Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Brussels (Agenzia Fides) – Caritas is not far from where I am staying. You can go inside and have a seat in a place that is obviously highly effective, clean, and where people work with dedication to assist those who have not been born in this cosmopolitan nation. For the immigrants, the laws of our States are at times confusing. They arrive in despair and with the hope of finally finding peace. A peace that is more of a utopia than an interpretation of values and behaviors. On our planet, there are places that seem more like a concentration camp ruled by religious, political, or military ideologies and that try to pass off as places of peace but are really nothing more than tyrannies that have made death and the oppression of reason their mode of existence and law. Places where the word “no” is a privilege of the man in power. Places of arrogance, culturally and morally incapable of understanding the changes, diversities, and rights of persons. Places where robbers get their hands cut off, with the thought that the example of an inhumane punishment is of some use to the masses. A pedagogy that leaves behind mutilations and the idea that only blood can repair the evil done. It is a downward spiral of ideological cruelty in which the victims end up being entire peoples. Let's return to Caritas in Brussels, where today is a bright sunny day. I am seated outside, in a small but magnificent patch of grass. An Armenian couple is expecting me. The desire to remain anonymous is something to be respected for these desperate lives and the stories they tell.
Your names are of no importance. We can simply say that you are an Armenian family and that you have only one desire: return. Return to Armenia. Europe? A trip that has cost you all your savings. Here you have found no work and you do not know how to return to your country. Without the help of Caritas, you would not have anything to live on. Is that right?
Yes, that's right.
The current situation in Europe is not only affecting your people, but it is also the same situation lived by many immigrants who arrived with all their hopes and yet are living in conditions quite different from the ones that inspired them to set off on their journey...
(The man responds) We are Christians like you and this faith has led to many discriminations of our people. From genocide to the diaspora. For those who remained after the dissolving of the Soviet Union, each country wanted to be independent. There was no gas, electricity, or bread. There were people starving all over the place. There was no work. Everyone left, and so did we. In order to make a little money, we sold the car and all we owned. That is when all our misfortune began.
We have traveled through many countries, but we have not found a place to live anywhere in Europe. Armenia is my country, that is where I know the people. Here, we are alone. I have even worked without pay, like a slave, and now I want to return home to my family. We have nothing. First, I lived on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia and I saw many people die of hunger. There were days on which we didn't have anything to offer our children. We had 100-200 grams of bread each day for all of us. Here in Europe, we are no better off. We do not have work. Oftentimes, we cannot buy anything to eat nor do we have spare money to save up in order to buy other things like clothing. I just want to go back to my country, to Armenia. There, we are in God's hands and we will live on whatever He wants to give us. Not like here, where we live in desperation. Today, if I have work we will eat. If not, well we won't. What kind of life is that? I think that each person should live in their own country. That is where we were born and that is where we want to live.
But, after making so many sacrifices? How can you want to go back?
(The woman responds) Our first child was born in Armenia. He was a year and 3 months old when we left. I was pregnant. We traveled by bus to Turkey and Yugoslavia. Our second child was born in Belgrade, where we remained several months. When the civil war broke out, we had to flee the country. What did we do? Go from Yugoslavia to Croatia. A few months later and we were once again on the run. The war in Yugoslavia had expanded. Croatia, Slovenia...we were blocked. We asked ourselves what we could do. We were in Slovenia. Where could we find peace? Go back? We didn't have money or clothing and there we were with two small children, with nothing to eat, without even a house. My husband went out every day to find work. At the beginning, they said they would pay him once a week. Then, once every two weeks, and the story continued. In the end, he was there working almost a year without pay. They had lied to us!
The men who had promised us work only gave us a small bit of money for bread and milk for the children. It was impossible to survive and the children continued growing. With the little we had, we arrived in Belgium. We have been here nine months. We have nothing. They promised us a bit of work. But after two weeks, my husband realized they were lying again. It was all just words. Now I am five months pregnant and we have to return home. We don't want our third child to be born in a foreign country. We want to go home. Help us! There we have nothing. We have nothing and we do not know how we will survive. We've barely kept afloat until now and we have nothing for our children, nothing to help them study, live a normal life, or just even be able to eat every day. Although the Armenians always say we should help each other live - when you have nothing, what can you share? (from Brussels, Luca de Mata) (14 – to be continued) (Agenzia Fides 27/2/2009)
