<div style="color:black;font: 10pt Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks, Jo--cause for great gratitude and celebration!
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<div>Ellie :)<br>
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<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:10pt;color:black"><font size="2">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Jo Nelson via Earthrise <earthrise@lists.wedgeblade.net><br>
To: earthrise@lists.wedgeblade.net; ICA Dialogue List <dialogue@wedgeblade.net><br>
Sent: Wed, Jan 5, 2022 12:13 pm<br>
Subject: [Earthrise] A Contemporary Christmas Story<br>
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<div><i class="yiv9616588691">A witness of sorts — some of you may have read this through a link to my blog in the Nelson annual family letter. This is a true story, happening in real time. The baby is due in a week. These events have brought me to a state of profound joy and gratitude. </i>
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<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal"><br class="yiv9616588691"></div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal">In these uncertain and dark times, I think we need a story
of joy and hope. Interestingly, it has resonance
with the story of the Christmas season. I
tell this story with deep gratitude. It is shared without names, photos or
precise locations for privacy and safety reasons.</div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal"><i class="yiv9616588691">August </i></div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal">An Afghan family has educated all of its children, including
7 girls, and 5 of the children, now adults, are in the Western world. Their
oldest son is a lawyer and supports his parents, his wife and children. The
Taliban offensive targets their regional city, killing a lawyer. They threaten his friend, the oldest son of
this family, and his family, with death.</div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal">The lawyer flees the regional city for Kabul, leaving his pregnant
wife and 2 small children with her family in a nearby village, and his elderly parents
in the house he built for them.</div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal">The Taliban try to burn down the house of the parents, who
hide for several days, fearing they will come back. Finally they gather their daughter-in-law and
the children, and decide to brave the dangerous road to Kabul to join their son
rather than wait for certain death in their city. </div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal">They escape Kabul just after the airport bombing at the end
of August on a flight chartered by a non-profit group, with only their
backpacks of documents and a few clothes.</div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal">For the next 4 months they are shuttled from refugee camp to
refugee camp, from Doha, to Frankfurt, to Pennsylvania, to New Mexico, to
Michigan, homeless but relatively safe. </div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal"><i class="yiv9616588691">December</i></div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal">On the last day of November, the whole family are admitted
to Canada as refugee claimants. An
immigration official stages their papers compassionately so that each becomes
an anchor person for the next, allowing them all to enter immediately. </div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal">They reunite with their youngest son, who is already in
Canada, but have to stay in a motel for 3 weeks because there is no available
place to rent. The cost is astronomical
for a family of 6 with no income. </div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal">Friends (including a young real estate agent) and the family
work frantically to find rental housing for a family of 4 adults and 2
children. Several landlords refuse to rent to a family with only inadequate
government support. One landlord has a vacant house for rent, but then decides
that he is not going to rent. He plans to sell the house in January. </div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal">A family friend who has tutored one of the daughters and has
known the family for more than 10 years appeals for donations for household
goods, clothes, and children’s toys, and many generous people, neighbours,
family, and friends of friends respond. One family shares the request with
their young children, who go through their toys and clothes and donate several
boxes, while a pregnant woman donates baby things that she has herself been
given. </div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal">Finally a wise man, a colleague and deep friend of the family
friend, decides to break the logjam. He
works with the real estate agent, and within 36 hours, he has signed an
agreement with the landlord/seller to buy the vacant house with the condition
of immediate occupancy. The next day the
family gets the key and moves in. The
collected household goods, clothing, and children’s books and toys are
delivered by the family friend, and 2 days later the rental agreement is
signed.</div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal">The baby, due in a few weeks, will not have to be born in a
stable, or in a refugee camp. The family does not have to fear bombs or
Taliban, and is safe and secure in Canada. They can go on to establish
themselves here. </div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal">The family is overcome with gratitude. </div>
<div class="yiv9616588691MsoNormal">Everyone who contributed as well as the family itself is
feeling the joy of the season. Prayers
of gratitude have been offered up in several religious traditions. </div>
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The name of the group, "earthrise," refers to the photo taken on December 24, 1968, showing the Earth rising over the horizon of the moon. The image has become a powerful symbol of mystery, awe, and responsibility.<br>
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