Christian Conscience
Women’s Empowerment Programming is Everywhere
When people ask us, “Where is World Relief’s women’s empowerment programming?” Our answer is: It’s everywhere.
Transforming how men and women live, relate and honor God in their relationships is at the very heart of what we do. We recognize that women and girls don’t exist in isolation. They live, they work and they go to school in community. And only with community transformation will gender reconciliation, empowerment and transformation truly occur.
While we have several programs that center around women — trauma-care groups for sexual and gender-based violence victims in DR Congo, maternal health programs for mothers and teen clubs for pre-adolescent girls — we incorporate the idea of gender equality into nearly all of our international development programming, starting at the belief level.
Today, I want to share two stories with you about a woman named Salina — one fictionalized, and one the truth. Salina’s story illustrates the power of World Relief’s gender-integrated approach and is proof that together, we can #breakthebias and create communities where women and girls can thrive.
Salina’s Story: What Often Happens
Salina is a young wife and mother living in Malawi. She decides to join a savings group and has great hope that this program will change her life. At first, she is encouraged by the community of women and the potential opportunity. But it’s not long before her husband, Chilaw, becomes resentful of the profitable women’s program.
When Salina takes home her savings, Chilaw takes her hard-earned money for himself and spends it frivolously. As a result, Salina is unable to invest in what she’d hoped — nutritious food for her children, health insurance and school fees. Her girl child, Charity, in particular, remains malnourished and uneducated.
Though Chilaw brings home produce from a local agricultural group, both parents prioritize food for their son over Charity. They sell the remaining produce at the market and send their son to school with their earnings, but Charity remains at home doing household chores. She has little awareness of her worth as a young woman and awaited the day when she’ll be married for a bride price and step into the same life her mother has had. Salina’s home is trapped in a vicious cycle of economic, social and relational poverty.
Now, let’s rewrite this story, and see what happens when World Relief’s gender-integrated approach is applied.
Salina’s True Story
In Salina’s real story, she hears about a savings group. She wants to join, but she’s afraid of what her husband might think. After all, he is the decision maker of the family. Nevertheless, World Relief hears of Salina’s interest and encourages her to join.
Simultaneously, a local church volunteer meets with Salina and her husband, Chilaw. They explore a transformative curriculum that teaches Chilaw about his wife’s inherent value and worth. He learns that she is also created in the image of God, deserving of love and respect and possessing a God-given potential that must be nurtured, honored and developed.
He encourages her to go to the local savings groups and when she saves money, they sit and talk together about how to use it along with the money Chilaw earns from selling his agricultural produce.
Salina and Chilaw also learn about the value of their daughter, Charity, and decide it’s time to send her to school with the money they’ve saved. Now that Charity is in school, World Relief encourages her to attend the local adolescent girls club. Chilaw thinks it’s important for his daughter’s wellbeing and development, so he also encourages her to go. Charity learns about the power of her education and the perils of early marriage and sets goals to go to university.
Can you spot the difference?
In both stories, savings, agriculture, nutrition and adolescent clubs are in place, yet only in the second of these stories do these programs have a restorative, transformational and generational impact on the lives of Salina and her family.
The real transformation comes mostly prior to the programmatic benefits — within the home, at the belief and value level. This is the power of our restorative gender work.
We know savings, agricultural and countless other technical programs work most effectively when they build upon the foundational work that has been done within the home, between husband and wife, parents and children.
That’s why, at World Relief we approach female empowerment at the belief level, starting with the family structure. We see the empowerment of women and girls happen not because our programming is exclusively focused on women and girls, but because we work to ensure the whole community recognizes and respects the voices, roles and unique gifts of these women and girls.
Our transformative curriculums — focused on God’s truth that each man, woman and child are made in the image of God — drive this innovative approach to relief and development. We believe that unless relationships have been transformed so that both man and woman, boy and girl, are equally valued, given equal opportunity and are equally empowered, the impact of our programming is compromised.
Without this core transformation, Salina, her daughter and the generations of women who will come after them stay trapped in a cycle of marginalization and poverty. With it, however, change is truly possible. A better future exists for Charity, her daughters and her granddaughters. Their story has been rewritten.
Women’s agency, dignity, opportunity and empowerment come not just from technical programs, but from a deep, internal community understanding and drive for each and every one of their community members—men and women, boys and girls—to reach their full, God-given potential.
So, where is our women’s empowerment programming?
It’s everywhere.
Francesca Albano currently serves as Director of Branded Content at World Relief. With a background in Cultural Anthropology and a graduate degree in Strategic Marketing Communications, she connects her interests in societal studies and global cultures with her training in brand strategy and storytelling. Francesca is especially passionate about grassroots community development and the treatment and advancement of women and girls around the world.
