My vigil at Campsfield

On the last Saturday of each month, including Christmas Day, a group of people gather at the entrance to Campsfield House detention centre in Kidlington. One of the group, Licensed Lay Minister Martha Young explains to the DOOR why she maintains a vigil of support for the refugee detainees.

We are there to ask that the deportation centre be closed down, and to offer support, through our presence to the detainees. We meet and exchange news and call out to the men to let them know that we are thinking of them.

The group has been meeting there since the centre opened 13 years ago. Personally I have been involved with the monthly vigil for about three years, since I went to a One World Week event in the Town Hall in Oxford and found out more about the centre.

I joined the vigil because I believe that these men are as alone and vulnerable to abuse as Jesus was 2,000 years ago. I believe it is our place, as Christians, to stand up for them.

Last month Campsfield House made national news headlines because of a fire caused by detainees protesting at the treatment they claimed was meted out to a Nigerian man taken from his bed early one morning to be deported.

It was not lost on our group that just a few weeks after this event, which was widely reported in the media, Christians around the country would be remembering another man who, as he reached the final weeks of his life, probably felt alone and vulnerable.

He died as some of these detainees may die when they are returned to their country of origin.

There are many stories of injustice and unfair treatment of these refugees at detention centres such as Campsfield and  there are several groups campaigning for the closure  of such centres for refugees, including the Close Campsfield Campaign.

I shall continue to join the monthly vigil of support for the detainees, because I was not there to stand beside our Lord in his suffering but I believe I should stand alongside those who suffer today.

Martha Young is a Licensed Lay Minister  at St James The Great Church in Radley, Oxfordshire.