UK: ‘I sensed some of the discomfort felt every day by Christians in displacement camps’
A FORMER teacher spent 12 days living under canvas on a 112-mile solo pilgrimage to better understand the discomfort experienced by refugees in sub–Saharan Africa.
Eileen Murray, who works for Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), used her annual leave to walk part of the Via di Francesco – or Way of St Francis – from Assisi, in Umbria, to Rome.
Her epic journey began on 13th October 2025, when she bought a tent in Rome, took a train to Assisi, and began the 112-mile trek back to the Italian capital in time for an audience with Pope Leo XIV on 21st October.
Eileen began working at ACN in July and wanted to support the charity’s annual #RedWednesday campaign, which this year is highlighting persecuted children around the world.
ACN is marking #RedWednesday on 19th November with a special Mass and evening with an African theme at St George’s Cathedral, Lambeth Road, Southwark, at 5.30pm.
Eileen, who previously taught Art and Design Technology in schools and colleges around Islington and Hackney, said: “I heard about this walk which is quite new. With my love of St Francis I wanted to walk it anyway and now working for ACN I thought it was a nice thing to camp for a bit.
“I do a lot of talks on those living in Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps, and makeshift camps so thought if I can do that and feel a bit uncomfortable experiencing what it might be like it will help me in my appeals – it’ll help me become more passionate and aware of what I’m doing. I have a privileged position that I can talk about their plight.”
ACN’s campaign this year focussed on Nigeria where, according to the UN, as of June 2022, there were more than 3.1 million internally displaced people in Nigeria, forced to flee their homes in the north-east and Middle Belt due to more than a decade of insurgency and conflict.
Nigeria is also home to over 85,000 refugees and asylum seekers – including some 78,000 women, men and children who fled violence in Cameroon.
Eileen added: “The route took me through sacred spaces where St Francis would have prayed, small grottos in the mountain or trees – a sacred spot might be a bit of rock. There was no-one else around, just animals – cats, dogs, a couple of pigs, donkeys.
“I was star struck by how beautiful the landscape was, I didn’t realise every day would be different, the region was covered with large forests, ancient olive groves, lakes, and small hilltop villages.”
She said there were some frightening moments at night.
She added: “You’re hyper alert, you don’t really sleep. You hear a noise and it might be an acorn, it might be a footstep.
“I thought about the IDP camps in northern Nigeria and whole communities who have lost everything. For people in these IDP camps, this is not a temporary inconvenience but a permanent living situation.”
She also encountered the kindness. Arriving at a seemingly abandoned church to see if there was a place she could pitch her tent, she heard a dog bark, then a woman opened her shutters and offered her coffee, supper, a chance to charge her phone and place to sleep – all communicated via Google Translate.
In Greccio she found an alter and hermitage established over the site where St. Francis created the first Christmas crib.
She said: “I was reminded by a Franciscan nun that we are Christmas people. As I left I carried with me the image of the Nativity scene – God choosing to dwell among us in humility and poverty.
“To be Christmas people is to recognise that God is with us in the ordinary, in the hospitality we receive, through our hardships, and our hope as we begin a new day.”
Sponsor Eileen here
