Family’s exciting new start
MANY of us have heard the story about the beach which is covered in tens of thousands of stranded starfish. When the sun comes up the starfish will die.
A boy arrives and starts throwing starfish back into the sea, one by one.
‘Why are you bothering with that?’ asks a passer-by. ‘There are tens of thousands of dying starfish here – you can’t make a difference to these creatures!’
The boy replies, as he’s throwing another starfish into the water: ‘Well, I am able to make a difference to this one!’
I love this story because it helps me to deal with my feelings of being overwhelmed by the pain in our world. It reminds me that I am only called by
God to do what I can. Together with the churches in Fareham, we have an exciting opportunity to make a difference to one family.
Out of the millions of refugee families living in camps throughout the world, the Home Office has agreed to allow local organisation Caritas –Refugee Matters to arrange and sustain the bringing of a Syrian refugee family to our area. Just one family. This is part of the Community Sponsorship programme. Local people have fundraised and undertaken to support a family from a refugee camp to resettle here in England, at last able to put down roots and build a new life.
Part of this project is to find a house for this family to live in, and this is where the word needs to go out. Do you know of a suitable three, four or five-bedroomed house which could be rented by this project, at Local Housing Authority rates? Finding the right house is the next step. If you can help, contact paultomlinson@refugeematters.org.
Why bother? It’s just a single family amongst tens of millions of families who have fled disaster and danger and are now languishing in refugee camps unable to live dignified lives.
Yet to this particular family, it will be the transforming opportunity of a new start, a restoring of hope and health, an invitation to bring their own special gifts to our town, which will be such a blessing to the rest of us. What could possibly be more exciting?