A Stand with Migrants

Editorial - Australia FAR EAST

A stand with migrant workers

A feature of our globalized world is the great number of men and women who go abroad to find work. Their contribution both to their home and host countries is incalculable. However, they need help in the setbacks and sufferings they endure. Missionaries and others do what they can for them.

Migrant workers feel the loneliness of being separated from their families and friends while at the same time they sense the pressure to send home money They must contend with language and cultural differences and the fear of foreigners that their presence sometimes evokes. They are most vulnerable and often at the mercy of unscrupulous employers and sometimes are denied their basic rights as workers.

The presence of foreign laborers makes demands on their host country. It has to ensure that the rights of overseas workers are protected. It must also find ways to make them welcome and lead its citizens to understand and dialogue with those of different religions and cultures.

Foreign workers bring the insights of their culture to their employer’s nation. They build up trust, sometimes converting their hosts by their example arid the obvious depth of their faith. No one can fail to be impressed by the joyfulness and fidelity to the practice of their faith that is characteristic of Filipinos working in many countries throughout the world.

In moments of crises foreign workers need help. In cases of illness, injustice, abuse, accidents and bereavement they should be able to contact a person they can trust and who is capable of reaching out to them.

Missionaries who have crossed borders of language and culture themselves are well placed to lend a hand. They find their motivation in Jesus who even compared himself to a foreigner in need of shelter: was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Matt 25:35).

Pope John Paul II says, ‘Solidarity and participation are the moral guarantees that individuals.., will not be mere tools but will become the protagonists of their future. Therefore, we need to strive for a ‘globalization of solidarity’ and a globalization without the marginalisation of individuals or peoples” (May 7, 2000).