Austria - Bibles for African Refugees
More than 20,000 refugees enter Austria each year. For most of them, the future is bleak. Made to feel unwelcome and without knowledge of the language, they are not permitted to work and have little hope of their asylum claims being accepted. Unsuccessful applicants may be detained for many months in over-crowded holding centres or prisons before being returned to their home countries.
Chaplains and Christian organisations in Austria are concerned for the spiritual welfare of asylum seekers and other prisoners, and Bible Society is supplying them with Children’s Bibles and other Scriptures in many languages so that refugees can find hope and comfort as they read God’s Word in their mother tongue.
Bible Society (Austria) is also working with the Christian organisations to create relevant Scripture-based tracts to help the refugees deal with the issues they are facing.
There is incredible joy on the refugees’ faces wherever the Scriptures are distributed. When you have left behind every earthly possession, receiving your own copy of God’s Word is a precious gift indeed!
In 2007, over 1,000 Bibles in 33 languages were distributed to refugees in Austria’s refugee institutions and detention centres.
This project is now reaching out to refugees outside detention centres, too. Many of Vienna’s illegal prostitutes are refugees - this is the ‘work’ they were promised so they could ‘repay’ those who smuggled them into the country. These women feel ashamed and see no escape from their desperate situation. Yet Rahel Zuch and her mission team are seeing these women draw strength from the Scripture selections (especially the Psalms) and New Testaments they distribute when they visit them (small enough to be hidden in a handbag, unseen by their ‘employers’ who treat them badly).
Chaplains and Christian organisations in Austria are concerned for the spiritual welfare of asylum seekers and other prisoners, and Bible Society is supplying them with Children’s Bibles and other Scriptures in many languages so that refugees can find hope and comfort as they read God’s Word in their mother tongue.
Bible Society (Austria) is also working with the Christian organisations to create relevant Scripture-based tracts to help the refugees deal with the issues they are facing.
There is incredible joy on the refugees’ faces wherever the Scriptures are distributed. When you have left behind every earthly possession, receiving your own copy of God’s Word is a precious gift indeed!
In 2007, over 1,000 Bibles in 33 languages were distributed to refugees in Austria’s refugee institutions and detention centres.
This project is now reaching out to refugees outside detention centres, too. Many of Vienna’s illegal prostitutes are refugees - this is the ‘work’ they were promised so they could ‘repay’ those who smuggled them into the country. These women feel ashamed and see no escape from their desperate situation. Yet Rahel Zuch and her mission team are seeing these women draw strength from the Scripture selections (especially the Psalms) and New Testaments they distribute when they visit them (small enough to be hidden in a handbag, unseen by their ‘employers’ who treat them badly).
