The Long Wait

The Long Wait
14 Sept. 2009
by JB Hubbell

I wait an hour to visit a Somalian family at the Immigration Detention Center in Bangkok.
An hour of waiting seems like a long wait to me, taken out of my busy life.
But what do I campare my wait to?
The Somalian family who has escaped their wartorn land,
To wait in an inhospitable country; searching for a better life, a dream, hope?
To have come so far and then to be captured and arrested, put away to wait again.
Waiting with a newborn & 2 year old son, sleeping on towels, eating only rice & soup.
Waiting each week for a one hour visit, the only time they can all be together, to be a family if only for an hour.
Waiting for release to parts unknown, waiting in this prison maybe for years.
How do I compare their wait to mine? Their lives to mine? I can't!
It is the fate of birth, of circumstance, of good fortune.
Our so different lives have crossed, I help them with small items to soften the wait - water, diapers, milk, fruit.
They help me with their wonderful smiles, to recongnize the resilience of hope and the dream of freedom, and to appreciate my blessings.
My wait is nearly over now, their wait goes on.
One day I hope to be told they are no longer here, I hope for their freedom, for an end to their long wait for a better life.
I am thankful for my "busy life", my hour no longer seems so long.