Once a week I join a PTV Zoom peer group chat, facilitated by our Clinical Director who is a psychotherapist and social worker, to support the clients in the Program for Torture Victims. As Medical Director and physician to some of them, I was apprehensive about invading this casual space where clients let their hair down and their creative juices flow, stoked by gifted volunteers. But I decided it might be comforting for some clients to have ready access to a medical person during this pandemic, so I’ve been joining the 2 hour sessions weekly for over a month.

What I was surprised to discover is how healing this interaction has been for me.  No longer do I indulge in whining about missing my favorite spring festivals. Our refugees and asylum seekers are struggling to make ends meet and many are heading off to work on the frontlines in food delivery or grocery stores or healthcare giving and directly interfacing with people who are unwell and potentially carrying the virus. Some of our asylum seeking community members were former teachers, engineers, social workers or college students in their homelands. Right here and right now they are at considerable risk as they try to put food on a wobbly table, but they don’t complain.

These asylum seekers recall that,  before arriving in this “promise land,” they were confined—often without formal charges, beaten, stripped, and humiliated, just for standing up for democracy, fair elections, freedom of religion or LGBTQ rights. They are separated from families they love and worry about.  But they all have ready responses when the facilitator asks:  “What did you notice this week that was beautiful?” or “Who do you recall was most nurturing in your life?” (I’m happy to report that mothers and grandparents figured prominently, along with Nelson Mandela.)

I have only to recall those brave and beautiful smiles that greet me every Monday to realize that “safe at home” is still a luxury many citizens in the greater world do not experience. I’m glad these brave souls are here to remind us of that.