My Life with Dignity

Debby Nichols

About five years ago my life changed.

I went from being a person who supported her children and husband full time to a person who had a chunk of free time on her hands once the kids grew up and moved out. My newly gained free time happened to converge with the migration of refugees through Prague in 2015.

Moved to find a way to help them, I found groups of people helping at the train stations as refugees passed through and transferred to trains going to their desired destinations. Then this work came to an abrupt halt as European countries started to close their borders. And refugees who came into the Czech train stations? They were now put under the authority of the Czech government who placed them into detentions centers. The volunteers’ work at the stations ended, but my heart still ached for these dear people who were displaced.

Along the way, I had met Petra, a Czech woman, who has a heart bigger than anyone I know. She continued to find ways to help with the refugee situation. Her husband, Tom, is British. Petra began going to the detention centers seeking ways to help the refugees. She started bringing food and clothes, and I helped by gathering food and clothes from others who wanted to help. We quickly caught on that the Czech authorities were not keen to be hospitable to these people and wanted to make their hellish life even more so to pressure them to return to their home countries. Sadly, I cannot say that their attitude has changed much even today.

Over time a small core group of people formed, mostly from the international community. Many Czechs seemed to hold the same position as their government, and it was challenging to mobilize the Czech evangelical church to assist us.

A Place for The Displaced

To make a long story short, Dignity was birthed out of this situation. Petra is the director, and after a few years of watching her struggle with the administrative and scheduling issues, her husband quit his job and joined her in the work. Through faith and making their needs known, God is providing for Tom and Petra.

Dignity exists to help displaced people to survive, and then thrive wherever they are. Our desire is to share Christ with everyone whom we come into contact. This is not always easy as people come and go quickly, but our team tries to keep in contact with them no matter where they end up. The ministry of Dignity has morphed over the years and continues to react creatively to the government’s changes in its approach to refugees and the changes in global events that create refugee situations.

In 2016, we began our first big task to assist approximately 30 Iraqi Christians to settle into the Czech Republic. Thankfully, they had all been granted asylum. That was a considerable project which has been a great success, even in the eyes of the government. People in government noticed how Dignity did a better job than their own governmental departments. Prague newspapers reported the wonderful success of the resettlement of these Iraqis with positive articles and photos.

A Solid Success Rate

A few weeks ago, the Prague mayor approached Petra asking for our help to settle the newly arrived Afghans into the Czech Republic. When Petra asked why he was talking to her and not the government agencies, the mayor said that he had observed that Dignity has a much better success rate than the others. (And now, we are prayerfully wondering what God wants us to do to help the 152 Afghans who have just been given permission to stay in country.)

The mayor saw that most of the original Iraqi group now have apartments, jobs that sustain them and children who feel quite Czech. The group also has an Arabic-speaking church that is reaching out into their cultural community. Believers in the church love it when Greg and I come to visit. We sit in the back of their services joining in spirit and in body, not understanding any of the words and yet feeling the closeness in Christ.

When we were working with the Iraqis, we continued to bring food and clothes to the integration center, a two-hour drive from Prague, and became friends with some of the people in the center. As I mentioned, the government would like nothing better for refugees to leave, and officials can make life very difficult for our friends.

The government started turning out refugees on the streets after their first asylum request was denied. Legally, the refugees have the right to an appeal but if they are without a place to live (an official residence), they are deemed illegals and could be deported. So, we prayed, and God gave us a house to rent where we could catch some of the refugees who were being pushed onto the streets. And yes, I mean literally pushed onto the streets and into parks and forests. We were contacted by people who were sleeping in parks and in cars in the winter with children. We did our best to connect them somehow with a local church or someone we knew in the area. Sadly, it was not always possible to find help, and the least Dignity could provide were blankets and food.

The house we rented only had enough room for four families if they crunched together with one family per room. In God’s timing, the House of Dignity was up and running during the peak COVID weeks. During that time, the government was more lenient and did not push out as many refugees from the integration centers as was its norm.