From Ukraine to the United States: Bohdan’s Story
On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, plunging the nation into violent conflict. This act of war highlights how violence places innocent lives in danger, and we continue to pray for all those affected. In the last 18 years, World Relief has resettled over 13,000 refugees from Ukraine. Many, like Bohdan Borodin, have joined our staff, and we serve together daily.
Bohdan came to the U.S. with his family in 2019 through the Lautenberg program and now works as an Employment Specialist at World Relief Upstate. Today, Bohdan offers his perspective on life in Ukraine, the transition to the United States after suffering from religious persecution and hope for a better life for his family.
We are grateful to Bohdan for sharing his story today.
I love my country. Before I came to the U.S., life in the Ukraine wasn’t all bad. Ukraine is a good country, actually. It’s beautiful with so many different landscapes: from flatlands to mountains and lakes.
I miss the community and routines of daily life, including family dinners every Sunday. It was a big event, all of us coming together and talking with one another over a meal. I also received a good education in Ukraine, earning a Master’s Degree in Thermal Engineering.
But while it sounds like a degree that can secure a good job, it was not so easy to provide for basic needs for my family or plan well for our future.
In 1991 Ukraine was liberated from the USSR and established as a democratic government. Since then, a lot of good changes have happened, but the economy has remained challenging: the poor get poorer and the rich get richer.
Our culture is also still sprinkled with communism-bias in every city and village. When Ukraine was part of the USSR, Khrushchev, the First Secretary of the Communist Party from 1953-1964, announced on TV that he would try to kill the last Christian to destroy the faith of all Christians. Thankfully, this threat never became a reality. Instead, persecution now is much more subtle, with undertones of dislike and prejudice.
For example, as a student, if you have a teacher who remembers the former Soviet way of life and has upheld those beliefs, he or she may give you bad grades just to show their disapproval of Christianity.
It is for that reason that my wife, Inna, and I decided to apply for refugee status and come to the U.S. for a better way of life.
It took about three years from the start of the application process to the point that we resettled in South Carolina. When we were finally approved to come to the U.S., we were excited, but I also knew that entering a different culture and language would be difficult. In fact, our challenges first began before we ever left Ukraine.
We were waiting at the airport standing outside in the middle of winter with our two-year-old daughter. We made it from Ukraine all the way to New York. But then our flight from New York to Greenville was delayed twice and eventually canceled. We were exhausted!
We finally arrived in South Carolina with only a couple hundred dollars in our pockets since we had no property to sell in Ukraine. Also, my wife does not speak English, which was an additional challenge for her. And shortly after we arrived, my mother-in-law came to live with us. All of this change created a very stressful time!
I had studied English back in Ukraine, which gave me a huge advantage compared to other Ukrainians with no English. While I wanted to remain as self-sufficient as possible, we still had a lot of needs as we navigated setting up our life in a new country.
Thankfully, when I did need help and guidance, World Relief workers stepped in to help with things like filling out papers and documents, securing a place to live and getting a job so I could provide for my family.
When World Relief saw how good my English was, they offered me a job working as an Employment Specialist. At first, I was unsure if this would be a good fit because my previous experience was working in technical fields, but then I thought this might be a good opportunity for me to learn something new.
I like engaging my brain and helping others, and working at World Relief lets me do both! Working at World Relief has also helped me gain more global awareness about refugees coming from countries who have even greater challenges to overcome than I have. I am grateful for that.
Most of my family still lives in Ukraine. Recently, we were able to visit, and it was a good time for my mom to give a hug to her grandkids and meet my eight-month-old son in person, instead of over the phone.
Since most of my relatives are still over there, the recent events between Russia against Ukraine have been frustrating and upsetting.
I would ask Russian people not to believe in Putin’s lie to his nation. I also believe that there are many Russians who don’t want this war either. My hope is that they would continue coming out on the streets, sharing their opinions through protests.
I also hope the American government will find or create a way to bring immediate family members from Ukraine to the U.S. Despite this ongoing tragedy in my home country, I am grateful to be in America and give my kids the opportunity to live the American dream. I want to give them the best life that I can – to receive a good education, become self-sufficient and achieve success in this life.
World Relief is providing life-sustaining relief through our network of partners on the ground in Western Ukraine, Slovakia and Romania. Your gift today will provide things like food, temporary shelter, blankets, hygiene items, medicine and other essential items to those displaced by the war. Whether we’re responding to war in Ukraine, drought in Kenya or flooding in South Sudan, our faith compels us to respond.
Bohdan Borodin grew up in Ukraine, and resettled in the U.S. in 2019. He has a wife and two children. Together, they live in South Carolina where he works as an Employment Specialist at World Relief Upstate
7 Ways We’re Breaking the Bias
At World Relief, we imagine a gender-equal world — a world where women are no longer disproportionately affected by global pandemics, and child marriage is no longer an answer to economic hardship; a world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination; a world where girls have equal access to education and women’s leadership, experience and expertise are valued across all sectors of society.
