Accompanying Refugees in Aotearoa

 Fr Don Hornsey with refugees from Colombia

When I tell people that I am accompanying refugees from Colombia they often ask why people from Colombia are coming to Aotearoa as refugees sponsored by United Nations and supported by the New Zealand government. When I ask the Colombians, they always give the same answer; to escape from danger and persecution. The reason is that for 60 years there has been a civil war in their country. In the 1960s a group decided to help the poorest abandoned campesinos in the rural areas. They started out with good intentions but soon began taking land, robbing animals and crops and kidnapping or killing those who resisted. They formed themselves as FARC, the Revolutionary Armed forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) and continued their reign of terror until peace was made in October 2023. The peace agreement is still in place but there is still violence in many parts of the country as the revolutionaries who are down from the hills now rob and extort to gain a livelihood.

There are Colombian women in Aotearoa whose husbands were killed, or family members were kidnapped. A common complaint is that those with small business or shops were held up at gunpoint and forced to hand over all the money they had. The robbers threatened to come back in a week, so the only escape was to flee to neighbouring Ecuador and seek help from United Nations. Then one day there was a knock on the door, and they were told to pack up as next day they would be going to New Zealand. Their first question was, '' Where is that? and the second one ''Do they speak Spanish there? Despite all the difficulties of a new culture and language, they are happy to be living in a peaceful country at last. It has been a great joy to be able to accompany them on their journey.

Fr Don Hornsey, lives and works in Lower Hutt, Aotearoa/New Zealand