Janice Collins, National Director reflects on the moment God began cultivating her compassion for refugees
Today many more Australians are talking about refugees and asylum seekers, particularly following the recent screening of “Go Back to Where You Came From” on SBS.
Janice Collins, National Director
We hear of compassion being aroused in people’s hearts as they watch the stories of real refugees – both those here in Australia and those who want to be here.
Compassion is not a natural emotion for me. My natural inclination is to protect myself from the things that place stability at risk.
Compassion needed to be cultivated, facts and experiences offered to provide me with an opportunity to experience compassion in regards to refugees. This seems to be the same for others.
God began to cultivate compassion in me in 1995 when I first spent time with refugees who had fled from Bosnia.
They shared stories of family separation and the urgent flight from their home in Sarajevo. I realised that their story aligned with the television news reports I had watched from April 1992 when Nationalist Serb snipers fired on peaceful demonstrators in Sarajevo, marking the beginning of the war. For over 1000 days Sarajevo was under siege.
One evening as we visited one refugee family, they showed us photos of their home in Sarajevo – photos that neighbours had rescued from their garden after Serbian forces had looted their property.
Driving back to my secure Sydney suburban home that night I remember thinking…
“They are real people just like us – they had homes and professions and possessions.”
Before I met these precious refugees from Bosnia, I had hidden within me a prejudice that somehow refugees were sub-normal. I switched from having a false view, to being compassionate for them in all their losses.
When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36)
I thank God for enabling me to grow like Jesus. The compassion that is in me is from Him.
I am deeply thankful that I can enable others who experience compassion to serve the poor and oppressed in His name.
If you missed the Go Back to Where You Came From program on SBS, make time to watch it online.
Go Back to Where You Came From
Tags: change, compassion, growth, refugees
