Sometimes it only takes a stranger, in a dark place,
to hold out a badly-knitted scarf, to offer a kind word, to say
we have the right to be here, to make us warm in the coldest season.
You have the right to be here.
-Neil Gaiman "What you need to be warm"
Genrose, a 22 year old woman, arrived in Johannesburg in March this year. She fled her village in the Eastern part of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) following clashes between military and rebel groups. Genrose and a small group of other Congolese people journeyed South, in search for safety. She was assisted in getting to South Africa by some of the
people she travelled with. Facing a traumatic and violent journey, Genrose was left in the border town of Musina. Genrose could only speak French and Swahili and had no idea where she was. With little to defend her she tried to get help. Strangers in Musina said they knew people who spoke her language in Johannesburg. She was assisted to travel to Johannesburg and arrived at the home of Papa Masarara, who provides shelter and food for refugees who have just arrived in South
Africa.
Papa Masarara is a refugee himself and has obtained received permanent residence in South Africa. Genrose has been staying in this home and slowly learning the new neighbourhood and people that surround her, making way for understanding a new world. Genrose will be making a new claim for asylum in South Africa, now that the Refugee Reception Centres are
operating. Unknowingly, she will join many others in the long and exasperating bureaucracy of seeking legal protection in South Africa. I dropped Genrose off at Papa Masarara’s sanctuary, thanking him for the protection and safety he has given her. He exclaimed that ‘nobody welcomed me, I must make sure everyone is welcomed here’.
Imagine for a moment being Genrose, arriving at the unknown, the strangeness of language, location and the sense of loss as you awaken to everything that is new. What do you imagine you would hope for? What would you fear?
Is there someone in your neighbourhood, church or community, who for the same or perhaps different reasons from Genrose, needs to be given sanctuary, or the solace of welcome? How might you in the words of Neil Gaiman let this
person know that: ‘You have the right to be here.’?
