Longing to Belong

What seems like a lifetime ago now my first husband and I along with our four small
children landed into Wellington airport in the teeth of a Southerly in what was meant to
be summer. After many hours of flying, the trauma of saying goodbyes and the
uncertainty of what lay ahead, seeing our toddler daughters huddled together crying
and shivering with the cold on the tarmac, was very hard to cope with.
The next day while Chris went to see his new work environment I ventured out to find
food for the family and having successfully located a nearby supermarket then became
hopelessly lost trying to find the way back. This would be the first of many times when
I felt lost as I struggled to adapt to a strange country with a differing culture and way of
life. I longed for the day I would feel I belonged.
The need to belong, to be valued and respected, is fundamental to the quality of being
fully human. Indeed it is the very foundation for human existence and the formation of
human identity. Humankind is birthed within community and each one of us has a
desperate need to know we are accepted for who we are.
We all want a place where we can stand tall rooted in a sense of belonging and security
where our basic material needs are met and we have sufficient emotional resources to
replenish our soul. Yet the reality is for too many men and women living in our
communities today, they are struggling. I am focussing in particular this morning on
people society perceives as strangers among us who are very vulnerable as they
struggle to find work and a place to call home.
Grouping people together under a collective heading such as migrant workers- serves
to mask the fact that these are women and men, young and not so young, who, driven by
many differing factors, have left their homeland and often their families to seek paid
employment and life opportunities which are not available in their native country.
Carrying their few possessions in a bag and holding in their hearts hopes and dreams of
building a future for themselves and their families men and women regularly pass

through our arrival gates and step out into the unknown. For some the journey may be
fairly smooth with employment meeting expectations; however for others the harsh
reality is vastly different as they face workplace discrimination and exploitation.
Often heavily indebted to immigration agents back in their homeland to cover the cost
of their travel and purported employment costs for securing paid work and under
threat of possible deportation if they do not comply with the employers demands, the
newly arrived worker is in a position of extreme vulnerability and reluctant to complain
to authorities.
Migrant workers can and do add value to local economies, often taking up jobs that local
people dont wish to do yet they may be suffering quietly in our midst through appalling
working conditions, insufficient pay and unacceptably long hours of work.
Our newly arrived neighbours need and deserve our support indeed welcoming and
caring for the stranger in our midst is a Biblical imperative, not an optional extra.
The Genesis reading this morning serves to remind us that our Christian roots are
imbedded in migration; it has been said that the Bible is the Ultimate Immigration
Handbook: for its been written by, for, and about migrants, immigrants, refugees, and
asylum seekers.1
The Bible begins with the migration of Gods Spirit and ends with John in exile on the Isle of
Patmos. Between those two events, the uprooted people of God seek safety, sanctuary, and
refuge, and the living God gives directions for welcoming the stranger.2
All of us are part of that migration story as we have either lived it out literally or can
trace our roots back to our ancestors having moved to new lands. Take a moment and
consider your personal migration. Are you where you were born? Have you moved,
and, if so, for what reason? How many times have you moved? Many of us move by
choice, others by necessity, and others by force. Humankind's story is a migration story.
We all are, or have been migrants, immigrants, refugees, or asylum seekers. A vital part
of the Biblical migration story and remains so today is the giving of hospitality of
offering a hand of welcome and acceptance to the stranger, of ensuring those new in our

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CWS Immigration and Refugee Program, The Bible as the Ultimate Immigration Handbook 2006
IBID

midst are given a fair go. A few years ago a Salvation Army officer gave me a poster
which hung in my office at work, of a boat being tossed about on a stormy sea,
underneath the picture it says, we are all in this boat together and owe each other a
terrible loyalty. The second verse of the Servant Song speaks to me of just this,
We are pilgrims on a journey.
We are brothers on the road.
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load.
On World day of peace in 1987 Pope John Paul 2 said,
We are one human family. By simply being born into this world, we are of one
inheritance and one stock with every other human being. This oneness expresses itself
in all the richness and diversity of the human family: in different races, cultures,
languages and histories. And we are called to recognise the basic solidarity of the
human family as the fundamental condition of our life together on this earth
The reading from Matthew picks up this and reinforces Gods intentional focus on those
who sit on the edges and who struggle to belong in lands that are foreign and sometimes
hostile, who can so easily be overlooked and rendered invisible. Lets hear again those
words from Matthew,
"Then the king will say to those good people on his right, 'Come. My Father has given
you great blessings. Come and get the kingdom God promised you. That kingdom has
been prepared for you since the world was made. You can have this kingdom, because I
was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to
drink. I was alone and away from home, and you invited me into your home. I was
without clothes, and you gave me something to wear. I was sick, and you cared for me. I
was in prison, and you came to visit me.' "Then the good people will answer, 'Lord,
when did we see you hungry and give you food? When did we see you thirsty and give
you something to drink? When did we see you alone and away from home and invite
you into our home? When did we see you without clothes and give you something to
wear? When did we see you sick or in prison and care for you?' "Then the king will

