Helping away from home
Moving your whole life from Nairobi in Kenya to Albury in New South Wales is a pretty big step. Yet it’s one that Leah Odongo, Australian Lutheran World Service’s (ALWS) program officer for Kenya, South Sudan and Emergencies, believes she was called to make.
‘I asked God for a sign – and that’s when I saw the job posting at ALWS’, Leah says. Leah worked for Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Kenya for eight years, and was an integral part of taking the care provided by Australian and New Zealand Lutherans into Kakuma Refugee Camp. Leah worked also at Kakuma for three years. ‘I first developed an interest in Australia after hearing so many good things about the place from a cousin who lives in Adelaide’, she says.
‘Pray that – HOPE will be renewed – PEACE and STABILITY would be restored… and that the world… will remember these forgotten refugees.’
‘When I had my first son, Mogire, one of my mentors advised me to open up my children’s world and allow them to be citizens of the world. The advice stayed with me for a long time. As I was thinking about this, my work with LWF brought me into contact with Australians whose qualities I admired greatly.
‘Towards the end of 2013, I began the process to relocate to Australia.’
As well as showing love for people in her home country through her work at ALWS, Leah was part of a team effort last October which raised more than $8000 to provide water for the host community at Kakuma. Along with students from Good Shepherd Lutheran Primary School Croydon, Victoria, she completed the Melbourne Marathon in order to raise the money.
Australian and New Zealand Lutherans also bring love to life for refugees at another refugee camp in Kenya: Dadaab. Currently, around 600,000 people live at the two camps.
A recent directive by the government of Kenya to close the camps may mean these refugees will not have a safe place to call home much longer. In May, the Kenyan government announced plans to close down all refugee camps and send the residents away, starting with approximately 350,000 Somali people at Dadaab.
However, the situation in Somalia is not stable enough for the refugees to return to their home country safely.
While subsequent reports suggest that the government intends to spare Kakuma from closure at this stage, the future for people there remains uncertain.
The government highlights the threat of terrorist attacks from Somali militant group Al-Shabaab as the main reason for wanting to close the camps. It is a complex situation, and you can feel empathy for Kenya, which is rated No.145 on the UN’s Human Development Index (Australia is second, while New Zealand is equal ninth).
Leah asks Australian and New Zealand Lutherans for their prayers: ‘Please pray that divine wisdom would prevail upon the Kenyan government, and for endurance for all those standing to defend the rights of the refugees. Pray that, despite the situation, hope will be renewed in the hearts of the refugees, that peace and stability would be restored in Somalia and other African countries in conflict, and that the world at large would remember these forgotten refugees.’
Your prayers are needed
ALWS Communications Support Officer Jen Pfitzner says prayer is always needed and always powerful. ‘Please pray for Leah Odongo and her work at ALWS, and for the Lutheran World Federation team – the largest partner of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Kenya – as it works on the frontline with refugees through this challenge’, Jen says.
Jen Pfitzner is ALWS Communications Support Officer.
To find out more about supporting refugees through ALWS, phone 1300 763 407 or email alws@alws.org.au
This feature story comes from The Lutheran July 2016. Visit the website to find out more about The Lutheran or to subscribe.