That’s why today, on International Women’s Day, we commit to #BreakTheBias.
We affirm our belief in full equality and inclusion of women at all levels and are working to achieve our vision of a gender-equal world — in homes, schools, organizational and community leadership. Here are just seven of the ways we are #breakingthebias at World Relief!
1. In our International Programs, we’re addressing gender inequality at the root
When a community believes men are superior to women, women are not empowered to make decisions at the household or community level, putting them at a social and economic disadvantage. Women’s agency, dignity, opportunity and empowerment come not just from technical programs, but from a deep, communal understanding that men and women, boys and girls are created equal in the image of God.
At World Relief, this truth is the bedrock of all our international programs. That’s why, the first stage of so many of our programs starts with addressing harmful beliefs about women and laying a biblical foundation for women’s equality.
As the truth of biblical equality takes root in more people’s hearts and minds, more women are empowered to rise up within their communities and lead within our programs. And when women are able to take on leadership in areas like health and nutrition, savings, agriculture and church empowerment, holistic transformation begins.
2. Increasing access to education and employment for refugee women in Memphis
Through the Connect English Language Center, World Relief Memphis’ Gateway program is designed for refugee women who have suffered an interrupted or incomplete education due to violence or lack of opportunities. Many of these women may face barriers such as trauma or pre-literacy. Gateway welcomes these women to a warm and informal classroom setting where they develop confidence in the basics of the English language. Gateway helps women learn how to introduce themselves and share information confidently as they take steps towards integrating into their new American community.
3. Facilitating gender equality training among International Programs staff
At World Relief, we believe God’s word can’t be powerful through us until it is powerful within us. That’s why, in 2020, we rolled out a gender equality training called Women and Men Leading Together amongst our international staff. The curriculum lays a biblical foundation for gender equality, addresses patriarchal cultures and invites staff to reflect on how they want to act as change agents in their families, communities and churches.
As of 2021, a large percentage country staff have walked through gender Bible studies to learn more about God’s view of equality. Moving forward, each country office will reflect annually on their progress towards gender equality through a gender scorecard which assesses offices on achievement towards five priority areas: theological foundation; gender-sensitive program design; staffing and leadership; dedicated gender-mainstreaming strategic resources; and policies and procedures.
Two country offices have also undergone a gender equality and inclusion self-assessment (GEISA) aimed to support organizational transformation on gender equality and inclusion. And in 2021, World Relief rolled-out gender trainings to equip country office staff with necessary skills to mainstream gender in programming.
4. Building confidence in girls through mentorship
With the crucial support of local churches and community members, World Relief has formed girls clubs in communities around the world. These weekly gatherings for girls between ages 10-18 seek to enhance girls’ self-esteem, encourage education and empower personal decision-making.
During the clubs’ weekly meetings, girls explore their rights and learn new skills through stories, games, role-plays and songs. With guidance from mentors — women from within the community — clubs foster an atmosphere where girls can excel as they feel more empowered, more knowledgeable and more confident.
5. Fostering community for refugee women in Sacramento
World Relief Sacramento’s Refugee Integration Groups come alongside isolated, often pre-literate Afghan women to help them build the skills they need to achieve independence. Each week, women gather to practice their English and learn about topics such as navigating the healthcare system, coping with culture shock and how to use a car seat. World Relief Sacramento also partners with local professionals to present on topic relevant to women’s needs such as parenting, domestic violence and health. All presentations are translated into the women’s native languages and provide a springboard for group discussion.
6. Equipping youth to address gender-based violence in Malawi
Through SCOPE-HIV, World Relief is implementing IMPower — a curriculum that addresses the unique challenges boys and girls face in combating gender-based violence. Girls learn about boundary setting, diffusion tactics, verbal assertiveness, negotiation and physical self-defense skills.
Boys learn to treat women and girls respectfully, countering harmful masculine norms and helping to prevent sexual and gender-based violence. The curriculum stresses that boys possess the ability and desire to treat women respectfully, but often condone and commit acts of sexual violence in response to social and community pressures. Rather than seeking to instill a new sense of morality, the program reminds boys of existing morals and values and empowers them to build the confidence and skills to act on these morals every day.
This two-pronged approach ensures girls have the tools they need to defend themselves, while sowing the seeds of lasting change by addressing harmful societal norms at the root.
7. Elevating Women through Leadership Opportunities
Across much of our programming in Sub-Saharan Africa, where culture strongly dictates that leadership roles be reserved for men, we are working to ensure female leaders are raised up in their communities.
