Gospel News · January - April 2019

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Carelinks | Mayotte ... continued
days trying to do odd jobs, but there is huge
discrimination and racism against them. The
status of Mayotte is still unclear, as it only re-
cently became part of France. The pressure on
resources is so heavy and life so unpleasant
there, that many ‘French French’ are simply
going to France. It’s hard to get staff to run
the local administration, and the only hospital
sometimes shuts down simply due to a lack of
staff. They have been promised residency per-
mits, which theoretically will allow them to
get to France proper [‘France metropole’].
But it’s so very difficult to work out their legal
status with this. We had three meetings with
the immigration police in both Mayotte and in
Paris. Sisters Sarah and Sonia have been a huge
help with phoning and trying to find informa-
tion. It does seem that medium term our
brothers and sisters have a good chance,
humanly speaking, let alone with the power of
prayer, to get off this awful island. They are
hungry... grateful to find a banana on a tree
to eat. There are clothes provided by various
organizations, but basic food for survival is a
huge issue.
They have a baby amongst them. Diane was
raped on the Comoros Islands before the group
fled. She isn’t lactating so they need baby
milk. She was so grateful for the baby milk
which has been sent by brothers and sisters
and has recorded a very touching message of
thanks to all who are supporting them in vari-
ous ways. It’s in French, and you can hear it
by following the link below.
We tried to brighten up the room we rent for
them with a 2019 Creation Calendar, open at
the page with the penguin on it, seeing it is so
hot there, over 40 degrees at that time. But it
is a very depressive and hard, hard existence
for them from day to day and truly only
through patience and comfort of the Scrip-
tures do they have hope.
* * * *
It’s always a joy when converts preach and
then baptize contacts themselves, and in De-
cember our brothers and sisters were able to
baptize Andala, pictured left, and hope to
baptize some more soon Lord willing.