Hey all, as many of you know I am on staff at Exodus World
Service. Exodus is a non-profit organization that mobilizes the local church to
serve refugees.
Did you know that refugees live in our communities!?? No
matter where you are reading this from, there are likely many folks who were
forced to flee their homelands living within an hour or so from you! Who knew?
I didn't.
I didn't know what a refugee was until I met Jacqueline
Kassongo my sophomore year of college when I volunteered as her "New
Neighbor" through Exodus World Service. However, little did I know that
everywhere I had ever lived (in my living memory) I was literally surrounded by
refugees.
What I know now that I didn't know then....
One of my earliest memories was the day me and my mom moved
into an apartment in Aurora Illinois. My very best friends in Aurora were
Karina and Alex Flores. Alex and I went to kindergarten together. We 3 spent
all of our time together. I have so many memories of sitting with their
grandma, who thought was named
"Abuela", and all of us laughing at Rodrigo, their little brother. When asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, he always replied exuberantly , " POE-LEEEEESE"
My little 7 year old heart
broke for the first time I remember when they moved across town.
They were
refugees from Chile.
 |
| This is me, Karina (on my right) Alex (on my left) and Rigo (behind me) when I got my Cabbage Patch Kid, Trista Aw, weren't we cute? |
In Aurora I had a babysitter named Stella, who, having raised
3 sons, had zero patience for my long untame knotty hair. She used to always
yell at me to "putta you jacket!" as I left for school. She was mean and
I thought she hated me. One day my mom explained to me that she was so sad and
angry because they had to run away from Argentina. Her husband had recently gone
back to visit after many years, thinking it was safe, but they put him in
prison-- not because he was bad, but because the government was bad.
Stella and her family were refugees.
In 4th grade we moved to LaSalle IL. I had never seen so
many white people in my whole life. It felt weird and was hard to
make friends because I didn't really know how to care about making my bangs
stick up. :) I eventually settled in. One day, maybe in 5th grade we had a new
student in class. His name was Teverath Ith. He was from Cambodia. I was so
curious about him. Who was he? Why was he here? How did he get here? How would
he learn English? As time went on, I
learned that he and his huge family lived in a tiny apartment above the store
down the road. But this was 5th grade. Boys had cooties and despite my
incessant curiosity about him, I couldn't go talk to a boy, people might think I love him! (C'mon!)
Teverath and his family were refugees.
In 8th grade we moved to Bolingbrook, IL. Literally 30
minutes south of Wheaton IL, which is home to hundreds of refugees. In
highschool, I had a friend named Mai Lee Lao. She was super smart and I really
looked up to her. She was the stage manager for our theatre program and I was
really sad when she graduated, even though we weren't very close. (I'll be
totes embarrassed if she sees this on facebook :))
This year I learned, after
reconnecting with her on Facebook, that her family were refugees from Laos.
In short, refugees have always been impacting my life. I
didn't know the word "Refugee" when Stella's husband didn't come
home, or when Karina and Alex's dad, Luis worked long hours to support his
family, forgoing his opportunity to learn English for the sake of his kids. However,
refugees have always been my neighbor.
Are they your neighbor?
Jesus said that the second greatest commandment (after loving God will all you are) is to love your neighbor as yourself.
Exodus' entire mission is to help the church welcome refugees as their neighbors. I work there, its true, it's what we do. I spend my days teaching people about refugees, telling people how to help refugees, walking along side folks as they are in relationship with refugee families, helping manage details and cultural barriers that get in the way of folks connecting with and providing welcome to refugees. There is no hidden anything. Promoting relationships between refugees and volunteers from the local church is our first priority.
We are a lean staff. There are 7-9 of on staff (depending on the time of year), and currently I am the only person who is full time. Yet through Exodus mobilizing volunteers, this past year, 161 families (about 600 individuals), mostly from Burma, Bhutan and Iraq, received the essential household items they need to set up and new home, and more importantly, smiling, welcoming faces of friends who took the time to prepare a place for them even when they were forgotten people-- refugees in a camp. Additionally 79 families, which is about 250 individuals received a volunteer who came and met with them weekly for at least a few months, just to be their friend and help them settle in.
So really, supporting Exodus is a good idea. We are a tiny organization who through the Grace of God and volunteers like you take a little and make a big impact in the lives of "the least of these" and in the lives of the folks from the church who connect with refugees. Click here to support our annual Run/Walk for refugees. Click here to learn more about Exodus World service. Click here to participate in the Run/Walk, which is September 7th in Historic Long Grove. You can also be a "Virtual Walker"! If you have any questions, you an email me.