By electing women into Savings and Agricultural Group Presidential and Vice Presidential positions, and teaching joint decision-making around household finances, we are reshaping the ways women are viewed in their communities. What’s more, we are mirroring this practice in international leadership, where three new female Country Directors have been hired in the last 18 months.
Every day, we have the privilege of watching the radical concept of Imago Dei transform broken relationships and end violence and oppression in so many of the communities where we work. A generation of young girls is seeing a new way of existing, encountering role models and gaining a vision for what their lives could mean.
Gender equality is a matter of both justice and stewardship, and we will continue striving toward a gender-equal world in everything we do. While we recognize that we still have progress to make, we commit to this journey and commit to #breakthebias, not just on IWD but every day.
Love Rejoices with the Truth
Combatting Harmful Beliefs
This is a story about a small village in Mzimba, a northern district in the Southern African country of Malawi. It is a story about love and the relentless pursuit of the truth—a truth that has set the village of Jenda free and paved the way for love to flourish.
Five years ago, the Ngoni people never could have imagined the transformation their district was about to experience. Though amongst some of the poorest people in the world, the Ngoni are a proud people, rooted in age-old traditions, closed to outsiders and cautious of change.
Before World Relief began working in Mzimba, life was dictated by tribal traditions that oftentimes perpetuated, or worsened, the cycle of poverty and suffering in the community.
The Ngoni people lived their day-to-day lives believing that:
- A malnourished child meant there was infidelity within the marriage.
- Girls were valuable solely for their bride price and should not attend school.
- Upon puberty, girls foreheads should be cut and scarred to reveal their readiness for marriage.
- If women did not bear sons, men may continue to marry as many women as they like. (Polygamy was commonplace.)
- Upon the death of their husband, widows must walk on their knees to the closest river without food or water.
- Pregnant women must not breastfeed or eat eggs.
- Witchdoctors were the only solution to sickness and challenges.
In many cases, these beliefs lead to chronic malnutrition, child abuse or gender injustices that could often mean the difference between life and death. Yet, this way of life went unchallenged for the Ngoni people, who had no expectations or hope of a different way — no opportunity to act on their natural instinct to love, and no relief for the suffering they endured.
Change Takes Root
In 2012, when local World Relief staff first arrived in the village of Jenda, villagers were guarded. They sent local pastors and leaders to meet with the outsiders, doubting the significance of the gathering, in some cases even fearing it was a scam. Little did they know, this meeting would be the beginning of a vibrant transformation. One that revealed life-altering truth, rooted in love and that would lead to the renewal of their lives, their people and their entire community.
As leaders around Jenda came together with World Relief staff in vision-casting seminars, community-based needs assessments and cross-denominational conversations, a wave of excitement and optimism began to spread. Like wildfire, 15 churches soon became 22, spanning 10 denominations and multiple villages across Mzimba as community leaders realized that a different life, and future, for their people was possible.
“We began to understand God’s vision for our community. A truth that had been obscured from us due to age-old cultural practices and mindsets. We learned God had a desire to see us and our community working together in unity to serve one another, love one another and to lift up our community. We learned to work together, to realize our part in helping the most vulnerable, to become self-reliant and to shed harmful beliefs that were hindering us.” — Church Network Committee Chairman
As community leaders and increasingly, community members, began coming together in conversation around these new truths, the tide began to shift.
“We began to understand poverty in a deeper way. We came to realize the power of knowledge, and of self-reliance. And we realized some of our practices must change if we were to lead better lives. — Modesta, Jenda Savings Group Participant
A Flourishing Community
As the people of Jenda gathered to discuss the needs of their village and their vision for the future, the community began adopting changes that gradually gave way to community-wide flourishing.
New cash crops were planted to include soya beans and groundnuts, yielding added household income. With the pooled profits, seedlings were planted to regrow trees that had been lost to deforestation, hundreds of thousands of bricks were molded for the construction of a new school and homes for teachers, a clean-water well was dug, and savings and agricultural groups were formed.
As each new need was identified, the community gathered together to raise money and invest back into their collective vision for their lives and the lives of their children.
But the changes were not just physical. Love and appreciation for the children of the village was instilled as community members began to understand the meaning of Imago Dei—each child created in the image of God and possessing inherent worth.
The value of the girl child and the importance of education for both boys and girls began to take root. Community members began looking out for their friends and neighbors, and families began to repair once broken relationships, thriving in a growing love, care and respect for one another.
Little by little with each passing year, leaders and community members alike began speaking out against harmful practices of polygamy, rites of passage, child brides and witch doctors.
Mothers groups were formed to keep children in school and protect the rights of children, especially girls.
Leaders from other districts began to visit Jenda to witness what, why and how such positive transformation was taking place. And Jenda’s influence was so great that even local government Village Development Committees took note—putting in place by-laws that forbade marriage under the age of 18 and required mothers to give birth in health-centers or local hospitals so as to ensure proper care.
