Dear Great Britain,
Has it been nearly a decade
since I swapped my beautiful country
for your lovely streets;
left behind opportunities back home
to be transformed by you?
I came to you to be stretched,
to widen my horizon,
to be changed by your people,
but it was never easy
to leave everything familiar behind.
Don’t think we found happiness
because of your wealth and greatness.
It was in the giving of ourselves,
investing in your people and society,
that we became better-off.
It was you who taught us
that when you let go
of what is comfortable,
you are changed in the process
and gain so much in return.
Oh dear Great Britain,
don’t you realise
that protecting what is yours;
keeping things to yourself
will not make you any richer?
It is in the awkwardness,
in the letting go,
in the opening up,
in the giving out,
that you will find your blessings.
Tonight I am walking your streets with a heavy heart;
I worry about my future,
but even more about yours.
As I prepare myself
to give up my comfort once more
I see you holding on tightly to what is yours
and fear you might be losing out
more than you could ever imagine…
EU-Immigrant
—
by Mirjam Ngoy-Verhage
For my Dutch readers, you can listen to an interview with me on Dutch Radio about Brexit the day after the referendum results came out (see the right of this page: ‘Midden-Nederlandse Ngoy vanuit Engeland over de brexit’).
A Little Courage 
Mirjam,
What a wonderful and positive response you have written and expressed with such creativity, passion and gentleness!
Very many thanks for this, which I find very helpful. Ros and I are filled with grief at the outcome of the referendum. We cannot believe this is God’s best way forward for our country. Still we are trying to come to terms with it, and I am having to think and pray through how best to preach and teach about it.
You and Lucer have been much on my mind in in my prayers since the result was announced. What we want to say is, ‘God has sent you to be with us and to be a blessing and an encouragement to our faith and witness to Jesus.’
May God continue to bless and keep you and encourage you,
With very best wishes to you all,
God bless you,
Gordon
Sent from my iPad
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Thank you so much for your kind and encouraging words Gordon, it means a lot. Even though I have struggled with Brexit and the atmosphere around it, I have received so many kind and caring messages from people all over England. This has been very encouraging. I can understand it is not easy to now how best to preach and teach, especially when you know people are so divided on the issue. I believe our main task is to bring people together, but this is not always easy! I pray God will guide you and give you wisdom!! Lots of love!
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Heel knap en mooi beschreven zus, al is hetgeen waarover je schrijft natuurlijk niet mooi…
Sterkte ermee!
Kus!
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