Displaying items by tag: African migrants

Nigerian Christians have experienced horrendous violence against their communities in recent years. Many have been killed, thousands have fled homes and land, and many live with the trauma of seeing loved ones killed or brutalised. Their needs are now being met by trauma-healing workshops that help them express their pain, face up to it, and to bring it to Christ so that feelings aren’t buried deep within. The workshop seeks to bring victims to a point where, by the grace of God, they are able to forgive those who hurt them. They then have a foundation on which to rebuild their lives. Each workshop helps forty people over a five-day period. They equip church leaders with biblical principles to respond to suffering – their own and the suffering of others. There is also a separate youth version of the workshop, for young people traumatised by violence.

It is reported that 4,799 Africans were apprehended in Mexico between January and July, a fourfold increase over the same period in 2018. Between 1,500 and 3,000 Africans are currently camping in tents outside the Mexican city of Tapachula. They have been there for months after fleeing conflict-ridden countries like Cameroon and DR Congo. Most flew to Brazil, then made the dangerous journey north through road-less swathes of jungle into Mexico, hoping finally to reach the USA to claim asylum. They can’t leave Tapachula without a permit, but these are scarce since Mexico agreed to help President Trump to limit numbers crossing the border. Now Trump intends to bar people from applying for asylum if they haven’t first applied in the countries they crossed - Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Migrants could be deported back to ‘safe third countries’, which are not safe and would put many at renewed risk.