in the Skies: two-thirds of its land area is mountainous and it is home to the highest peak in southern Africa, Mount Ntlenyana which reaches 3 482 m above sea level. Its 30 000 km2 area is home to just over two million people, with a per capita income of $1 187, five times lower than that of South Africa, despite having an essential natural resource, water.
SEARCH FOR A MORE DIGNIFIED LIFE
SMUGGLING IS defined as “the facilitation, for financial or other gains, of irregular entry into a country where the person is not a national or a resident” (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime: UNODC). The unscrupulous who identified huge profits in this trade have developed criminal networks across the region which enable smuggling.
PASTORAL CARE OF MIGRANTS: WELCOME, PROTECT, PROMOTE AND INTEGRATE
WHAT IS THE ESTIMATED POPULATION OF MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES IN THE SACBC REGION AND WHAT ARE THEIR MAIN NATIONALITIES?
The number of people living in South Africa born in other countries was
estimated in the 2022 Africa Migration Report to be about 4.2 million, or 7% of the total population of the country. Among them are more than 250 000 refugees and asylum seekers from countries such as Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Somalia and Zimbabwe.
THE CALL TO WELCOME AND PROTECT
ISSUES AROUND immigration have become the benchmark for most of the world’s thinking and practices concerning political inclusion. The politics of exclusion is keenly felt in many areas of life; for example, by the poor and those excluded from access to the benefits of the economy. The exclusion of mobile people from the most basic respect for their dignity as human beings, the denial of their most fundamental human rights, including personal safety, and the lack of even the barest of welcomes, is a mark of immigration policies around the world; and, to our shame, it is an increasingly dominant mark of the South African political landscape.
WHEN DREAMS KNOCK AT THE DOOR
THIS IS a story of longing, of cries for freedom; a story made up of stories, each one of them real. It began unexpectedly in the last week of September 2022, when the Office for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees of the Archdiocese of Pretoria was established. Since it was the first week, we did not expect a large turnout, but shockingly in the first three days, over 500 people lined up at the door.
THE QUEST FOR A BETTER LIFE: ENHANCING SOLIDARITY WITH MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES
ESCAPING TERROR, FINDING TERROR
For many migrants and refugees, leaving their homeland is not only the quest for a better life, but for some, it is their only hope of staying alive. Many are fleeing from the horrors of civil war, violent dictatorships, sexual abuse of women, and extreme forms of poverty and oppression. The search for a better life is perhaps the signalling of a spirituality that chooses life in the midst of death. For some, it is an awareness that God still loves them and wants them to have life in its fullness—and this keeps them going.
A HUMBLE SPIRIT AND A FIRM THEOLOGIAN
ALBERT NOLAN was born to South African parents of Irish descent, on 2 September 1934 in Cape Town. He went to school at St Joseph’s Marist Brothers, in Rondebosch. After school, he worked for some years in a bank. He felt the call for religious life and joined the Dominican Order, motivated by their dedication to study, prayer and proclaiming the Word of God, as well as by their commitment to search for truth. He did his novitiate in 1954, and was ordained in 1961.
THE DEMISE OF A HERO
HE WAS 84 years old. He had Parkinson’s disease, back pain, and impaired hearing. He had been in Taloja Central Jail on the outskirts of the Indian city of Mumbai on trumped-up charges for nine months. While in jail, Fr Stan Swamy had a fall and then contracted COVID.
A STOP-OVER FOR HEALING
HUNDREDS OF women, young people, girls and boys, arrive at Belen Reception Centre every day but this diocesan shelter in Tapachula is not their final destination. Hailing from Honduras, El Salvador, Cuba, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Haiti, they have one thing in common: they pursue the American dream. Tapachula, a city in the state of Chiapas, is just a place of transit. It is among the most dangerous Mexican border cities. This small city, neighbouring Guatemala, witnesses the daily crossing of thousands of migrants from Central America and the Caribbean, including Africans and Asians.
A PLACE TO CALL HOME
WHEN WE think of immigration and becoming a refugee or an asylum seeker in a foreign land (and all that goes with it), it sounds like something out of a suspense-filled drama or a thriller; something that happens out there and not in one’s own circle. From the political
tumult in one’s country or region, to the upheaval in one’s city and possibly one’s home, it becomes increasingly impossible to stay rooted, to stay sane and positive about something good coming out of such a situation and for an end to the unrest. Fleeing is the only solution. Run and survive or stay and die. According to the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR), about 100 million individuals as of May 2022 faced similar displacements worldwide—10.7 million more than in 2021, most probably due to the war in Ukraine amongst other causes (UNHCR 2023).
THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT (MT 2: 13–15): A NEW EXODUS OF LIBERATION
THE STORY of Jesus in this passage is presented as a journey; the journey of the Son, retracing the same path of His lost brothers and sisters.
FR JORGE IN THE KRUGER NATIONAL PARK
THE STORY of Jesus in this passage is presented as a journey; the journey of the Son, retracing the same path of His lost brothers and sisters.