Resilient Refugees

In our new language refugees are literally “children of running from a place.” I went with the president of our partner church to visit two of the refugee families who were staying at a Christian household in the north edge of our town. They told us about how the first big hurdle was to get a ride to a village a ways out of the town, where they waited for others to gather. A Christian brother had three trucks of different sizes he took people in. To finally get out of the area they made the two day journey on these trucks crammed with people, Christians and Muslims. One truck had two tires pop on the road but it was a safe journey otherwise.

Inside the gate of the household we visited, there was an old bed frame on the front porch where two elementary age girls clamored around while we spoke with their grandmother. An older sister served us water and then continued sorting millet grains by shaking them in a large tray. Mother was at the market and her husband still back in the troubled city they had fled. More mats for sleeping were spread in the middle of the yard under four wood branch-poles holding up a thatched roof and two side windbreaks. As the family’s pigeons pecked around the yard they patiently taught me the words to talk about them. Even in this chaotic time what stuck with me was their resilient smiles and hospitality. The other family that was staying here just went back, as their town itself seems to be secure for the most part, and they felt it was necessary because of their high schooler’s exams. Before we left we prayed with them and wished them well on getting back to their home soon.