West Indians are used to being strangers in a strange land. It has been estimated that more than ten million have left their Caribbean homes and now live elsewhere in the world. It was almost prophetic that the very first Caribbean Christadelphians were a Jamaican man and his wife who emigrated to Australia 130 years ago and found the truth there. Perhaps as many as a thousand brothers and sisters have emigrated from our ecclesias since then. And the trend continues.
Some Caribbean migrants do well in foreign. lands. Others are engaged in virtual slave labour. Many are victims of exploitation and oppression, confined to squalid ghettos. The United Nations acknowledges that severe discrimination against immigrant minorities is one of the most serious problems in the world today.
In our brotherhood the spirit should be very different. God says that He loves the alien and the stranger. As His children, we are told to “entertain strangers.”
Some recent incidents suggest that while many ecclesias in the western world are hospitable to “alien” Christadelphian members from the Caribbean, a few could do a great deal more. Five migrating brothers and sisters who are close to me have found un Christ like attitudes in ecclesias whose hospitality they sought abroad. Yet Caribbean Christadelphians are renowned for freely opening their homes and hearts to visiting or migrating members “from foreign” as we say. The Lord, I am sure, expects some reciprocity.
God said to Israel, “When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself’ (Lev. 19:33-34). “Do not take advantage of an alien,” Moses told his people. “Pay him his wages each day. Otherwise he may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin. Do not deprive the alien of justice” (Deut. 24:14-15,17).
We are very ready to condemn the world for heartlessness and wickedness, in contrast to our own standards of care and Christian love. But a recent incident here in the Cayman Islands suggests that we can sometimes take a good example from the attitude of some of those around us.
A large foreign-owned resort hotel in Grand Cayman is notorious for exploiting its alien migrant workforce. After long provocation the staff went on strike. The Caymanians were retained, but the Jamaicans, normally paid much less, were all dismissed. The management of the resort expected the Caymanian population to support their exploitative policies “in the national interest,” and looked to the government to send the Jamaicans home, even though some had been working at the resort for years and were residents. Instead, there was a tremendous outpouring of help and care for the Jamaican families that were suddenly left destitute. A subsequent letter published in the Caymanian Compass newspaper for February 5, 2001, speaks for itself.
“We, the Jamaican employees of the Beach Club Colony who were unfairly dismissed recently, would like to take this opportunity to say thanks to the people of the Cayman Islands for giving us such tremendous support. In particular, we would like to thank Dr. Frank McField [a prominent Caymanian] because he was there for us from the start. There is so much we could say about you, but it would take a lifetime. You are some of the most wonderful people we have ever known; so loving, caring, forbearing, so tender, willing and able, not to mention your spirit of giving, your understanding; your generosity and your hospitality. Your faith in us makes us strong; it gives us hope and the will to go on because you believe in us. With all our hearts and lots of gratitude, we thank you.” Signed, Merlene Cato.
Personally, I would like all Christadelphian migrants to be able to feel and write like that.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One