We both read the email and felt strongly prompted to do something - we simply couldn’t let this go. So we contacted Dave and, after a meeting with him and his wife Shona to agree the ground rules for the hospitality we were prepared to offer, one winter’s evening a certain ‘Joshua’ [not his real name] from Zimbabwe arrived with Dave at our front door…

We didn’t sleep very well that night. However, over the weeks and months, we grew very fond of Joshua, who became a regular member of our home group, and we now can’t help but smile when we think of him. We worked out an arrangement with Dave, whereby we looked after Joshua Monday-Thursday night, every second week, with a student house and another Christian couple providing accommodation over the weekends and the intervening week. Joshua left the house in the morning when we went to work, and came back at 7 or 8 in the evening (African time). We gave him supper, bed and breakfast, and he tended to help himself from our fruit bowl for lunch, on his way out – we think this might be an African custom!
Joshua stayed with us for about 6 months, until social services were persuaded to provide him with accommodation, owing to his having a physical disability resulting from torture in his country. It is government policy not to send anyone back to Zimbabwe, and yet our courts frequently turn down asylum claims.

As it turns out, it is not section 55 that is the main injustice for asylum-seekers, but rather poor legal representation leading to failed asylum claims and appeals. And then it gets worse; once the appeal is turned down, asylum-seekers are evicted from Home Office accommodation but not ‘put on a plane’. They are just left in limbo-land with no food, no accommodation, and no legal right to work.

This creates a humanitarian situation of sufficient gravity that the International Red Cross now has 4 projects in Greater Manchester handing out food (we’d thought they only worked in places like Bosnia and Darfur). Winter is now well with us and there are now an estimated 500 destitute asylum-seekers in Manchester, a number growing daily. To date, the local refugee community has largely absorbed the accommodation need, however this capacity is drying up and the Boaz Trust (a charity set up by Dave to help the destitute) is receiving more than 10 calls a week looking for hosts, which Dave simply has to turn away.

In Matthew 25, Jesus reminds us that “whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me [NIV]”. We are frequently told in the New Testament to practice hospitality and in Hebrews 13:2, the writer says: “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.”

We would testify that giving hospitality to Joshua and other asylum-seekers has been a great blessing to us. It has been inconvenient at times – and uncomfortable. I remember walking to a PCC meeting the first time I left Joshua alone in the house with Cat and praying very hard for her safety on the way. With hindsight, this seems paranoid. At the time, it was very real. There are cultural differences too, which can lead to misunderstandings and feeling taken for granted. However, through the experience we have gained an insight into God’s world, both in the UK and overseas, through eyes that we just do not have – the eyes of the poor, the lonely, the alien, the destitute. This has challenged and deepened our faith – and has made us feel more fully alive.

This opportunity is very current and available! If you would like to find out more about what hosting involves, do please get in touch with us via the Parish Office or mike.arundale@btinternet.com