Monday Ministerial Musings
By Rev. Mark William Ennis
2022 Blog #13
April 4, 2022
Polish Hospitality
I have recently read that 2.3 million people fleeing Putin’s invasion of Ukraine have found safe haven in Poland. This number of refugees dwarf the amount of people fleeing Afghanistan following the rise of the Taliban there in 2021. That number is estimated to be 500,000 people. Of course, both of these numbers is dwarfed by the number of refugees who fled Afghanistan in 1979 when The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. After that invasion it is estimated that 6 million Afghanis fled that nation. Most, but not all, fled to refugee camps in Pakistan which soon reached maximum capacity. This refugee crisis begin to catch the attention of the entire world and the resettlement of those displaced people became a world issue.
I have no firsthand knowledge of what it is like to be a refugee and I really hope that I never will have such an experience. Until recently, everything that I knew about refugees came from news reports and pictures that I saw from the media. Recently, as I wrote about last week, I heard the report of a friend, Iryna Bondarenko, who was a refugee fleeing Ukraine and received hospitality in Poland. Since hearing from her, I have done a bit of research on the housing of refugees. I am in awe of some of the stories of mercy that I have heard.
A childhood friend, Lidia T. Hawryluk, who also is Ukrainian, regularly posts about Putin’s invasion and the hospitality shown by resettlement agencies in Poland. These agencies in Poland are gaining a good reputation for the kindness that they are expressing to refugees. The Polish government is receiving accolades for its assistance in the coordination of accepting and resettling Ukrainian refugees. The kindness of the Polish people, and the natural hospitality of that culture has been on full display during that crisis. As the reputation of Putin has declined, the reputation of the Polish has increased.
Would our nation know what to do with 2.3 million refugees? The Polish, with the help of refugee agencies have figured this out and their natural kindness has come through. This blog is a shout out to the Polish for doing so much to help so many. This blog also is an encouragement to all of my readers to contribute as you are able to alleviate this refugee crisis. I recommend contributing through Church World Service. The link to contribute is: https://www.rca.org/give/2022-european-crisis-response/
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# LidiaTHawryluk #IrynaBondarenko
To read more of Pastor Mark’s writings, please order copy of his book: https://deepriverbooks.com/books/the-circle-of-seven/
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