Refugee Ministry

-Refugee Ministry -

Paris offers many things, places to eat, monuments to visit, and stores to shop at. I have been to so many places already and have experienced a lot of the Parisian culture. One thing, however, that changed not only my perspective but has impacted my heart was seeing the refugees in Paris. There are over 100,000 refugees in Europe and over 10,000 alone in Paris.

We all went to meet with a ministry called At Home, a ministry that

helps refugees find food, clothing, and provide them with a community. They do not do much but what they provide is friendship, love, and most importantly Jesus. Samir is the owner of this ministry as well as running an Arabic, French church for them and others. He connects with these people, listens to their stories, shares the gospel and just truly loves them. As he was sharing how this started At Home he talked a lot about his passion for these people and we saw how genuine his heart was for refugees.

After Samir shared his heart we went out to buy some snacks for the refugees and started making our way to the refugee camp. Most of them sit around in a park in the middle of the street, and almost all of them sleep there or sleep on the street. Very few have places to stay and most of them have traveled around from country to country waiting for their approval from the French government.

The day we went it was very cold and windy, I could not imagine sleeping outside that day and realized that was the reality for these refugees. As our time together passed, the students and I spoke with serval refugees asking them about their stories. A lot of them came from terribly sad backgrounds, resulting in a loss of a loved one or leaving a loved one behind or in general being separated from their family.

These conditions the refugees were in, loss, heartbreak, sadness, and homelessness, should have made them very bitter people. However, speaking with them, although their hearts are sad they were actually very joyful people. This shocked me. These people have nothing, lost everything and most of them don't even know Jesus, yet they are joyful. This inspired all of us to not only be grateful for what we have and see the blessings in our lives.

After we got back from this excursion, we all started brainstorming ideas and ways we can help. One of the main issues with living outside is the weather, and because Paris is starting its cold season we would like to raise money in order to provide blankets for them. It is not much but it's something. I know that serval students already have some money that has been donated from friends and family. This has been such a cool moment for all of us because we can see a need and fill a little portion of it. It feels like we have been trained for this in a way, I think ORU has really helped us see people and taught us ways to help them. We are all really looking forward to going back and helping more. All I know is that God is good and has a plan for these people, I would like him to use me in that plan.