friend’s home in Italy,
though living conditions were not good—they were all packed
into a small apartment with no space of their own, and they had
to hide from the authorities.
Finally, M came back to Hungary alone. He slept in the homeless
shelter and was determined to learn Hungarian. He heard from other
refugees about a language program offered by the Reformed Church.
In Ethiopia M was an Orthodox Christian, so he was hopeful that
he could find help through the church. He began attending church
with the other refugees at St. Columba’s (Hungarian Reformed
Church), bringing some of his Orthodox customs with him, such
as kneeling to pray. He was welcomed and has joined us each Sunday
for worship and the refugee lunch provided by the church. We got
him involved in language classes taught by church volunteers and
helped him to find a job. A couple of months later, we got him
out of the homeless shelter into an apartment so that his wife
and 4-year-old son could come and join him. What a great reunion
when they arrived!
It has now been five months since the family was reunited, and
things are still precarious. M was laid off, so we helped find
him a new job. Unfortunately, neither job has paid enough to support
the family, so his wife returned to Italy to work so she can supplement
M’s wages. The child is in preschool and doing well, but
misses his mother very much when she is gone for six or eight
weeks at a time. M works each day, cares for his son, and tries
very hard to learn Hungarian in the evenings. The grind is exhausting,
but the family is determined to survive. Recently, I took the
family to the zoo. It was a first time any of them had been to
a zoo, so we stayed until it closed. It was such a magical day,
to see this 4-year-old run from exhibit to exhibit, chattering
about everything he saw just like a normal child in a normal family.
His father and I were grinning from ear to ear.
Kathy Angi
The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
181 |
