By Stella Perrin
Maggie dreams of a better life for herself. A single woman from Cameroon, Maggie left family behind four years ago to come to Cyprus seeking asylum. I met Maggie at Oasis, the center run by All4Aid in Larnaca, where my ministry is based. Maggie is a volunteer at Oasis now two days a week helping with clothing distribution to others who, like herself, find themselves needing assistance after fleeing their homeland. She is fortunate in that she has been recognized as a refugee and now has the security of being able to stay in Cyprus and eventually apply for citizenship.
In her home country of Cameroon, Maggie had been trained in education and worked as a headmaster of a local primary school. Currently the only work she can find is housekeeping, which pays very little and barely makes ends meet. She shares a small flat with an acquaintance in a run-down building because she cannot afford a place of her own. She has expressed to me that one of the men she cleans for is very unkind and she doesn’t like working for him.
Maggie, a fluent French speaker, knows that the key to her being able to get a better job is to learn to speak English well and to gain computer skills. She is currently taking English lessons weekly and tries to practice her skills every chance she gets. When I learned of Maggie’s desire to learn basic computer skills, I felt God showing me that this was an opportunity to build a meaningful relationship with her while helping her gain needed job skills. In the two times that we have shared lunch and practiced writing professional emails to potential employers, I have begun to build a friendship with her that I pray will be fruitful. I pray I can build a relationship based on love and trust that allows me to really hear and understand her story in a way that is transformative and draws her to Christ.
Beginning a new ministry with mental and spiritual health as its goal is a challenge with people who have suffered a lot and trust very little. Most asylum seekers and refugees are from cultures where mental health is misunderstood, taboo or shameful. Why should they trust this white American with a funny accent? Hopefully for Maggie, as she begins to believe that I care about her enough to have lunch and teach her how to use her laptop, God will open her heart to a deeper level of openness that will allow her to heal and grow into the person God desires for her to be and experience abundant life.
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full,” John 10:10
Stella Lail Perrin seeks to be the presence of Christ and cultivate beloved community as she serves the vulnerable who have been displaced from their homelands due to war and natural disasters as a mental health educator through All4Aid. Cyprus, although small in size, has the largest per capita population of asylum seekers in Europe. Click here to learn more about her ministry.