Christian singer Cathy Burton has released a Christmas charity single aimed at raising awareness of the plight of refugee children.
British singer/songwriter Burton has had worldwide success and was a featured artist on Armin Van Buuren's Rain, which was a global club hit.
Her reworked version of the traditional carol In the Bleak Midwinter focuses on the needs of refugee children. The new lyrics were written by adoptive parents and foster carers Krish and Miriam Kandiah and draw attention to an overlooked aspect of the Christmas story – that Jesus was a child refugee.
As well as being a contributing editor to Christian Today, Krish Kandiah is the founder of fostering and adoption charity Home for Good, which has produced the single.
The charity launched an appeal for foster carers to look after unaccompanied refugee children following David Cameron's announcement in September that the UK would be taking 20,000 refugees from camps in countries surrounding Syria.
The Prime Minister said the UK's response would "ensure that vulnerable children, including orphans, will be a priority," and likened the scheme to a modern equivalent of the Kindertransport which saw thousands of Jewish children rescued from the Nazis before the war.
More than 10,000 people responded to Home for Good's appeal. Hundreds have already started the process of becoming foster carers.
"We believe that we are facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the Second World War, and it would be inappropriate to celebrate Christmas without thinking about how we can help," Kandiah said. "We hope that this song will raise awareness and encourage people to respond."
He added: "We cannot simply sit down to our Christmas dinners and pretend that nearly 2 million children are not going to be freezing cold in refugee camps this winter having fled the Syrian war. I cannot watch my children opening their presents on Christmas morning and do nothing about the thousands of unaccompanied refugee children and young people in danger of trafficking and exploitation in Europe."
Cathy Burton said: "When I read the lyrics Krish and Miriam had penned for this I was challenged and moved. I wonder if in the face of each refugee we see on our screens we can see the face of Jesus who asks us to do our bit, to love our neighbour, to extend hospitality and hope to those who have lost everything.
"I hope this song touches hearts enough so that we can all open up to this crisis more and more and get involved."
Click here to download the song.
