Jacob's video

I had the opportunity yesterday to head out to the Factory campus of Arndale Corps to help make a video for our PR department. This is going to be a great tool that can be used in high schools and in general to advertise the work of The Salvation Army. I was involved, because I was the chauffeur and interviewer for a man whose life has been transformed by our Corps.

Jacob came to Australia from the Sudan. For those that don't know the history of this country, the British colonised it, but created rather artificial borders. This meant that people groups that previously had nothing in common had to try and form a country together. The north of the Sudan, where the wealth is, is predominantly Arab Muslim. The south of the country, where the oil is, is predominantly African Christian. The two sides have been at war since 'independance' in the late '50s.

Please pray for this nation. There is currently a referendum underway to approve partition. Pray for the right outcome and for peace for this land.

Back to Jacob... Jacob is from the south. He and his family applied to leave the civil war as refugees. This meant monthly trips to the IOM office (International Office for Migration) in another city to plead their case and "wait" for their turn to be repatriated to a recipient country. This took three years, and Jacob's family had to come out before he could. (Consider 3 years of travelling, danger, sleeping on the streets in the middle of a civil war 'waiting your turn', perhaps to go to Australia, perhaps to be killed, before trying to turn away the next load of boat people).

When he arrived in Australia, his wife had moved on without him. He was left alone in a house that he couldn't afford to rent. He was left alone in a country where his teaching qualifications were not recognised. He was unlicensed and couldn't drive around his new home. He had $75 a fortnight to live on. He was depressed and considered suicide. He wished he had never been accepted by the Australian government.

His friend (the real hero in this story) brought him to our church where the CSS team put him into our doorways program. Over the course of a few months, Julie Davis, one of our soldiers and social workers, managed Jacob's case and provided him with extensive assistance. Then one day he disappeared. Julie chased him up and found out that he had work. Jacob was amazed that someone cared enough to find out where he was, that there were people in his new country that went to extraordinary lengths to make sure he was OK. Remember, he came from a country where the enemy went to extraordinary lengths to make sure you weren't OK!

Jacob was so overwhelmed by the love and ongoing support of our CSS team that he offered to do anything he could to let people know about The Salvation Army (hence the video!). Kudos to Julie, the CSS team and to all that make our place as welcoming as possible.