As he farewells Thailand and the AUS Province to take up work with refugees in the German Province, Br Bernd Ruffing SVD recalls his ministry in Thailand as being a journey of friendship and relationship with the people.

“I tried to be a brother to those who needed someone who’d walk with them for some time,” he says.

“This walking with someone is to me, based in the Gospel. There isn’t much theory about it. ‘Go and do likewise’, Jesus said. That’s what I tried to do and that’s how I would say I sometimes encountered God.”

Br Bernd, who hails from Germany, first went to Thailand as part of the SVD’s Overseas Training Program, when he was in formation, and then was assigned to the AUS Province, and to Thailand, for his first assignment after taking final vows. He was there altogether for five and a half years.

A qualified nurse, Br Bernd worked with the AIDs patients being cared for at the Mother of Perpetual Help Centre in Nong Bua Lamphu.

“I was also a ‘taxi driver’ and a gardener, sometimes a cook and a cleaner, sometimes a pharmacist, a nurse and a counsellor, sometimes a catechist and a teacher, sometimes an interpreter for the police or at court – but this all doesn’t express what I tried to be,” he says.

“What I really wanted to be is nothing more than being a missionary brother. To me it was not important what I did as such, but important to do it with and for God’s people.”

Br Bernd says he faced many challenges during his missionary assignment to Thailand, including the task of learning the Thai language.

“Thai is a rather difficult language to learn and to speak,” he says. “Luckily people were always nice and tried to understand what I intended to say.

“Another challenge is probably working with minors. Sometimes we all tried so hard to accompany them into a good future, but the voices of friends sometimes spoke louder to them. So to see them walking in a direction which would most likely bring them into unemployment, dropping their medical treatment, and even into criminal behaviour, was really tough to deal with.

“And, of course, it is hard to see people dying. As a nurse, I have seen so many people die, yet some of our patients who died over the last years are still very close to me.”

One of those patients was Bayfern, a young girl who came to the Centre at age 12, weighing just 12kg.

“There was literally nobody who cared and loved her at the end of her life. She was simply rejected and forgotten,” he says. “I can’t forget her and keep her and so many others in my thoughts and prayers. I entrust them into the hands of God.”

Despite the heartbreaks and challenges, Br Bernd says his time in Thailand brought him great joy.

“I love the joy of the people,” he says. “The gratefulness of the patients when they feel that they are not alone; when they find a place to rest and a place of trust, where they’re not rejected or looked down upon because of their HIV status. For many of them, our Centre was the first place where they experienced this.

“It was enriching of course to work in a team and we could not do what we do without our lay partners. I am so grateful for their support and all they taught me over all these years.”

Br Bernd says when he first felt called to return to his home country of Germany to work with refugees, he also felt a strong pull to stay in Thailand.

“Thinking about leaving made me feel a bit uncomfortable. But I kept watching the news from Europe and that overwhelming amount of refugees coming to Germany every single day.”

After asking the German Provincial if there were SVDs to work with the refugees, he was invited to take up the task himself.

“Around New Year, God blessed me with an infection and I had to stay in my room for two full days. No more running around, no more business, but really having time to talk it through with him. Worry slowly turned to inner peace. Question marks slowly got smaller and fewer in number, and so I finally received my new assignment: Going back to Germany to be with refugees and migrants.”

Br Bernd says he is looking forward to his new assignment and believes there is much to be done.

“I want to change the world!” he says. “As I can’t change the world I simply want to contribute to a better understanding and work on integration. It’s possible. And I think we, as Divine Word Missionaries, have the experience and skills in intercultural living to prove that it is possible.”

Before taking up his new ministry, Br Bernd will study International Social Work with Refugees and Migrants and he will also spend time with some of the 140 or so people from Syria who are staying in three SVD mission houses in Germany.

“I was a stranger and you welcomed me. That’s our new mission, not only in Germany.”