Article October 25, 2004 Issue

AFRICA TO BELGIUM VIA PRAYER

By Dorrit Kjaer Christiansen

DOES ANYTHING COME EASILY for the new immigrant? It can be emotionally wrenching just to leave one's home country behind. But immigrants to Europe or any other destination can also face financial, employment, housing, and educational barriers, as well as the many everyday adjustments needed to live in a new culture.

Jean Joseph Bouiti Makaya knew that there would be hurdles to cross in moving to Belgium. Yet, looking at things from a spiritual perspective, he realized that "there are no frontiers, no barriers, in the divine Mind," using a name for God familiar to him as a Christian Scientist. Along with other African immigrants who are now part of the Church of Christ, Scientist, in found that spiritual resources have made all the difference in successfully adjusting to a new home.

He describes being met with suspicion upon arrival. Immigration officials assumed that his only interest in coming to Belgium was economic. He was grilled about his ability to support himself, although he had worked as a telecommunication engineer in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo's capital. As he was being questioned, he "thought of the [immigration] officials as God's children. Yes, there are physical borders to cross, but the emotional borders are larger — the feeling of not wanting to welcome others; but the nation that there are many minds instead of individuals all governed by the one Mind; and the mistrust between people on economic issues. I prayed to see that there was only one Mind and every one of us was God's child."