You are helping aching hearts find sanctuary

John Altmann and his wife Cathy are members of the volunteer team for Sanctuary Family Retreat, a five-day family camp for newly arrived refugees in VIC. It is run as a partnership between SU Australia and Embrace Sanctuary Australia.

Recently, John generously opened up to us about his family’s story, and his very personal connection to Sanctuary Family Retreat.

My father, Joachim Altmann, was born in 1919 in Leipzig, Germany, and grew up in a grand apartment building.

Now on the pavement in front of the building are four commemorative brass plaques (called ‘stumbling stones’) recording the fate of his family, including his parents who were deported to Poland and murdered by the Nazis.

My father himself fled from deportation in 1939 to London and then to Melbourne as a refugee.

Like many people who lived through the horror of Nazism, my father would almost never talk about his life before he came to Melbourne. The trauma and the grief – the guilt of survivors – was wrapped up tight in a box and put away on the highest shelf.

Like all of us, I have spent a lot of my adult life working out how I have been shaped by my father’s experience.

One of the positive reactions I have is the joy of being involved with Sanctuary Family Retreat for recently arrived refugees from all around the world.

Cathy and I are part of the team that runs the retreat, and part of the motivation for us comes from understanding something about the grief and trauma of having to flee to Melbourne as a refugee.

Deuteronomy 10:18 says that God ‘defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing’.

Of course, today, there are still families fleeing war, persecution and horror every day. Devastatingly, many of these include children.

SU Australia is committed to coming alongside and meeting all people with warmth and welcome, forging connections that transcend the barriers of culture and language.

Thank you for supporting ministries like Sanctuary Family Retreat to bring God’s love and hope to children, young people and families who now call Australia home.