Faces behind the statistics

THE world is facing the greatest refugee crisis since the Second World War: at present there are around 59.5 million people who have been forcibly displaced in the world. The UK is home to less than 1% of the world’s refugees (UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015).

Germany and Hungary together receive over half of all asylum applications made in the EU. From January to September 2015, Britain received around 3% of all asylum claims made in the EU.

Entry to the UK for asylum seekers and refugees is difficult – but there is no such thing an illegal asylum seeker according to international law. Asylum seekers make up only a small percentage of new arrivals in Britain.

Sadly, the British tabloid press often paints a biased and unfair picture. It’s time to put faces behind the statistics.

***

It’s Sunday morning, and a new visitor has arrived at our drop-in. I sit down next to him and, after a few minutes, he pulls his phone from his pocket and shows me some grainy footage he has taken of himself, in the back of a lorry, in transit across Europe.

There he is, lying uncomfortably in the darkness, crouched, precarious. Here is a face, a first-hand a story. So often we hear of faceless refugees, stowed away in lorries and containers - often, to the reading or viewing public, no more than nameless statistics.

He looks around at the rough faces of many of our drop-in visitors: hard times, hard lives, sometimes years of alcohol abuse, are etched on the contours of their worn faces. Others are just passing through, seeking work and finding the UK is not the land of opportunity they had hoped for. In broken English my friend explains, “My country... nothing like this... it's go, go, go.”

Language is limited. Our shared words are few. I look around the room and attempt to explain: “With Jesus it’s ‘come, come, come'”. That’s what makes the difference.

***

I was leading a Bible group a while ago and a new member of the group related this story:

Fleeing his country in the Middle East at short notice, he was stowed away, hidden amongst the goods, in the back of a lorry as it travelled into and across Europe. 

The load was sliding around on the lorry’s floor and my friend found himself crushed and suffocating between the shifting merchandise. Fearing for his life, he, in desperation, began to shout, “Jesus!”

The lorry shifted onto a more level incline, the load parted and my friend could breathe freely. My new friend wept as he told the story and offered gratitude to God for his life.

Later, he continued, telling us the first part of his story.

“Although it is forbidden in my country, a friend talked to me about the love of God and the only way to find salvation was to find Jesus Christ. I was on drugs at that time, I had a bad life. I worked very long hours as a lorry driver, sometimes 16 hours at one stretch, and I took the drugs to keep me awake.

“I asked Jesus to help me; I was ‘in darkness’. I became a follower of Jesus and I felt very happy. My friend introduced me to a Christian couple and I started going to a secret church (again, forbidden in our country). One day the police arrested me. They took me away and beat me very badly. I don’t know what happened after that. All I remember is that they left me by the side of a road after two days. I was in a bad way.

“The beating didn’t cause me to lose my faith. On the contrary, I continued going to a secret church. Again, a short while later, the police came to my house when I wasn’t there. I had no choice this time – I had to flee my country.

“It was very hard – I left my family, my children. I had to entrust them to Jesus, for Him to protect them.”

I had seen another face, rather than a statistic, and there are thousands like him, each with their own story.