Albert Einstein left us with this beauty: The definition if insanity is repeatedly applying the same input into the same system & expecting different results…

There are so many dimensions to poverty and tonight another revealed itself to me through the story of a Burmese refugee applicant trying to get to Australia. I had the privilege of hearing it through Anji Barker who helps try and get Burmese resettled out of Thailand. (This is on top of reaching out to those in her slum; she is an icon of Christ’s pure love in an aching & broken world).

Now, his story of oppression has not ended; being written into this live narrative is the twisted game of “cat & mouse” as he dodges his way through Thailand juggling visas; & of “Cloak & Dagger” as his case progresses through the Australian Embassy and he jumps through many unnecessary hurdles for them.

The Australian Embassy: You have to laugh at how they operate to stop you from weeping! They are trying to operate in a Black & White manner in a country that has the whitest of blacks and vice-versa. Forms must be filled in exactly as required; there is no room for flexibility: EG: If an authorisation form has not been filled out then no-one can be added later until another form has being filled out, which takes precious time, which among all of their commodities, the Burmese have little of!

Their inflexibility in a flexible culture on one hand is logically understandable, yet the reality can literally be the difference between someone living a new life and dying.