OFFICE FOR SOCIAL MINISTRY
“The pandemic we are facing should not make us forget the many other crises that bring suffering to so many people. Christ calls us to embrace all those who are experiencing situations of precariousness, abandonment, marginalization and rejection as a result of COVID-19.” (Pope Francis’ Message for the 2020 World Day for Migrants and Refugees)
Coronavirus has infected more than 10 million and killed more than 500,000 worldwide. In his 2020 World Day for Migrants and Refugees message, Pope Francis points out that the pandemic is about more than statistics. “It is about real people! If we encounter them, we will get to know more about them. And knowing their stories, we will be able to understand them. We will be able to understand that the precariousness that we have come to experience as a result of this pandemic is a constant in the lives of displaced people.”
Augusta Ngombu, a woman from Sierra Leone, was one of these displaced persons. She endured severe suffering worsened by COVID-19. Orphaned as a child, she was exploited and abused by a family member until she fled home. She wound up as a prostitute in Freetown, Africa, where the majority of the population lives in extreme poverty. After suffering abandonment, slavery, poverty, prostitution, violence and loneliness, Augusta found refuge with Salesian missionaries, who helped turn her life around at age 16.
She went back to school, finished at the top of her class, took up cooking, did an internship in a restaurant and finally opened her own catering company. In 2016, she started the program Girls Os+, a safehaven for girls who fall prey to underage prostitution. She taught them how to cook and build a better future.
Sadly, Augusta Ngombu recently died of AIDS after missing hospital treatments for fear of catching the coronavirus. Her life is an inspiring story of a victim transforming her life with the help of others and then helping others transform their lives, which makes her passing connected to the pandemic all the more tragic.
There are many others like Augusta Ngombu among the millions of migrants, refugees, victims of human trafficking and displaced persons very vulnerable to this virus.
Pope Francis’ 2020 World Day for Migrants and Refugees message challenges us all to accompany vulnerable persons through acts of service: “It is necessary to be close in order to serve. Fears and prejudices keep us distant from others and often prevent us from becoming neighbors to them and serving with them with love. Drawing close to others often means being willing to take risks. This readiness to draw near and serve goes beyond a mere sense of duty.”
The pope tells us that we need to really listen to hear the cry of the poor: “Listening gives us an opportunity to be reconciled with our neighbor, with all those who have been ‘discarded,’ with ourselves and with God, who never tires of offering us his mercy … We have to learn to share in order to grow together as one family, leaving no one behind.”
Pope Francis says persistently that the pandemic does not discriminate, that we are all in the same boat: “Realizing that we have the same concerns and fears has shown us once more that no one can be saved alone. To grow truly, we must grow together, sharing what we have.”
Our Holy Father believes the COVID-19 crisis calls us all to a new level of collaboration. “The pandemic has reminded us of how only with the contribution of everyone — especially those so often underestimated — can we face this crisis. We are all called to create together with migrants and refugees new forms of hospitality, fraternity and solidarity to preserve our common home, and commit ourselves to ensuring international cooperation, global solidarity and local commitment, leaving no one excluded.”
We have inspiring examples of this at the global level, such as Augusta Ngombu. Locally, our diocese has many collaborative efforts facing this crisis: Catholic Charities Hawaii, HOPE Services Hawaii, St. Francis Health Care System, Kupuna Needs and parish food ministries.
For more on how to collaborate in creating “one ohana with food and housing for all” in the midst of this pandemic, please visit the Office for Social Ministry website — officeforsocialministry.org/covid-19 — which provides updates on available resources and opportunities to practice “safer at home-act with care” through the protection and malama of our whole ohana.
While parishes, businesses and schools are slowly re-opening, it’s important to be vigilant praying and acting together for the health and safety of our whole one worldwide ohana, “embracing all who are suffering, growing together as one family, leaving no one behind.”
Mahalo,
Your friends at the Office for Social Ministry
