From Canon John Higgins [email protected]
T
RAGEDY and pain emerging during the migrant crisis, which has caused
turmoil in mainland Europe, has been years, if not centuries, in the
making.
That's the view of Ecclefechan - based clergyman Father John Higgins, who
returned to Dumfriesshire after three years as priest - in - charge serving the
Anglican community in the Turkish capital Ankara.
St Nicolas Church, located in the British Embassy compound, has a multinational congregation, which has actively supported efforts to ease suffering
of refugees fleeing across the borders from war-torn Syria and Iraq.
Father Higgins spoke this week about his concerns and the inevitable need
for regions like Dumfries and Galloway to consider providing a refuge for
migrants.
He said: "I believe we, like the rest of western Europe and countries such as
America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, ought to be at the forefront of
efforts to find solutions.
"One of these days the refugees will go back home. How long that will be I
have no idea. It could be ten years or much longer?
"For the moment they desperately need respite and some help. And we've
done it before.
The UK took in Vietnamese boat people and refugees from east Africa, so it
is not as though it is new, original or different."
Father Higgins, former chaplain to the British Ambassador to Turkey, pointed
out that many of the refugees were well educated, multilingual and had a
range of professional skills.
He said: "They are in extreme difficulty. We need to respond as a nation and
offer as much help as we can."
A former minister serving in the Annandale Group of Episcopal Churches, he
and his wife Kay regularly return to Turkey.
They have a home in a coastal area where refugees are risking death daily
by attempting to reach the EU in flimsy rubber dinghies.
The couple have expressed thanks to Dumfriesshire people who in recent
years sent donations to allow them to buy essentials for refugees who have
found food and shelter in Turkish emergency centres.
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