The IAFR Blog

Video: Pastor Gatera shares his story of forced displacement (4 minutes)

I hope to feel at home as I visit a homeland I've never seen.

I spent my life in refugee camps until I came to the U.S. I didn't feel like I belonged anywhere. Now, I am going "home" to my extended family in Burundi for the first time. I hope that I will not feel like a stranger.

I feel uncertain.

My Father is a retired pastor. He is aging, and I feel visiting him while he is still living is important.

Because I left my family before some of my siblings were born, I will be meeting a couple of them for the first time. I will also meet a number of relatives for the first time, so it will be a family reunion of sorts. I hope our week together will be filled with sweet fellowship.

I am looking forward to going home, but I also feel uncertain because I don't know my family's expectations of me. I hope to feel at ease like one does when they are with their family.

Pastoring Full Circle

My father visited my family in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya shortly before we were resettled to the U.S. While with us, he took time to minister to my church in the refugee camp. Now, it is my turn to visit him and minister to pastors in my home country. I have been asked to teach at a conference for one hundred pastors while there.

Family Roots in the Future

As I visit my homeland, I am hopeful I will begin building a platform for my children to connect to their family roots in the future. When they travel someday, I want them to feel connected to their home and family in Burundi, even though their primary home is in the U.S.

It will be good to finally be home.

As I prepare to go, I feel both joy and uncertainty. I don't know what to expect. But I know my family will receive me, and it will be good to finally come home.

CLICK HERE to learn more about Pastor Gatera's story and work!

"We can have water anytime! My children aren't afraid the food will run out now. They only take what they need because they know there will be more."

Pastor Augustin smiled.

"It's good to be here after so long. It is an answer to your prayers, Pastor Tim. For all those years, you came to us in Dzaleka. And now we are here!"

How long?

I sat in the small dining room of my friend's new apartment in Fargo, ND, with him, his wife, and a neighbor talking about their new life since they'd resettled here in the U.S. a year ago. His six bright-eyed children ran in and out from the other room, laughing and playing around us.

I thought of all the times I'd gotten on a plane on the other side of the world, my heart breaking because I was leaving my friends behind to carry on their lives in the refugee camp without a future. I'd often asked God, "How long?" My friend Pastor Augustin had asked the same question many times in his prayers during two decades in the camp. Now, they were starting fresh, and my heart filled with joy seeing their hope and satisfaction.

"The church here welcomed us!"

Over our meal, fixed lovingly by his wife, we talked about our lives and memories. I pulled up pictures on my phone of our time together back in camp in Malawi. "It feels so far away now," I said.

"The church here welcomed us very well," Pastor Augustin told me. He talked about the adjustment to start a job after so many years of being unable to work a financially paying job in the camp. He spoke of his children's schooling.

Then, since it was happening that week, we talked about the Super Bowl and how it's a significant cultural event. I mentioned the team jersey I'd be wearing. "We'll cheer for the same team," Pastor Augustin laughed, his eyes filled with fun.

Thank you for giving my friends a future.

As the evening ended, Pastor Augustin promised to bring his family to visit me and my wife in Illinois for a weekend. The sweetness of the reunion and the joy of answered prayer lingered in my heart as I stepped out of the apartment building into the cold winter night.

The snow fell heavy on me as I walked to my car. "From the heat of Africa to the snowstorms of North Dakota," I thought, smiling. "God, thank you for caring for my friends through all these years and all these miles. Thank you for answering our prayers and giving them a future."

CLICK HERE to learn more about our work in Dzaleka refugee camp!