A Flourishing Future
Today, the village of Jenda is unrecognizable. As you enter the center of the village, you pass a deep-water well, three primary school blocks, five well-constructed teachers’ homes, three large enclosed cultivation plots, two brick-molding kilns and a large field of newly planted trees.
The church, which sits as the center of the community with two classrooms, continues to be a place of planning and dreaming toward a flourishing future. Community members plan to build more schools and child care centers, a library and a recreation hall. They want to ensure all girls attend school and every disabled child has access to wheelchair and wheelchair accessible classrooms. And so much more.
Ten years ago, these plans were not even a thought, let alone an aspiration for the Ngoni people in Jenda. Yet today, they stand before us, proclaiming the gospel and the truths that have opened their minds, encouraged love and instilled a bright and bold vision for their future. It is a truth we can all rejoice in.
*At World Relief, our goal is to see local churches continue to serve the most vulnerable long after World Relief transitions out of the area. We do not seek to establish a long-term, ongoing presence in the areas we serve, but instead build capacity among local leaders to sustain the progress they themselves initiated. Once a community is able to meet their target goals, World Relief begins the process of graduating the community, which includes a time of reflecting and celebrating together. The Jenda community is currently set to graduate in 2023! Join us in celebrating and praying for this continuous transformation.
Francesca Albano currently serves as Director of Branded Content at World Relief. With a background in Cultural Anthropology and a graduate degree in Strategic Marketing Communications, she connects her interests in societal studies and global cultures with her training in brand strategy and storytelling. Francesca is especially passionate about grassroots community development and the treatment and advancement of women and girls around the world.
Change Unites to Bring Peace and Restoration
Today, on International Day of Peace, harmony seems hard to find. Friends, families, communities and nations are divided. If you’re like us, your heart aches at the divisions driving disunity, conflict and even war around the world. But we believe God’s heart is for reconciliation — and wherever God is, there is hope.
World Relief DR Congo’s Berger Bireo shares how he came to understand that a unified church has the power to create lasting change in communities around the globe — his own included. This lesson in unity not only shaped Berger’s own view of the church, but has motivated him to build peace and call the global church to unite in our common identity as children of God, being agents of peace wherever we go.
*This blog was originally published on Nov. 23, 2020 and was updated on Sept. 21, 2021.
“Blessed are those who bring peace, for they will be called children of God. ” – Matthew 5: 9
Cycles of Conflict
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), referred to affectionately as the Heart of Africa — rich in resource, culture and beauty. As the second largest country in Africa, she is home to over 60 million people representing more than 450 tribes and languages.
Although DRC’s tribes have lived together for centuries, some influential leaders have exploited their differences and created artificial ethnic rivalries. Sustained conflicts have been fueled by various sources: armed militias, land disputes, the return of refugees and internally displaced people, gender-based violence and the widespread rape of women. As a result, the nation and its people have been engaged in a cycle of conflict and violence which has stolen more than five million lives and kept millions more from being able to realize their full potential.
Since 1996, people have not experienced a notable period of peace. In fact, the majority of children in eastern DRC have never known peace in their lives.
An Instrument of Peace
It’s easy to be overwhelmed and discouraged by this conflict-ridden history. There are days when I myself struggle to see beyond these seemingly devastating challenges. Yet I believe that God gave us the very instrument needed to establish peace in DRC: the Church.
I did not always recognize the power the local church could have in bringing peace to DRC. In fact, prior to joining the World Relief team, I worked as a Pentecostal pastor. I loved my congregation, but we were inward-looking, believing our needs and our views were all that was important. Working with World Relief has changed the way I view things. I now see that when the whole body of Christ is united together — regardless of church or denomination – we can move mountains.
At World Relief, we believe that when the church is mobilized to achieve its full potential, it has the power to change our world. The local church offers the greatest hope of reconciliation between classes, tribes, ethnicities and political parties by unifying people under a common identity in Christ. In DRC, I’ve seen this with my own eyes.
As head of the Department of Mobilizing Churches for Integral Mission, I lead trainings with local church leaders, encouraging them to recognize the positive impact of coming together in unity to address their community’s problems. Together, I’ve witnessed these once divided churches mobilize to serve the most vulnerable — building houses for widows and widowers, visiting the sick and taking care of orphans.
As a field agent, I also facilitated the establishment of 130 village peace committees in some of the DRC’s most tumultuous areas. Through this effort, we reunited more than 2,000 divided families, as well as the communities of North Kivu Province, who once saw one another as enemies, but who today come together as friends working toward peace and unity.
