Building bridges

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Finding a new home is a two-way journey

It should go without saying that the need to welcome refugees, migrants and other displaced persons making their way across Europe is critical to their prospects for finding a future place to call home, or a haven until it is safe to return to their home of origin.

Working from the perspective of this grassroots encounter between the “newly arrived” and the “already there”, the goal of strengthening receiving communities in accompanying the “people on the move” in their midst is essential. For the journey from stranger to neighbour, from the traumatic experience of being displaced to being fully embraced in convivenz—the reality of authentically living together—must ultimately be a shared journey. Further, when accompaniment is rooted in the recognition that both the “received” and “receiving” are vulnerable, in deeply human ways, then mutual transformation is possible. And it is in mutual transformation that lies the basis for any authentic friendship, meaningful accompaniment, and sense of belonging. Without such vulnerability and openness to being changed in the process, displaced persons will forever remain on the outside. It is this last point—about vulnerability, leading to mutual transformation, and the relationship that establishes—that serves as a bridge between grassroots encounter to the wider contexts of social cohesion and the “European project”. For it can be argued that the character of what makes possible the pathway from welcoming to convivenz for the sake of the “people on the move” is also crucial for the healthy cohesion of societies more broadly, and of realizing the dream of a diverse, welcoming and humane Europe as a whole. It is also not too far of a stretch to say that the salvation of Europe rests in its ability to receive displaced peoples as well.

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This could be you. Help us keep Europe open and welcoming.