A cold December for our migrants and their families

The Feast of Mama Mary's Immaculate Conception allowed us once again to visit Fr. Michael Coleman at the Tsuchiura Church in Ibaraki, Japan.

Well into his 80s and despite arthritis and several knee operations, Fr. Michael is just not the type to sit or stand still, literally. He can well afford to, having built several Catholic churches in the area and a well-renowned Catholic kindergarten school.

Still, over coffee and juice after mass, he shares with us that this is his 10th year of regular weekly visitations to detained foreigners at the Ushiku Detention Center. Always in his list of detainees to visit are our arrested Filipino migrants who have been sent there to await their schedule for deportation or to await the results of their request to be allowed to stay legally in Japan.

Talking with Fr. Michael even for a short while allows you to visit and to get to know the detainees and their conditions at Ushiku.

Get Fr. Michael to talk about his 10-year old notebook containing the names of the detainees whom he had visited, their requests, what he was able to share with them, among others. Husband Orly and I hope we can publish his notes in a book about Filipino migrants in Japan someday soon.

Anyway, back to Fr. Michael, for his next visit, he said, he was thinking of bringing some warm undergarments for the detainees as "they only have such a small stove inside their cell, dear, to keep themselves warm through the winter season."

Of course, their other regular requests consisted of bath soap, shampoo, and oh yes, Fr. Michael's face brightened up as he remembered their constant request to receive phone cards, their lifeline, their bridge to reach out to the outside world, to be reconnected to their families and other loved ones from inside their cold, tiny detention rooms.

December is especially difficult and harsh for our Filipino detainees. Not only is the winter coldness notorious for its extremely low, freezing temperatures. December reminds our detainees how alone they are, how far away they are from those they love, from those to whom they offered their sacrifice, their work, and their lives for.

Their isolation and pain become more intense during Christmas Day and New Year. This year, as both holidays fall on a Saturday, the detainees cannot even receive the gift of visitation which are disallowed on weekends.

While the present detainees are experiencing their harsh, bleak December and while they await Christmas and New Year all alone in their cold, tiny cells, the families of those left behind by six of our kababayans who were killed in a bus crash in Mie Prefecture in Japan last November 28 will certainly be going through their own type of winter, their own deep pain and inexpressible grief this December and the coming new year.

 Did they not just say goodbye to their migrant members who eagerly looked forward to finally arriving in the land of their Japanese ancestors and being able to work in the land of the rising sun and the rising yen to send back home for better lives for their loved ones? Who would have thought that in the youth of their lives, a bus crash will forever separate them from their loved ones? Who among them imagined that they would not be able to return back happy and alive?

Amidst the glitter and sparkle of Christmas and the holidays, let us all pause and offer prayers for our migrants, especially for the detainees and most especially for those who have moved on to the Lord. Let us pray as well for their families who await the release and return of their detained loved ones. Let us pray as well for those who are grieving over their migrant members whom they will no longer be able to hug and embrace in this world.

 May the detention and death of our migrants remind the abusive and corrupt to renew their ways and for responsible leaders to create a supportive environment for all so that our people do not have to be forced to leave home and family and migrate to provide better lives for their loved ones.

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