Village Peace Committees are part of an ongoing peacebuilding initiative that World Relief has embarked on in partnership with local churches and community leaders in eastern DRC. Each committee is made up of 10 members from various social and ethnic groups in the community who are trained in conflict mediation and relationship restoration, seeking to promote peace between individuals, families and communities. This mediation interrupts the cycles of revenge that have the potential to escalate to violence by focusing on reconciliation and forgiveness.
A Vision for Unity
Today, many local churches have become instruments for transformation and unity in DRC. Five years ago I would not have believed this possible. And it’s my greatest prayer that this can be true for the global church, too — that God’s people, united around their common identity as children of the Most High, would lead us in the way of Peace.
On the night before He was crucified, Jesus prayed that we would be one as He and the Father were one (John 17:21). The theme extends throughout scripture. Psalm 133 exclaims “how good and pleasant is it when brothers dwell together in unity.”
1 Corinthians 1:10 appeals “that there be no divisions among you.” And Galatians 3:28 tells us “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
As Christians, we are called to be agents of peace, and to put our identity in Christ alone. This is no small task, and it is hard work. But I believe this was the very purpose for which the church was created. As followers of Jesus, we must be the shining city upon the hill. We must lead in love because we cannot call people to live differently if we ourselves cannot gather together in peace and unity.
Each night, my family and I gather in prayer for DRC. We pray for the people of our nation, for sustainable peace and for DRC to serve as an example of the change that is possible when once divided churches and communities unify for peace.
Take the next step to build peace and lasting change in communities across the globe by joining The Path. Now through September 30, 2021, when you join The Path with a monthly gift, your entire first year of giving will be matched up to $100,000.
Berger Bireo has been working with World Relief DR Congo since 2013. He started as a conflict resolution facilitator and is currently Deputy Program Coordinator and Chaplain of World Relief Congo. He is passionate about working for social, economic and spiritual change for World Relief staff and their families, as well as for whole communities in order to create peace for the sustainable development of God‘s children.
Four Ways We Can Improve Our Immigration System
Over the past several months, Americans have been inundated with news and imagery from the U.S.-Mexico border. As policies have shifted, historically high numbers of people have arrived, including many intending to seek asylum in the United States.
People often ask me how we, as Christians, should respond to stories like these. We want to fix the problem and end the suffering, but, sadly, hard policy problems like asylum and refugee resettlement are much more complicated than the “easy fixes” hinted at in the headlines.
For one, the U.S. is particularly unprepared for this influx of people seeking refuge because our immigration system has been essentially dismantled over the last several years — both as a result of intentional policy decisions and by the COVID-19 pandemic — and it is taking time to rebuild it. We and our network of faith-based and community organizations are eager to partner with the government to care for vulnerable people, but currently lack the resources and workforce to handle this surge.
Nonetheless, the country is bound by various international treaties and domestic laws to give a hearing to particular categories of migrants, including unaccompanied children and anyone facing a credible fear of persecution. We cannot abandon either these national commitments or our celebrated heritage as a place of opportunity and new beginnings for those seeking refuge.
We need to seek change. A fair and humane solution to immigration policy and asylum issues will take time, patience, funding and focused political attention. Here are four ways we can change our immigration system in a comprehensive and humane way.
1. We must address the root causes driving asylum seekers to come to the U.S. in the first place.
Along with many Americans motivated by personal faith and the best of our national values, we are eager to welcome those who seek refuge in the U.S. But that eagerness is paired with lament; we grieve that anyone would feel they had no choice but to leave their homes and their countries of origin.
The factors that push people to flee countries such as Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala include poverty, high rates of violent crime, environmental degradation and corruption. Finding themselves in grim circumstances, families make what is often a heart-wrenching decision to flee their homes for a better life.
The United States can first address the rise in asylum cases by working with other governments and organizations to make home for refugees a safe place, rather than a dangerous one. This can be done through diplomatic negotiations with governments and financial support for local and international NGOs working to create opportunity and improve safety for families. By being more proactive in this effort and increasing both U.S. governmental aid as well as churches, businesses and individuals stepping up their support, fewer families will feel compelled to make the journey to the southern border.
2. We can increase resources for processing asylum claims as a means of disincentivizing unlawful entry into the country.
Because legal asylum claims often take too long to find a legal hearing, many individuals cross the border illegally in the hopes that they will be apprehended and then given the hearing to which they are legally entitled. We can bring order to the border simply by investing in the right kinds of resources. If we can fairly and efficiently handle the rising volume of asylum claims, we can divert asylum seekers away from dangerous border crossings and to lawful ports of entry.