answer, 'I tell you the truth. Anything you did for any of my people here, you also did for
me.'
A couple of years back you may recall a news item regarding foreign fishermen jumping
ship in Christchurch. Nonie, from Indonesia, who is one of our key speakers at our
conference this week, was involved in assisting those fishermen and here is what she
told me.
What they face day to day is not the attitude of an employer to an employee, but the
attitude and treatment as slaves, as an example: the fishermen have to work whenever
they are ordered whether it is morning, noon, or night. Not given a break before the fish
process is complete, and no days off; if denied or refused to do work or make even small
mistakes they will be verbally abused and even be punished standing under the hot sun
or rain on the bridge and not given anything to drink or eat; Often they were beaten and
threatened to be sent home made to pay for their return ticket and their salaries kept by
the captain and the guarantee which is detained by the agency will not be given back.
Listen to one mans story
It was not possible for Hassan* to return to Indonesia. He did not have a salary to bring
home and he would have fees to pay to the labour agents, including a penalty payment
for untimely return. To get the job on the ship the fisherman had to pay a big fee to the
agent in the first place.

Before he jumped ship he had made contact with someone who offered him work
picking asparagus in the North Island. He had to pay money to the person who offered
him that job, too. His wages were based on the numbers of heads of asparagus he
picked, per bucket. He worked ten to twelve hours a day, only having the occasional
Sunday off. He lived in a house with the other pickers, paid rent, and shared the cost of
electricity and food. The work was exhausting, so after a while he moved on to a town
and a painting gang.

He was paid $8 per hour. The hours were very long and he could not take a break under
orders from the supervisor.

He told me his life was better than it had been on the fishing boat. Now he just wanted
to be able to work until he had paid off his debt to the families that had loaned him the
money to pay the agent the fee to get him the job on the fishing boat in the first place.
Then he can send some money to his wife and children.
He knows that what he is doing is against the law in New Zealand, but he feels he could
not avoid it.
We are now just days away from the people trafficking conference which will focus
exclusively on labour exploitation as we understand it to be happening within our
country. In 2009 we held our first conference and in the same year our government
released New Zealands first action plan to prevent people trafficking. Putting the plan
in place was seen to be merely something needing to be done in the unlikely event it
would ever happen here; since then our understanding and resulting action has come a
long way.
At one of our planning meetings a few weeks ago though we acknowledged we still had
a long way to go in coming to grips with the size of the crime and its infiltration within
our shores and acknowledged that if we are to be truly effective we must all work
together. Yes the changes proposed to regulate the foreign owned fishing vessels and
more recently the Immigration amendment act are important pieces of legislation,
however exploitation occurs within communities and requires us all to become well
informed as to what to look for and to be aware of whom to contact should you have any
concerns.
Labour exploitation is the hidden ingredient in so many of our goods and services we
enjoy daily, If you have enjoyed for example, a glass of wine recently, ate asparagus,
kiwi fruit or any frozen fish product then there is no guarantee someone was not
exploited in their production of your goods and services.
Migrant labour exploitation has been uncovered in some of our restaurants; its
hidden within private domestic work, and there are ongoing questions relating to
some industries within our horticulture and viticulture enterprises. The global
nature of our supply chains, our passion for consumerism at bargain prices is
fuelling the need for ever cheaper labour costs.

The grim reality is we go about our daily lives totally unaware that we all benefit
greatly from exploited labour.
In concluding,
Many years ago when I was first learning to drive my instructor turned to me one day
saying that whilst he was pleased with my overall progress he had one significant
concern; that being my vision didnt appear to extend much beyond the end of the car
bonnet
What he said to me next I have never forgotten, I want you to look towards the farthest
point on the horizon, and then to take in everything you can see from there right to
where you are now.
I had been so intent on my own little world of getting the gear change right and steering
down the road correctly at the right speed I was failing to take in the bigger picture and
thereby missing most of what was happening further down the road.
This, I suggest is a true reflection on life for most of us today, we have our own crosses
to bear, our own challenges to face that for some simply getting through a day intact can
be more than enough. Yet as Christians we are called to walk the talk, our prayers need
to have feet on them and the stranger in our midst is crying out for a helping hand.
So what can we do? When the fishermen jumped ship in Christchurch the Anglican
Church went into action with parishioners gathering together food and clothing and
offering a helping hand, while the Anglican social justice commission began lobbying
government for change. We too have been deeply involved, not only through leadership
of the people trafficking conferences but through working alongside government to
facilitate legislative change. Age is no barrier to caring, we are not all called to work
with government but we can all offer friendship and food.
The International Salvation Army has a motto that says,
Heart to God, hand to man.
If we are truly to be Disciples of Christ, there is simply no other way.
Amen.
June 1 , 2014
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