By Tina Bailey, CBF field personnel
In my work of walking alongside people who have and are facing trauma, I do not always get to see happy endings. I try to stay present in the moment. Sometimes it is a lot to hold, and to be honest, my advocate heart gets a bit mad at all the injustices that people I have grown to love have had to face. And there are not always happy endings.
But in December I got to experience two overwhelmingly joyful moments that were the best Christmas presents ever. The first one came when I received the news that Arash ( an Iranian Young Man who calls me Mom) received asylum. I was sitting on a train to Vienna when I got the news! Needless to say made some pretty loud excited sounds on that train!
Then just couple of weeks later I received the news that the inmates I worked with in Bali were released into Australian custody and were freed after spending two decades in prison, for several of them this was over half of their lives. One of these men, SiYi, also was like a son to me. When we were able to make contact after they arrived in Australia, we were all still finding it all hard to believe because they all had life sentences with no end date, but the current President of Indonesia in an act of good will freed them.
These two stories are about people I dearly love being shown mercy and getting a second chance to rebuild their lives. And my prayer is that more officials around the world will act justly, love mercy and walk humbly. In my work we must not forget those who have power over other people’s lives. Make no mistake, their work is hard and they need our prayers as they do their work.
God Bless those in power who had a part in giving SiYi and Arash a chance at a new life. This is where I found moments of joy recently! How about you?