Genesis 12:1-4a
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17
John 3:1-17
Psalm 121
 

           Displaced Persons, Ancient and Modern

Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.
                          Genesis 12:1

You have seen on television and in the newspaper how wild and beautiful Afghanistan is -- its mountains and gorges, its rivers, its immense and ancient rock formations, its high, treacherous winding roads.  Its hard beauty makes it easy to see why no foreign power has had an easy time subduing the country, but there has not been a shortage of nations which have made the attempt.  Internal displacement -- leaving home for a safer place in another part of the country --  is something to which the Afghan people have become sadly accustomed in recent decades.

This year, nature has added additional hardship to the trauma of political displacement; this has been the worst winter Afghanistan has seen in 30 years, with heavy snow and freezing temperatures. Many ethnic minorities have had to leave their homes for safety.  Their plight was already a hard one: living in tents or in mud houses with no heat.  They have no source of income to purchase warm clothing, blankets, food or fuel.  Some have cattle, but cannot afford to buy fodder to sustain the animals through winter.  A large number of the IDPs are women, children, and the elderly.   As many as 750 may have died.

Episcopal Relief and Development is partnering with Hungarian Interchurch Aid through Action by Churches Together (ACT) International to distribute relief packages containing coal and blankets, along with insulation materials such as straw and foil.  Food items including oil, tea, sugar, salt, rice and beans are also provided.  Four hundred of the most vulnerable families (over 3,200 individuals) living in four camps will receive relief packages. 

It takes courage to leave home, even if you are sure that it is absolutely necessary to do so.  We know about Abraham's courage in responding to God's call to leave; we know less about what hard situation may also have prompted his journey at the particular time he decided to begin it.  Perhaps these displaced persons, like Abraham and his family, will one day be at home in a new place, and it will all end well for them.  But that is in the future.  Right now, they must survive this terrible winter.

To help families affected by the severe winter weather in Afghanistan, please make a donation to Episcopal Relief and Development’s “Emergency Relief Fund” at http://www.er-d.org/, or call 1-800-334-7626, ext. 5129.