GIANTS OF COVID: The impact on migrant and immigrant communities

BY GINNY FELDMANN, PETER SAMIR, SARAH SCOTT WEBB AND SUNDAY BWANHOT

Some of the harshest stories from the Covid-19 pandemic have unfolded far from the gaze of mainstream journalism – but so have some of the most uplifting.

The pandemic has hit the most vulnerable communities the hardest, communities which are hidden from the more stable neighbourhoods around them and which often have large migrant and immigrant populations.

Typically, migrants and refugees have suffered more because they lack a supportive, protective network which can help alleviate a lot of the physical and spiritual isolation, and the mental health challenges that can develop as a result. The disproportionate access to vaccines and care is a common narrative in majority world settings and among migrant communities. But even in those communities, SIM workers and others have been finding creative and novel ways of sharing the gospel.

In Chicago, “Emily”, a South Asian immigrant lived in fear of Covid-19 for much of 2020. She and her two sons did not leave their house and refused visits. Now, several months later, she is fearful of the Delta variant. Even so, this has been an opportunity for an SIM worker to talk with her about fear and how we can pray and trust God.

Immigrant pastors and churches have struggled with constantly changing public health protocols and the inconsistency of response.

But a church in Cape Town, South Africa, has seen the congregation grow through the pandemic. Where once it was a small, older, white congregation, it is now vibrant and multicultural with lots of migrant and refugee families. The church has even established a community garden to help migrants.

Some migrant ministry teams have felt both the pain and the joy of moving everything online in the face of the pandemic.

Many invested much time doing evangelism, discipleship groups, conferences, and meetings online, to the point that they were busier than before. But this has also led to some confusion and a drop in the quality of teaching. Sometimes, after the lifting of lockdown, migrant believers no longer wanted to attend church services. Instead, they were satisfied to do church via TV in the refugee camps or watch an Arabic church in Iraq or Syria. As a result, relationship development suffers.

On the other hand, when discipleship groups started online, refugees who had become Christians began to invite their family members and friends in their native country, or in other refugee camps, even in different countries. This opened up a completely new networking opportunity!

A refugee woman invited her sister and her son in Turkey, and they both joined the online group. The sister was open, but not the son. However, in the second week the son joined and had lots of questions.

After four sessions, he decided to be a follower of Jesus. He kept coming to the group online and, two months later, logged in from Greece. Finally, he made it to Germany where he was baptised in a local church. He continues with the discipleship group in Arabic under the care of a German local church.

Sadly, the pandemic has seen a significant increase in human trafficking. Many migrants were forced to go back to their home countries when employment opportunities dried up.

But the traffickers followed them home and then recruited them with false job offers and promises of a better life.

As well as the increase in migrant workers being trafficked with the promise of jobs that are not real, many children have been forced into child labour.

There have also been many cases of girls being forced into early marriage because their families cannot afford to keep them.

The low-skilled migrants who were able to stay often had to continue living in crowded dormitories, the perfect breeding ground for Covid-19. In places like Singapore and Saudi Arabia, a huge percentage of Covid-19 infections happened in settings like that.

So, this giant of Covid is the reality that the most vulnerable have suffered disproportionately more than other groups in society.

While there are pockets of hope, these communities are likely to remain marginalised for years to come – an often unseen impact of the pandemic.

PLEASE PRAY

• For the pandemic to end, so that workers can return to the places where they are able to earn a living.

• That the workers would be treated fairly by their employers and kept free from exploitation, abuse and poor working conditions.

• For the SIM workers serving migrant and immigrant communities, that they would be able to share the love and knowledge of Christ with those they serve.

Migrant workers