The realisation that God's longing for our love is as great as our longing for his and the role of prayer

Pedro Aybar (text) and Ingrid Guyon (photos) visit a small school with a big mission.

'THREE MEN AND THREE WOMEN came to our house at 5.30 am. My wife started to cry. They took first my wife and my son, and then me and the two children....

Reasons for Hope conference in Liverpool, UK, focussed on healing history, the power of honest dialogue, and how the skills of asylum seekers and refugees could be used for the benefit of all.

On 1 May, the European Union will have 75 million new inhabitants—and ten new member nations, bringing its total to 25. The ‘rich man’s club’ is opening its doors to its less wealthy neighbours—amid muttering from many of those already ensconced in its comfortable armchairs. It may seem strange—even presumptuous—for a publication based in the UK to welcome the new arrivals. To the rest of Europe, Britain has sometimes seemed an awkward member of the club, carping about the rules, resisting change and casting aspersions on everyone else. Although our government championed the enlargement, the prospect has sparked a xenophobia in some quarters which is matched only by attitudes to asylum seekers and refugees.

These people—often whole families fleeing oppressive regimes in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and elsewhere—risked everything to reach our peaceful and democratic land.

Over the last six years, the Asylum Seekers Centre in Melbourne, Australia, has distributed over A$250,000-worth of aid.

Like most western Europe countries, Switzerland is seeing a rise in asylum applications. Mary Lean finds out how the Swiss are responding.

Do we have to make the people who come to us for help so unwelcome, asks Mary Lean

One in 264 people alive today has had to flee their home. While millions struggle in refugee camps, others bang on the doors of Western nations asking for asylum. Mary Lean examines a crisis which tests our humanity at the turn of the Millennium.