Petra began appealing about the policy of turning people out. There were some adjustments and now there is a clear understanding that the refugees can remain in the integration centers until they have gone all the way through the legal process regardless of the outcome of their first ask for asylum. We praise God for this change.

A Gathering Place

Because of the change in understanding and COVID restrictions being lifted, Dignity decided that the house was no longer meeting the current critical needs. We changed our focus to helping those who have received asylum, are living in Prague and want to become successful Czech citizens. We just opened our new Dignity Center which is a very large apartment designed for meetings. We have daily activities planned there for our refugee friends. We offer anything from help with paperwork, Czech lessons, cooking classes to Bible studies. Last week we had our grand opening, and our friends from Somalia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Myanmar, Azerbaijan attended. Our volunteers from Brazil, Germany, Canada, Britain, Czech and America were there as well. What an amazing gathering! It is always a joy to be together, sharing their laughs and their sorrows. Mind you, this group of people are not all Christ followers (yet!) but there are enough of us who are sharing Christ with them, and they are attracted by our love which comes from Christ.

I began by saying that this ministry has changed my life. Since most of these cultures are male-led and we have a lack of male volunteers on our team, I had been asking Greg if he could help. His desire was there but he just didn’t have the time to give. But after prayer and then restructuring his activities, Greg joined our team when we returned from the States in 2020. He had the privilege of leading our Dignity House weekly Bible study last year which ended up on Zoom because of the COVID restrictions. We walked our young eager Christ followers through Philippians, then through Revelation (a choice we could not dissuade them from) and then Romans. The core group members grew by leaps and bounds in their faith walk and we also enjoyed having various house guests join in the study. Greg will be leading the Bible study at our newly opened Dignity Center. It is our prayer that many would meet Jesus while they come in and out of Dignity’s presence.

Hospitality Issues

I know how controversial issues surrounding refugees are in the States. Believe me, the U.S. is not the only country that has hospitality issues with refugees. But I would encourage you to reach out to any refugees you may know or see around you. Even just a smile (I know, hard to see through a mask if you’re wearing one) or a hello at the grocery store is a step in the right direction of hospitality and dignity to people who often feel unnoticed. Your smile and warmth affirm that they are as you, created in the image of our God who sees them. College Church has a ministry to refugees, and I encourage you to explore that ministry. Get to know these people of different cultures and I guarantee that you will be blessed. I know they will be blessed by you as you are Christ to them; possibly the only Christ they have ever seen. As you pray about your involvement with refugees, also pray for Dignity in Prague. Pray that Christ and his kingdom would be proclaimed, and many would turn to him. One specific request is for a former Dignity House guest, a Muslim woman from Somalia. She took an opportunity to flee Somalia, forcing her to leave her nine children and her husband behind. Her journey has been a very difficult one. Though she has status to be here, her wages do not support her family, making it impossible for her to have her family legally join her. About a month ago, her husband was shot and hospitalized in Somalia. The Czech Republic now is willing to acknowledge the threat to her family members’ lives and are willing to grant them all asylum if they can get here. Dignity was asked to act as a guarantor for the family. By faith Dignity is accepting this task. There are many miracles that need to happen before the husband and children arrive and there will be many more needed after they arrive. Dignity will have to figure out ways to help this family become functional in this culture and financially independent.

Until then we are praying for the safety of the four oldest girls (ages 10-14) who are in danger of being taken into slavery. We are praying for the miracle of safe passage out of Somalia. We are praying for housing and for jobs. But mostly, we are praying that this family would see Jesus, know him as Christ and walk in his ways for his glory and their good. And we are prayerfully wondering what God wants us to do to help the 152 Afghans who have just been given permission to stay in country. We are blessed beyond measure knowing that we have people kneeling with us in prayer and support. Thank you for being part of God’s work as you are faithful to him where you live and as you pray with and for us.