3. We can increase orderly, legal migration options accessible closer to home.
Most people who make a dangerous journey to the border do so because that’s the only way to lawfully request asylum. But if there was an option to request protections closer to home, either at a nearby U.S. consulate or in a neighboring country, most people would much prefer to reach safety in the U.S. via an airplane flight after being processed and vetted overseas. In fact, that’s basically the model of the U.S. refugee resettlement program, which has been functioning well for decades. For those fleeing poverty, not persecution, additional employer-sponsored visas would also create increased opportunities for lawful migration — while helping to address a stark labor shortage within the U.S. that is fueling inflation and economic stagnation.
4. We need bipartisan action by Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
While expanding refugee resettlement could be done by executive action, many other changes to the legal immigration system — such as facilitating legal immigration options for those fleeing poverty and seeking to fill needs in the U.S. labor market — would require congressional action. Those changes could be paired with a host of other reforms to our immigration laws. Immigration reform, however, will require bipartisan cooperation between the new administration and both political parties. Securing bipartisan cooperation now can ensure we move beyond quick fixes and make lasting changes for years to come.
We need to invest in better immigration policies that can spur economic growth, protect our national security and offer comfort to the vulnerable. But change will not happen overnight. Our short-term efforts to alleviate suffering should not come at the expense of the broader reforms needed for an effective—and more humane—immigration policy.
I encourage you to educate yourself about some of the pressing issues surrounding immigration policies, lean into hard conversations and risk feeling uncomfortable. Together, we can raise our voices in support of those whose voices are often ignored, marginalized or overlooked. We can be advocates for those fleeing violence, poverty and oppression and respond to their cries for help — just as our heavenly Father listens and responds to us.
To stay informed about issues related to immigration, mass displacement, extreme poverty and more, sign up for our monthly newsletter or subscribe for advocacy alerts!
This blog was originally published on July 8th, 2021 and was recently updated on May 26th 2023.
Scott Arbeiter retired from World Relief in 2021 as president after serving the organization in various roles for more than two decades and is a former pastor of Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin.
Matt Soerens began his World Relief journey in 2005 as an intern in Nicaragua and now serves as the VP of Advocacy and Policy. Since then he served as a Department of Justice-accredited legal counselor in Chicagoland before assuming the role of U.S. Director of Church Mobilization and Advocacy. Matt is the co-author of three books including Welcoming the Stranger (InterVarsity Press, 2018) and Inalienable (InterVarsity Press, 2022). Matt also serves as the National Coordinator for the Evangelical Immigration Table, a coalition that advocates for immigration reforms consistent with biblical values. He is a graduate of Wheaton College, where he has also served as a guest faculty member in the Humanitarian & Disaster Leadership program, and earned a master’s degree from DePaul University’s School of Public Service. He lives in Aurora, Illinois with his wife Diana and their four children.
Why We Speak
“The ultimate aim of advocacy is to demonstrate the good news of the coming of the Kingdom of God.” – Jenny Yang, World Relief
Throughout Scripture, God moves for justice. Time and again, through ordinary people, God brings his vision of justice to a broken world, taking action on behalf of the most vulnerable. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. (Deuteronomy 10:18)
At World Relief, we believe it’s our call as Christians to speak with those who are often oppressed or overlooked in order to address the underlying causes of injustice and oppression. Speaking out can influence the policies and practices of people in power, and we believe it can demonstrate the good news of the coming of the Kingdom of God.
The injustices of our world and this time demand action. And though speaking out isn’t always easy, we believe we must.
We must speak out because:
- As a nation, we have chosen to be blind to the suffering of those seeking refuge from violence and persecution, or worse, scapegoated them
We must speak out because:
- Political ideology and religious identity have become inextricably conflated and truth has become a matter of subjective preference
We must speak out because:
- Climate change is ravaging more and more places in the world, forcing more than 20 million people a year from their homes by sudden onset weather events
We must speak out because:
- Systemic racism and the denial of equity and opportunity has been blatantly laid bare for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.
We must speak out because:
- Patriarchal attitudes and the acceptance of gender injustice is still far too prevalent both here in the U.S. and around the world.
Above all, we speak out because to NOT do so, would be to abdicate our role as followers of Jesus.
As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.”
We, the Church, speak out to guide, to highlight critical issues, to influence public attitudes and enact or implement laws and policies.
Will you join us by raising your voices with courage and conviction today?
Francesca Albano currently serves as Director of Branded Content at World Relief. With a background in Cultural Anthropology and a graduate degree in Strategic Marketing Communications, she connects her interests in societal studies and global cultures with her training in brand strategy and storytelling. Francesca is especially passionate about grassroots community development and the treatment and advancement of women and girls around the world.
