When it comes to the international refugee crisis, this is a situation that just does not seem to be getting better, but seems to be getting worse the longer it goes on. Canada, and Weyburn, are trying to put a good foot forward to help people out, but this seems to be like a drop in a rather large bucket when one sees how many thousands are now trapped on the Greece-Macedonia border, in the rain, with no food and nowhere to go.
It was disheartening to see how in desperation, several hundred refugees crossed a cold river at great risk into Macedonia, only to be rounded up and sent right back to Greece, where they are huddling in small tents in the cold rain asking for help and for food, and for somewhere to go.
European leaders are 鈥渄iscussing鈥� the situation, but day after day as they gather in warm, safe hotels to talk, the refugees are shivering and hungry and are homeless, an eerie repitition of the shameful episode of World War Two where ships of Jewish people were adrift with no country willing to take them in as they fled the horrors of the Nazis.
What Europe is doing is heartless and shameful, and is not helpful to the thousands upon thousands of men, women and children who are desperately seeking a life outside of a war zone. Do these leaders think it was so easy to flee their homes, the country of their birth and of their culture? When people leave in the tens of thousands, streaming out of a country and literally risking their very lives in flimsy boats to cross the Mediterranean Sea, it is with the singular wish to find a peaceful land in which to live and work and raise a family.
Are we any different here in Canada? We raise our families, and look for communities and for jobs which will provide for our loved ones, not to mention give our children and grandchildren the opportunity to learn and to grow and thrive in a peaceful country. In our warm and safe homes and communities, we cannot conceive of what it is to have to run, leaving everything behind because your house was blown into bits by bombs and mortar rounds, and then to live in a tiny tent with your family as you seek a better life.
Very soon, the Weyburn community will welcome three Syrian refugee families and a single man, with efforts underway at this very moment to provide them with the food, clothing, utensils, furniture and accommodations to enable them to have a new life. May we as a community show them there is love and compassion as they seek to finally live in a place of peace and safety. 鈥� Greg Nikkel
