Last Saturday I had breakfast with a wonderful group of people from Lismore Uniting Church. I have to be gluten free, and often 'bring my own' to such events, so I hope I didn't offend anyone. The sharing of food amongst friends is one of the greatest marks of hospitality I know. I humbly apologised to them, as I talked about their gift, and the gift of hospitality that we're able to share.
I grew up on a farm at Coopers Shoot via Bangalow - and whoever arrived down the dirt track that led into our property would be welcomed. They would receive a smile, a handshake, respect, & a cuppa. Even the Jehovahs Witnesses received the same treatment; as we may not always agree, but hospitality was a core virtue that would not be neglected. There were no locks on the doors, and there was a simple chain on the farm gate to keep the cows in. Everyone was welcome.
We weren't unusual. We were Methodist and we were dairy farmers, but in my childhood memory, everyone was welcoming & all were treated with hospitality. It was simply normal. The worst things we ever encountered in life were brown snakes, and lightening strikes that blew everything electrical in the dairy up, and cyclones good enough to move houses off their stumps.
It was an idyllic life perched on the escarpment behind Suffolk Park, with the occasional echo of a huge dumper breaking on the coast several kilometres away, and the Byron lighthouse lighting up every room in our house at night, every 20 something seconds.
Who'd have guessed that in a few short years I would be living in Sydney, (maybe everyone has to do penance?), and that I would fall in love and marry Marie - my Algerian born, French speaking wife whom I still love to bits 32 years later.
Marie's family were different to mine. My family had lived as farmers near Bangalow for 4 generations. I was born in Bangalow. Hers had lived in Algeria, North Africa, for 4 generations. They were white French people on Algerian soil. But in her country there was a war, and persecution and finally independence from France. Her family fled in secrecy, leaving life, business, and all that was familiar behind in their beautiful home of Algeria.
In 1969 Marie's family arrived in sid-en-ee orstraylia. Her only English words then were 'This is a pink pig'. Learning this sentence makes perfect sense to me as a child from a dairy farm that also had pigs. It is much easier to say that this is a pink pig, rather than name it by it's breed of being a"Landrace". The word 'Landrace' is much more difficult to pronounce (but maybe that wasn't the point of learning that as a first sentence).
Marie's family briefly lived in a place of hospitality provided by the Australian government whilst they found their feet. It wasn't a perfect place, but the hospitable intention was clear. Along with many other new Australians, they experienced new exotic dishes like "meat and 3 veg", as they grappled with learning English. Since 1976, the "Villawood Migrant Hostel" has been known by another name, and sadly it's primary function is no longer hospitality. This is a great sadness, that something that was previously a place of hospitality to so many who arrived from across the seas (we've boundless plains to share), is now a place of imprisonment.
For me, as I got to know Marie and her family, I learned to eat things that I now love; things like olives, beetroot salads, and chick pea curry's; I didn't know these exotic foods existed until I met Marie.
A few years ago we met some french speaking people in Lismore who were from a place called Democratic Republic of Congo. These people had been refugees, and were sponsored by Sanctuary Northern Rivers to settle here in Lismore NSW.
I don't know about you, but if I had to leave my home, leave behind everything I know, including family and friends; if war, persecution, and violence drives you from your home; then I cannot think of a better place on this planet to move to than "Lismore NSW Australia". Actually I do think there are other great places too; like Rockhampton where my friend Rev Cameron Venables who used to be in Lismore lives. He was part of Sanctuary's beginning in 2003 and in Rockhampton he is still helping people from Congo, Sudan, and Afghanistan to feel at home in Australia. In Rockhampton they have a huge meatworks that provides a few more employment opportunites than Lismore. Or in Highgate Western Australia where Rev Trevor Goodman-Jones from the Anglican Parish of St Albans connects with middle eastern refugees who have arrived by boat, helping them to understand the complexities of centrelink. I am told that no-one understands these complexities completely. Or in Pontville Tasmania where a group of knitting nana's have had their lives deeply enriched as they connected with Hazara refugees from Afghanistan who were in detention. In our capital cities too there are amazing groups of resettled friends who are rebuilding their lives - maybe Sydney isn't that bad really after all. Throughout Australia there are amazing communities just like Lismore that have welcomed refugees, extending hospitality to those who quickly become new friends. I am proud that Lismore, and many other cities, are known and listed as "refugee friendly cities".
On June 30 this year in Lismore, we held a combined churches service titled: 'Once strangers, Now friends' with Rev Tim Costello as our guest speaker. On that day we also celebrated the 9th anniversary of the arrival of our first friends from Sudan to Lismore. Since then Sanctuary Northern Rivers has helped to settle over 150 people in Lismore and Mullumbimby. These families have come from places like South Sudan, Rwanda, Congo, Sierra Leone, and Eritrea.
When we do hospitality - and we Aussies can do it so well - it is a choice; and it is an effort.
On Saturday morning at Lismore Uniting Church there were a team of eager people putting in the effort to make their mission breakfast event a time and place of hospitality; where attendees would be welcomed and fed. This same dynamic operates when we choose to welcome the stranger in our midst who is running from persecution in another country; it is most definitely a choice, and it most definitely involves effort. So Sanctuary Northern Rivers has only been able to achieve what it does through the tireless efforts of volunteers who simply do hospitality as I know we have done for generations in the North Coast of NSW. It is an organic natural thing, rather than being a resettlement 'programme'. This is what friendship is; there is no 'us and them' - these are new friends that we welcome and include.
Sadly there have been less approvals in the last few years, and Sanctuary's last few settled families arrived in August 2010. However, we are continually hopeful of many more; and have a hope that in the next 12 months we will see up to 30 new people approved under Sanctuary's sponsorship.
Right now in various places in Africa are the children, brothers, sisters, and parents of people who live in Lismore. Many of these people were once thought to be dead; but have been miraculously found still alive; some of them have survived through events that can only be described as atrocities; and they are still living in danger. It is these people that weigh heavy on my heart at this time; as the pain of separation between those here and those there is unbearable.
For the future, I choose to believe the best for Australia - that the aussie core value of hospitality won't be extinguished; it is a natural and precious gift that can literally change a new friends life.
--------------------
Sanctuary Northern Rivers
www.sanctuary.asn.au
Pontville Story - Mary Meets Mohammad
www.marymeetsmohammad.com
Lismore Uniting Church
www.lrm.org.au
