If there is anyone who understands the plight of refugees, it is Ben Kwashi, Anglican archbishop of the Nigerian city of Jos.
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Archbishop Kwashi is in Batemans Bay after attending a meeting of Sharing Of Ministries Abroad (SOMA) leaders at Nelligen on Tuesday.
He and wife Gloria have taken in 52 children, Christian and Muslim, who have been orphaned by civil war, HIV, drought and other problems.
They also have a food and education program which provides breakfast and lunch for 1000 children.
“We get by, by miracles,” he said.
“We have friends who see what we do and give us assistance.”
This doesn’t mean charity is always returned to the pair.
“The day before we left for Australia, a group of armed hustlers (who had been armed by Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram) came to our place and took all our cattle,” he said.
“This is the third time this has happened.”
“They have taken our sheep and goats as well.”
He and Gloria have little choice but to turn the other cheek.
“I don’t fight them, there is no point,” he said.
SOMA is a “short term missionary organisation inviting bishops around the world to renew missions by the power of the Holy Sprit and proliferation of the gospel of Jesus Christ”.
Archbishop Kwashi believes the messsage of Christ is the answer to the current troubles of the world.
“We live in a time of huge confusion and violence, of youth identity crisis, and the value of life is down,” he said.
“The world has tried everything but the gospel, and in this post missionary era we need to revisit it.”
He believes that when it come to faith, it is as important to talk the talk as to walk the walk.
“It is not wise to know Jesus is the reason you do good, and to not tell people,” he said.
“There is a limit to human goodness, even with the best intentions.
“We see the joy in our house when children are praying, and that comes from God.
“There are children who don’t have any living relatives and their village has been wiped out, but they have no bitterness because of their faith.”
He believes that missionaries have a vital role in bringing out the truth of how bad it gets in trouble spots like his homeland.
“The western world has no idea about the level of strife, because it does not want to know.”
Archbishop Kwashi believes that people hanging on to their own and their country’s past is the cause of woes in Australia as much as it is in more troubled places.
“There is so much bashing of past history,” he said.
“People need to think like Joseph in the Bible, that so much good can come out of bad history.”
He believes that Australia should welcome refugees from countries such as Syria.
“You should give preference to Christians because of the hostility they face in these places,” he said.
The SOMA directors of Australia (Batemans Bay Anglican minister Colin Walters), Ireland, South Africa and the USA attended Tuesday’s meeting in Nelligen.
