"Recently on our day off, Steve and I visited the Red Star Line Museum in Antwerp. This new museum opened in September 2013 and focuses on the immigration journeys of thousands of immigrants who left Europe for America in the late 1800's and early 1900’s. The Red Star Line was the shipping line that sailed from Antwerp, Belgium directly to New York City. Check out their website: http://www.redstarline.be/en
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| A last view of Antwerp as the boat departs for the "New World" |
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| Steve's checking out the southern view from the tower |
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| Our village of Ekeren is just beyond the 3 buildings in the distance on the right side of this photo ~ and do you get the impression that it was cold that day?! |
I found myself getting rather
emotional as we walked through the museum and read the stories of some of the
passengers: their dreams, their
hopes, what they were leaving behind.
My emotions run high because my own father emigrated from Europe (the
former Yugoslavia, what is present day Croatia) to come to America, arriving
first in New York and then coming to Chicago where he settled and married and
raised his family. In a weird sort
of way, not knowing many of the details of my dad’s immigration journey, I
kept expecting to maybe somehow see some detail of his own journey. And then I read that the Red Star Line
closed in 1934….too late to be a part of my dad’s story, because he came to
America in 1950.
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| 6654 kilometers (that's 4,134 miles) from Antwerp to Chicago...... even longer from the little village in Yugoslavia where dad left |
Again from the Red Star Line website: "Migration might have a different face these days,
but the human side of migration is timeless and universal.”
Reflections that were spinning around in my head as we climbed the museum tower to catch that last glimpse of Antwerp harbor: migration, refugees, people who have fled their homelands for any of a
hundred or so reasons, setting up home and family in a new land in a new language with new traditions. Since the
beginning of time, people have been in flight. I’m so thankful for the opportunities that we have in our current
ministry setting to react to the human side of migration; to hear the stories
of those who have fled from home and family and life as they knew it, to pursue
peace and refuge in a safer corner of the world. I continue to be amazed at how my own personal history with
immigration, which formed me as one who grew up in a home on the south side of
Chicago where cuisine, language and religion were different from many in our
neighborhood, continues to affect my story and life here in Belgium today.
How about you? What is your migration story? Perhaps it doesn’t include a boat trip
in recent years to America, but there is always a story. My prayer is that your migration story
will always include a glimpse of seeing God at work; in bringing you to a safe
place, in helping you to be more human in welcoming the strangers in your
midst.
And now for a bit of
fun…..check out who took a boat ride with the Red Star Line to New York….(I
especially love the playing cards scene!)
Bummer ~ the video won't download onto the blog. Here's the link ~ and I'll be sure to send you a postcard!! http://www.redstarline.be/
