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Black Catholic Lifestyle Article ~ { Print Version }
The National Black Catholic Congress
www.nbccongress.org
Burundi Families Find New Home, New Friends, New Peace
By Deacon Arthur L. Miller
A year or two ago I watched the movie Hotel Rwanda, with horrid fascination. I couldn't fathom the ruthless and demonic actions of the perpetrators of this genocidal tragedy. The story of the 800,000 people murdered during the 1994 crisis in Rwanda crawled across my television screen. I wondered how does this take place? How could it happen and the world sit idly by, and me along with it? How? It doesn't matter how, one would suppose, for the truth is, it did happen and few countries responded.
So we must decide what can we do to stop anything like this from ever happening again. Of course, there certainly are many things a reasonable person could do - be alert to world events; hold our governments responsible to the plight of all peoples. Listen to the teachings and messages from the Catholic Church regarding human rights violations.
Another option is to meet the survivors of such horrible events. Listen to their stories, look into their eyes and know them, eat with them, talk with them and love them. If you do that, you can never allow a dispassionate, unconcerned, distant observation of a human tragedy ever happen again in your life time. Never again.
This is what happened to people from St Mary's Church in Simsbury and St Ann's in Avon. Working in concert with the Office for Black Catholic Ministries, and the support of their pastors Fr. Will Metzler and Fr. John McHugh, parish members embraced and loved eight refugee families who were settled in Connecticut this summer.
These families initially fled in 1972 to Rwanda from their home country of Burundi. They then faced a similar tragedy in Rwanda in 1994 and once again they escaped, this time to Tanzania. For nearly 14 years, they lived in refugee camps in another country.
They lived in circumstances that most of us could never endure. They escaped mass murder in Burundi; they then faced genocide in Rwanda forcing them to flee once again, only to find abject poverty and degradation as refugees in Tanzania. They lived in makeshift camps with no electricity, no running water; they had little medical care and lived in hand formed huts for shelter.
In time the Tanzanian government wanted the world to take a greater responsibility for the people. The U.S. Bishops, through Catholic Charities, responded by accepting the call to care for these refugees. As a result many were sent to America. That was when I met them. The pictures you see above were taken during one of the many visits made to the homes of the refugees by the extraordinary people who have supported and loved them.
The care and concern for the refugee families shown by the parishioners of St. Mary’s and St. Ann’s has been astounding. All who have met and interacted with these brave refugee families are amazed by their unshakeable faith. These Burundi families have witnessed the ruthless ugliness of their fellow human beings and yet continued to have a profound acceptance of God as their hope. Most of the refugee families are Catholic and have worshipped with their new friends in Simsbury, Avon and Hartford.
If you have ever had a desire to see the face of hope, to eat with people who truly understand forgiveness and faith, give me a call 860-243-0648, I’d love to introduce you to them.
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