LOCAL NEWSNiverville Ministerial Addresses Refugee Crisis

Living in our quiet little community, it’s hard to imagine a world where peace is not the norm. The ravages of war; the destruction of entire cities, homes, and livelihoods; and death by shootings and bombings are as unfathomable to most of us as an alien encounter in our backyard.

Yet we are exposed to it, if only through our TV sets, newspapers, or online news-feeds. It’s hard to miss the plight of Syria’s people—harder still, at times, to believe we can do anything tangible to change it.

The Niverville Ministerial, a group of representatives from our local churches and church-affiliated organizations, has put out a call to our residents. They are providing an opportunity to do something collectively.

A number of congregations had already started conversations about what they could do to aid Syrian refugees, but the magnitude of the investment 
of time, energy, and money brought them to the ministerial for direction.

“[The ministerial] is looking at ways of being more inten-tional in the community,” says Jason Kehler, chairman for the ministerial board. “So what started as discussions around leadership tables in each church has grown into a greater vision, not just for the churches but, more importantly, the community of Niverville.”

Together, he feels, we can build a greater solidarity on the issue as well as give individuals opportunities to get involved in ways they may not have been able to do alone.

Syria’s war is currently touted as the worst humani-tarian crisis of our time. To date, half of the country’s pre-war population—11 million people—have been killed or forced to flee their homes. Dead civilians alone number well over 100,000. Over four million citizens are on the run, hoping that somewhere, somehow, they will be able to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives and start anew. More than half of these are children. Refugee camps are bursting at the seams with living conditions that are deplorable and inhumane.

Residents of Altona began a campaign to sponsor refugees recently. Through their organ-ization, Build a Village (BAV), they have successfully helped 15 families start a new life in Canada. Though their mandate has been to sponsor one family per year, five new Syrian families are expected to make their home in Altona by March 2016. The first of these families arrived in mid-December.

Cindy Klassen, a lead member of BAV, says that the reward comes from the cross-cultural friendships that they build and seeing these families enjoying the safety and freedom deserved by every human.

“Our first family has been in Altona three weeks,” says Klassen. “Two days ago I was sitting with the mom looking at photos on her phone. One of the photos was of her family surrounded by a good number of their volunteer support group. She said, ‘My family now,’ and she touched the photo to her heart.”

BAV is run solely by local volunteers. They recently hired one couple on a part-time basis to look after the day-to-day needs of each sponsor family as they get settled. The couple raises their own support. 100 percent of the donations received by BAV goes directly to the sponsorship families. They have no fundraising, overhead, or organizational costs.

On Tuesday, January 26, the Niverville Ministerial held an informational meeting at the Niverville Community Fellowship Church. A spokesperson from the MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) was present to discuss ways we as a community can get involved. Details of the meeting will be relayed in next month’s issue of The Citizen.