Saying goodbye to Sanctuary Preston
Earlier this month the doors closed for the last time on Baptcare’s Sanctuary Preston, a rooming house providing accommodation and care for people seeking asylum.
All residents have been assisted to find appropriate alternative accommodation, something that we celebrate.
A farewell ceremony was held at Sanctuary Preston, with a liturgy ‘For Remembering, Saying Goodbye and Letting Go. “We gather here to remember, to celebrate, to honour the work, to hold this story and in that holding say farewell,” said Martin Reilly, Sanctuary’s Spiritual Care Coordinator.
“This place we let go. The story of place we still hold.
“We celebrate Preston, this work, this place. A repository of cherished memories; a harbinger of new life and space. Bricks and mortar as its outer surface, a home for many but one which contained trauma. Rooms of restless pain and thankfulness, a dining room of convergence. Here we remember and let go, we who came here: worker, resident and volunteer; here we hold the story and move on toward what remains, like a Phoenix, in every good grace.”
One of the attendees at the farewell ceremony was Apryl Huglin, a caseworker and former volunteer. “There was sadness as well as understanding about the closure of the facility,” Apryl said.
“It had been home for a lot of people over ten years. It was important that we had a ceremony to provide some closure. We invited back staff who had been part of setting it up and operating it, and about half-a-dozen former residents came. One of the residents spoke on behalf of the others. He said we gave him a home when no-one else would or could.
“This was an opportunity to say what needed to be said. We continue to work, at different locations, with the most disadvantaged people in our community, and we retain our passion to see justice for these people.”
Cliff Barclay, Baptcare’s Head of Housing and Homelessness, walked through the empty Preston facility and reflected on the conversations he had with men as they moved out.
“Any of us that have worked with people who have been disconnected from their past, or who have lived their lives in isolation, have been confronted by the absence of things in some people’s lives,” Cliff said. “I have felt it. So have my team at Sanctuary.
“We were reflecting on it recently when one of our staff mentioned how confronting it was when he could pack a resident’s possessions in just a few bags. Here, there is no hiding the emptiness of their journey. Where are the trinkets or baubles that attach themselves to someone that is loved and has a place in the world? Where is their history, or the markers of a life fully lived?
“The obvious absence of these things screams to us silently. It is confronting. This little window reveals an emptiness that seems impossible to imagine. Unless it was you.
“There are times when you wonder whether you are making a difference. Sometimes I wonder if we could do more. However, when you can reach down and pick up someone’s entire belongings in just one hand, never doubt that you are in the right place.”
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