For
40 years a missionary in Thailand, Brother Bernard WIRTH tells us
about one of his ministries with the poor.
I
am still working at the Detention Center
and last year, I experienced some things that merit mentioning.
Generally, I am used to finding nothing but problems and trouble…
but in 2011, surprise! some things finally happened…
On
June 1, after my return from France, at
first there was misery. I found the Rohingya at the end of their rope
(the
Rohingya are Burmese refugees).
They were exhausted. For more than two years, they had been confined
for the simple reason that no one wanted them anymore. Considered
foreigners in their own country, Burma, and without papers, legally
they do not exist and no other country wants them. Except during my
absences in France, I met with them twice each week. I shared many of
their concerns and their misfortunes. I had some difficult Friday
evenings. I was aware of my total inability to respond to their needs
and to keep up their courage to go on living. “Why are we locked
up? Why don’t we have the right to a normal life? Is this going to
last forever?” Their questions still ring in my head.
Today,
this calvary has ended… Finally the authorities have decided to let
them go back home as they desired, so that they can return to their
families, their villages. It’s not paradise, but at least they are
with their own people to bear the problems together. And besides, it
cannot be worse than staying locked up within four walls with 100
persons in a cell built for 20!!! Their liberation touched me deeply
and relieved me. For once, there has been action; for once a group
has succeeded.
I must share that with my friends. Too often -- I could say almost
always -- I am engaged in an endless struggle.
Everything
had begun on a Friday morning in March 2009. Ninety-five persons
crammed on a truck ended up at the Detention Center in Bangkok. Most
of them wore just a sarong and an tee-shirt; fourteen of them were
handicapped and could not even move around. Most of them were young.
They had spent six months in a camp in the south, in atrocious
conditions. Upon arrival here, they had red cards, meaning
prohibition of contacts or visits. They were considered terrorists!!!
Fifty-one came from Bangladesh and the rest from southern Burma. I
got permission to meet with them…
Standing
at the bars of their cell, for a long time I was their only visitor.
I
tried some Thai and English words with them. At the beginning, I was
not successful; they were suspicious. I understood their difficulty
in trusting a stranger for they had already endured so much. It took
a few months for me to be accepted; then I became their big brother,
their uncle, their father. In other words, they brought me into their
family. I became their confidant, their intermediary with the police
at times of revolt, hunger strikes, etc. When I arrived, I was
mobbed. Everyone wanted to greet me, to shake my hand. “Is there
something new for us?” An awful question repeated tirelessly for
two years. And a terrible ordeal for me who saw all the exits
blocked. After eight months, thanks to international pressure, the
first miracle happened! The Bangladeshis could leave, but for the
others, they would have to wait two more years!!! (Audacieux
pour l’Évangile,
April 2012)
