Ed. Patrick Sookhdeo
Isaac Publishing
128, £12.99
ISBN: 978-0-99161-452-3
Star Rating: 4
We have come to associate the author Patrick Sookhdeo with thoroughness. Although the reviewer cannot speak for the accuracy of the technical content of this manual, he can vouch for it being an excellent starting point regarding asylum seekers, including those who are Christians.
Looking back to when our church first encountered this problem, I can see this book would have been an excellent starting point and help.
The manual’s aim is stated in the preface. It is designed to provide practical guidance for those who ‘want to help Christians who arrive in our communities and are seeking refugee status. It can be used as both a reference tool for those who find themselves supporting a particular individual, and a training resource for groups of volunteers who want to offer their services to fellow-Christians driven by oppression to become refugees’ (p.5).
Its main contents are as follows: the legal framework; procedure in determining refugee status; country-specific inquiries; best practice for legal advocates; and issues specific to applications based on conversion to Christianity. Twenty-one appendices on ‘how to’ procedural issues make this a valuable self-help guide for asylum seekers, deacons and law practitioners.
The manual also makes sad reading, as it brings home the human side of flight and the failure of our bureaucracy to understand faith issues. Questions asked by them in determining the credibility of conversion include: ‘What were the names of the thieves on either side of Jesus?’ and ‘What fruit was the forbidden fruit?’ No doubt readers would fail on such biblically unanswerable questions!
The manual prompts the realisation that Christians need to get involved in helping their brethren in need.
Roy Mohon
Stockton-on-Tees
