Comfort goes to Ghana

Today we said a prayer for Comfort Asiamah before she flies to Ghana next week. She hasn’t seen her two youngest children for eleven years.

Comfort

Eighteen months ago I wrote about how Comfort had been living in limbo in Hackney without citizenship. She had worked as a cleaner since arriving in London twenty years ago, claiming neither housing benefit nor income support.

We supported her through the legal process and last November she was granted a passport. Next week she will see her children Richard and Georgina for the first time in eleven years.

“I spoke to Georgina yesterday and I told her I would see her in Kumasi before the end of the week. I speak to Georgina and Richard every blessed day but next week I will see them in person” said Comfort, adding, “My home is now in Hackney and I will be back here in six weeks time.”

In the vestry after the service it turns out the Adele’s nephew is also in Ghana this week, visiting family in Accra. He’s going to be meeting up with Comfort. They exchanged telephone numbers and messages. A small parish in the backstreets of Hackney is linked through its fellowship to communities half way across the world. This is always a surprise.

Sometimes I feel we are a fragile community and the wind could quite easily come and blow us away and nobody would notice. Other times I see how deep our roots are and how resilient  our body is. We are both vulnerable and strong. A bit like Comfort. A bit like all of us?