“There was another fire early this morning. It was their apartment complex.”
I felt sick. Not again. This was not the kind of message I expected to receive, especially on a holiday. I searched the news. The names of the apartments listed were the homes of my friends. I began making rounds to call everyone I knew in those buildings. All were safe. Five apartments burned down in the middle of the night, and Rohingya were displaced yet again. While spared themselves, my friends stepped up to host their relatives since their apartment had been burned.
While tragic, this was not the first time for homes to burn down here. Worse yet, these same families have lost their homes to fires before in their previous countries.
A few months later, there was news of a fire in the camps of Bangladesh. I again checked on my friends, asking if their families were okay. All were physically safe, but again, more relatives lost their homes.
More time passed, and there was news of more fires in the camps, and, later still, the burning of a town in Myanmar. More families were displaced- again and again.
There isn’t a feel-good ending to this story, but an invitation to join me in lament. Does grief have to be a pattern? Does restarting after losing everything have to be a recurring event? Thank God that, in Christ, we do not grieve without hope. There will be a day when all pain will be addressed, and all things made new. Pray for the Rohingya to have this hope.
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” -Revelation 21:3-5
- Pray for Rohingya who have undergone repeated loss to cry out to God, and for Him to give them hope for restoration that only He can bring.
- Pray His comfort would meet the Rohingya as they mourn.
- Pray for the prevention of future fires in all countries in which the Rohingya reside.