My ministry with Vietnamese refugees in Bangkok has been one of the most meaningful parts of my missionary journey. I feel a special connection with them because I, too, was once a refugee, reflects Fr John Le SVD.

I spent three years in a refugee camp in the Philippines. That experience taught me what it means to leave home, live with uncertainty and homesickness, depend on the kindness of others, and wait anxiously for the possibility of a new future. Because I have walked that journey myself, I can listen to refugees’ stories and understand their sufferings and struggles with a deeper sense of compassion.

The SVD community in Myanmar has visited a refugee camp on the outskirts of Hmawbi Township, the town where they live, taking supplies to help the people survive in their precarious situation.

Fr Tuyen Nguyen,Fr Deva Savariyappan and Fr Mariusz Kubista  visited the Rakahine refugee camp in Taikkyee Gone village to assist the people who have fled from their conflict-torn home, leaving behind their houses and livelihoods.

When SVD student Binh Tanh Nguyen first arrived in Thailand from the United States, the first thing he did was take some time to learn the language, culture and customs of the Thai people – even though it was the country of his birth.

“I was born in Thailand in a refugee camp and raised from a wee lad in the US,” he says.