I have been on many mission trips, to many different countries. But I am greatly affected by this Klang trip in November. I have never ever imagined talking to a young trained extremist face to face. Neither have I imagined meeting children abandoned by their parents, a 5-year-old kid who attempted suicide, a kid whose mum and sibling were killed by terrorists, kids who trekked for weeks through mosquito infested jungle, kids who were pushed onto boats in order to escape ... etc. Their endless horrific nightmares go on and on... I shivered. Why? They are just kids. God cries too.
I saw them in Klang, Malaysia (just next to Singapore). The kids are refugees – stateless from different countries: Afghanistan, Iran, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Ethiopia, Yemen etc. They are mostly Muslims. Some of them are so disillusioned, they do not believe in humanity, love, or God.
I met a refugee family – father, mother, 7 kids – all stateless. Are there other refugee families with lots of kids? What will happen to these kids when they grow up? Full of hatred, like a time bomb?
There are really too many refugees, facing lots of problems (housing, poverty, health, education, social, emotional, etc). I met Christians (Malaysians, Filipinos, Brazilians) – they must be God-sent, full of compassion, spending long long hours taking care of these refugees, providing them education, imparting to them Jesus’ love. Some of the kids who have had daily nightmares were taught to pray to Jesus asking him to replace their nightmares with His peace. Even the United Nations personnel cannot comprehend how an unseen Jesus is able to give these kids peace.
Singapore was once a smelly fishing island with lots of problems too. The British missionaries came to set up churches and missions schools – St Margaret, ACS, St Andrew, Anderson School etc. My hubby, my son, myself and many other people in Singapore benefited from their hard work. Are we going to help these refugees just like the British missionaries once helped us? Or are we going to pretend to be blind to this refugee problem?
My conclusion – I must help them in order to help myself. I may not be able to do big things, but I will start with small things. Doing small things is better than doing nothing. Almighty God, I am very very weak, please help!