Anika Barlow
Articles by Anika Barlow
Drawing the Stranger Near
By Peter Stockland with Anika Barlow
September 4, 2018
Anika Barlow, hospitality coordinator at Vancouver’s Kinbrace Refugee Community Society, talks to Convivium about the power of faith to bring new arrivals and hosts alike closer to encountering God.
It gives me the ability to relate to many of the families who arrive at Kinbrace whether they're Muslim or Christian or otherwise AB: I can think of specific interactions I've had with people when they've been in a pretty dark place of heightened anxiety and uncertainty about what the future will hold: when their hearing date will be, if they'll have a positive decision, and if not, then what? There have been conversations I've had with people that have led us either into prayer together or at least into a conversation about prayer Perhaps our value of prayer, which is a core piece of the Kinbrace identity, in some way helps open a space for people who are in a fog of uncertainty, anxious about lives they’ve left and what their new lives may become C: Do the families of faith show concern to make sure the children get religious instruction and, time for prayer and religious practice etc It seems to me refugee claimants live a kind of bi-polar existence—balancing great expectations of "Canada" – opportunity, prosperity, hope –with the despair of all that’s been lost – home, family, identity
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How to Say Welcome
Anika Barlow
February 14, 2018
Anika Barlow and her neighbour are both sojourners. Her neighbour has taughter her how to say "Welcome" from wherever she stands.
Grief was diffused – or at least dismissed for the night – as Aina whispered a joke to Ara in the language only teenage girls understand Aina offered tissues and I sat on the floor at Ara’s feet Every day Aina could be found swinging on the hammock in the backyard ...