Meh Reh and his family fled Myanmar nearly 30 years ago. He has lived in a refugee camp on the Thai-Burma border since but still hopes it will be safe for him and his family to return home one day.
Through no fault of their own, families like Meh Reh’s have had to leave behind everything they know and love. Along the Thai-Burma border, refugees have endured decades of exile, living in camps that have become home to generations who have never experienced any other way of life.
Thousands of people continue to flee Myanmar, but with this emergency no longer in the newspaper headlines, Meh Reh fears they are forgotten.
Out of sight and out of mind, they are left trapped in a devastating limbo. At a time when more people than ever are forced to flee their homes, lifesaving aid is being stretched too thinly, leaving many refugees at breaking point without the support they need to survive.
In the face of such suffering, the legacy of Rev. Frank Byatt, the founder of the Christmas Bowl, has never been more important.
Frank believed we are responsible for sharing what we have with others who need it. He saw it as a fundamental part of living out Jesus’ call to love our neighbours as ourselves (Mark 12:31). This year, just as we did in 1949 when the Christmas Bowl began, we can come together to express our unity in Christ and take practical Christian action to share God’s love and support those less fortunate than ourselves.
In the words of Rev. Byatt, we can “get a bowl to put on [our] Christmas dinner table as a Bowl of Remembrance” so that “the love of Christ can be made more vivid through Australian Christian concern, on Christmas Day, the one great day of sharing”.
Your gift through the Christmas Bowl can help Act for Peace’s local partners in places like Myanmar, Afghanistan and Gaza, where millions are now being displaced from their homes. You can provide practical care so refugees and people who have been displaced can live in safety and dignity and know that they are loved and not forgotten.
Thank you for being part of this important tradition and helping to create a world together where uprooted people have a safe place to belong.
Share God’s love this Christmas by giving through the Christmas Bowl and help provide people uprooted by conflict and disaster with the food, medical care, and lifesaving support they so urgently need: Visit http://afp.org.au/eternity or call us on 1800 025 101.
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