A Different Life Perspective

Sometimes random experiences will put life into perspective, or give it a different perspective, if only for a moment. I work at an Immigration Center in Boston and this makes for some interesting experiences all around. We have people from all over the world who come in here, some crazy people, some very warm people, and they are always very interesting. In some cases, however, their stories are very hard to listen to.
Last Monday, first thing in the morning, no one else was in the office and I was going about my morning duties as usual. The bell rang and a man with smooth dark skin, friendly eyes, and a small suitcase walked in. He asked to apply for asylum. We don't deal with asylum at our office so throughout the next week I assisted him in finding people that do and helping him find food and shelter. I felt like although there were some things I could do to help him, it really wasn't much at all. In his helplessness, I felt my helplessness, I couldn't make things better for him, not to the extent he deserved.
He had arrived on a plane from his country the day before, having never been here before, he had dealt with torture, harassment, and threats from police and the government in Kenya and has no idea where his family is and if they are even alive. He was taken to be killed and luckily escaped. His family probably assumes him dead.
Listening to his story broke my heart. You hear these stories on the news, you know about genocide, violent discrimination, government and police brutality, etc. But when a victim who has lived it out is sitting in front of you, eyes hopeless and yearning for help, it makes it too real. Everyday we watch the news and the awful stories and the only way to deal with it is to separate yourself in some way from what is happening, to block from your mind the reality of the hell that happens all over the globe. But sometimes these stories are closer to us than we make ourselves believe.
The most awful part of the story is that in many asylum cases, even with physical evidence of abuse and torture on your body, you can be denied asylum status. It may be a necessary process to limit numbers of asylees, but I can't justify in my mind sending this man back to his home country where he will be killed by his own people.
It was a tough situation and a sad story and I realize that his story, or some version of it, is not uncommon in the least, and that is the worst part.