By Sister Henrita Frost, SSND
To mark this year’s International Migrants Day, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is calling on the international community to come together and remember the refugees and migrants who have tragically lost their lives this year.
IOM invites the international community to hold the first global Candlelight Vigil to commemorate the lives that have been lost or have disappeared while trying to reach safe harbour after arduous journeys across seas and deserts this year.
Each person has a name, a story and left their homelands seeking better opportunities and safety for themselves and in many cases for their families – aspirations that all of us strive for.
Allow your heart to be moved by compassion and, if possible, join with others in a Candlelight Vigil. If not, light a candle and spend some quiet time remembering today’s migrants who have lost their lives and also those who presently are roaming the earth hoping to be welcomed somewhere as sister and brother.
May the candlelight become the symbol of our solidarity with migrants and their families and remind us that for many, migration is often the only sliver of light left for millions of people around the world.
IOM will remain steadfast in ensuring that the international community stays fully committed to saving migrants lives. We must ensure that their lives have not been lost in vain. We must not forget them.
