Canary Islanders reach out in solidarity to Sahrawi refugee children


On my journeys last weekend I was reading with disappointment the report from Labour Peer Lord Dubs that not a single child refugee promised sanctuary in the UK has arrived since the scheme was set up last May. Lord Dubs was himself an escapee from Nazi Germany thanks to the Kindertransport programme. But my heart was then warmed through a chance encounter with a marvellous programme for refugee children run by charities and the local Canary Island government.

I wondered who the rather excited and noisy youngsters were on my plane coming into La Palma from Tenerife North on Saturday. It turned out that the children were from refugee camps near Tindouf in SW Algeria. I must admit that I was not aware that there are 165,000 refugees, “Sahrawi” people, who have been living in these camps for 40 years! The camps are in a very inhospitable region of the world; the summer temperature rises to more than 50 degrees. The landscape is nothing but sand.

Each year, children from the camps are brought to stay with Spanish families for about two months, July and August, to given them a chance to enjoy a fresher climate, the sea, and to receive medical and nutritional care, as well as to build friendships and cultural links for them beyond their refugee camp existence. The programme is called Vacaciones en Paz (holidays in peace). The love and solidarity shown by ordinary Canarian families was deeply moving.

Our parish priest on La Palma, the Revd Jennifer Elliott de Riverol, will be looking into possibilities for our Anglican community to assist with this programme in some way.

Refugee Camp in Tindouf, Algeria. Photo by Jørn Sund-Henriksen, via Wikimedia Commons

Comments

  1. Anonymous24 July 2016 at 20:19

    Lord Dubs' petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/128833

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Farewell to the Diocese in Europe

Image
Deacon Frances and I packed up our office yesterday and turned over our official files, emails and equipment. Thus a close working together for 22 years comes to an end. So it is hard to believe that today, St David's day, a new chapter begins, after 44 years of stipendiary ministry, 22 years as deacon then priest and 22 as a bishop.  Here are just a few memories from the last couple of months...   But now it is time to begin a new chapter.  O God, by whose command the order of time runs its course: forgive our impatience, perfect our faith and, while we await the fulfilment of your promise, grant us to have a good hope because of your Word,  even Jesus Christ our Lord. (St Gregory Nazianzus, 330 - 390)
Read more

Archbishop of Canterbury's Pentecost Letter: A European Consequence

Image
In his Pentecost letter, the Archbishop of Canterbury warned of certain consequences for provinces of the Anglican Communion which have failed to stand by the three moratoria . (No authorisation of blessings services for same-sex unions; no consecrations of bishops living in same-sex relationships; and no bishop authorising any ministry within the diocese of another bishop without explicit permission). One consequence would be that representatives from such provinces w ould not be able to participate in the formal international interchurch dialogues of the Communion. One of those dialogues is the Anglican-Old Catholic International Co-ordinating Council ( AOCICC ), the official instrument set up to deepen the relationship of communion established in 1931 between the Anglican Communion and the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht . As the member Churches of the Union of Utrecht are all European, the AOCICC is effectively a European body. (I am one of the members, appointe
Read more

Advent in Helsinki: Mary, the Church's calling, and the One who brings us out of darkness to light

Image
Outside the Cathedral in Helsinki Yesterday, 8 December, was a very full Advent day, with activities redolent of the themes of the season. It was, of course, the Feast of the [Immaculate] Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary when we contemplate the mystery of the one who was prepared, through grace, to become the Mother of the Redeemer.  At the Vallila Help Centre (above, with Coordinator Eeva and Fr Tuomas) St Ambrose of Milan (whose feast we also celebrated this past week) was the first to refer to the Blessed Virgin as the Mother of the Church,  Mater Ecclesiae,  a title which helps us consider not only her role in giving birth to the Redeemer from whom the Church itself was born, but also how in her own life she responded to God's call in faith and love, as the Church today is also called to respond to the needs of the world.  It was with this in mind that I was so moved by a visit to the Ukraine Vallila Help Centre, a project supported by USPG and this diocese, which provides
Read more