During an inter-religious ceremony, refugees, religious leaders, and UN Refugee Agency representatives gathered on 12 December in the Ecumenical Centre chapel to pray, sing, and listen deeply to one another. Titled “This is My Story, This is My History,” the ceremony offered prayers from various traditions including Buddhist, Jewish, Bahá’í, Muslim, Hindu, and Christian.
“We gather in prayer. We gather to listen to God the divine, and to one another,” he said. “We come together to listen to refugees, to their life wisdom, to their insight.”
God deeply cares for refugees, Vicken reflected. “Even more, God identified with them. In this way, God empowers refugees and displaced people and gives them agency.”
He also reflected that, during the time of Advent and Christmas, Christians remember the very beginning of the Jesus story. “Mary was in the final stage of pregnancy when she had to move with Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem,” he said.
The ceremony was the start of an event linked to the Global Refugee Forum, and was co-curated by the Plateforme InterReligieuse de Genève, Agora and the World Council of Churches. Together with a team from the World Council of Churches, the Interreligious Platform of Geneva prepared this time of meditation and inter-religious prayer. For more than 30 years, the platform has worked to promote increased acceptance of religious communities, to respect each other, and to live together in constructive diversity in Geneva.
Insights from refugees
Nataliya Kolodiy, from Ukraine, is a mother who came to Geneva to save her children from the war. She shared her story during the ceremony.
“Now, in my native Ukraine, innocent people are dying,” she said. “How many lives have been lost and how many lives will be destroyed?”
She remembered women and children who have been subjected to physical and psychological violence. “My people have experienced much horror, grief, and pain,” she said. “Our land is covered with ashes and polluted with blood.”
She thanked all those who helped her family. “In difficult times for us, you did not stand aside,” she said. “Thanks to you all. We have been made to feel at home.”
François Geraud, a Cameroonian who left his country as a matter of survival, crossed the Aegean Sea on an inflatable boat. “There were 26 of us—men, children, pregnant women,” he said. “The crossing took two days.”
They reached the island of Samos and were taken to a camp in the woods. “The camp was planned for 600 people,” said Geraud. “There were 8,000 of us, then 12,000.”
He stayed there for two years. “I was able to escape that hell,” he said. “I have always told myself that you need to resolve your struggles inside your head. We must seek, we must ask, we must always pray.”
He faces a choice of whether or not to stay here in Geneva. “The greatest gift I have is patience. Along with prayer, that’s what keeps me going,” he said.
Faith-based front lines
In closing remarks, Gillian Triggs, UNHCR assistant high commissioner for protection, thanked the churches and faith-based organizations for their work with refugees. “At the UN Refugee Agency, we understand we have a shared religious narrative with you,” she said. “We value faith-based organizations and local communities of faith.”
She added that she welcomed their contributions to the Global Refugee Forum, the world’s largest international gathering on refugees, which is taking place from 13-15 December in Geneva.
“It’s an astonishing fact that a refugee is likely to spend in exile more than 20 years—more than two decades,” she said. “Faith-based communities don’t go away when the project funds come to an end. Faith-based communities are the front line.”