Creation Care in Haiti
A global problem
While creation care is one of the core tenets of Christian witness, there is mounting evidence that we, as humans, are failing badly in the responsibility of stewarding our global home. Climates are changing, storms are happening more frequently with more intensity, systems that were once reliable for livelihoods are now becoming unpredictable, and the amount of accumulated waste continues to increase:
- Every year, an estimated 11.2 billion tons of solid waste is collected worldwide, and the decay of the organic proportion of solid waste is contributing about 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
- Only 9% of all plastic waste ever produced has been recycled. About 12% has been incinerated, while the rest — 79% — has accumulated in landfills, dumps or the natural environment.
- Around the world, 1 million plastic drinking bottles are purchased every minute, while up to 5 trillion single-use plastic bags are used worldwide every year and generally thrown away after only one use.
Though these statistics are staggering, there is so much we can do individually and collectively to prevent a wasting of the environment. World Relief is committed to working toward environmental stewardship and climate-sensitive policies both internally and throughout our programs around the world.
A Collective Commitment
In October 2020, we began a partnership project called Environment Plus (EN+) with Tearfund UK and Arris Desrosiers, a Haitian waste management company, to provide sustainable solid waste management services in Carrefour, a metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince.
“When we were traveling out to our programs, we would see densely populated areas right outside the city that had become like dumpsites,” recalled Athanase Ndayisaba, World Relief Haiti’s Country Director. “All kinds of domestic waste from homes in the city was just being dumped outside in these communities. It was filthy and it creates huge issues for the general health of the population.
“Children in this area were playing in trash, and waste creates disease — this concerned us.”
Something needed to be done, so World Relief engaged with partners like Arris Desrosiers, who not only seeks to manage waste but uses recyclable waste to make school backpacks and fertilizer that can be sold to farmers in the area, to design the project.”
Together, we are raising awareness about the importance of reducing waste dumped into oceans, improving environmental conditions for those living in poverty and creating income-generating activities for local Haitians.
A key component of this initiative is the community mobilization of local churches and pastors. We are developing a biblically-based training and curriculum that we will use to train church leaders and volunteers of the value and importance of creation care. These leaders are essential in spreading the word about best waste management practices and the importance of creation care in their communities while supporting the waste collection process.
Currently, we have 30 local churches involved, and they are excited to help. “Church leaders recently spent a whole day collecting trash,” Athanase said. While church and community leaders are essential to mobilize their communities, youth are also integral in continuing this project into the future.
A Future for our Youth
By training young people in Carrefour about waste management and how to collect and separate trash, we can ensure these practices will be carried on long after the project ends. This project also brings income earning potential for young people by employing them in the recycling process.
“We want to see the waste in this area cleaned up,” Athanase says. “We want to teach the general population how to handle and separate domestic waste for recycling, creating a network of clean-up and conservation in the area.”
As a result of EN+, we anticipate that 15,000 individuals in Carrefour will have access to solid waste management services and an additional 5,000 individuals will be connected to interventions to help limit waste. Ultimately, the project will reduce waste dumped in oceans by 182.7 tons per month, 148.3 tons of which will be recycled.
While immediate and specific actions are necessary, we recognize that understanding the greater purpose behind waste management and our call to care for creation leads to meaningful solutions and lasting change.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” Psalm 19:1
Dana North previously served as the Marketing Director at World Relief. With a background in graphic design and advertising and experiences in community development and transformation, Dana seeks to use the power of words and action to help create a better world. Dana is especially passionate about seeking justice for women and girls around the world.
An Open Letter
To the people we serve at World Relief,
We want to express our unwavering support to you and express our deep grief over the events of last week when a group of rioters attacked the U.S. Capitol. The scenes we all witnessed left us feeling sick and unsettled and were reflective of the divisions that the country is facing.
We acknowledge that many of you may be fearful as you witnessed violence, terrorism, anarchy and instability — all resembling the dynamics you left behind in your countries of origin, and which you never expected to face again in the United States. We also acknowledge that refugees and immigrants have often borne the brunt of a hostile political narrative that has discounted or diminished the validity of your story and experience and your tremendous contributions to our country.
We also recognize that at least some of the confirmed perpetrators of the attack espoused explicitly racist and white supremacist views. We grieve that the response from law enforcement to this attack stood in stark and unjust contrast to the violence with which largely peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstrations were met in the past year. We know that you may be seeing and experiencing historical events unfold that are often checkered with racism and bias against people of color. And the American church has been complicit in perpetuating untruths that do not affirm the image of God in every person.
We want to recognize that we as part of the church have often placed an allegiance to a distorted vision of our country over our commitment to God. But, the view of the people we saw at the Capitol building does not represent the view of all Americans. In fact, Christ calls us to be peacemakers and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We know pursuing peace is not a passive act but an active one that seeks the good of our neighbors and our communities.
We condemn in the strongest terms the riots last Wednesday and the scourge of conspiracy theories, anti-democratic misinformation and white supremacy that plague our nation. The continued assault on truth, decency and our basic democratic ideals is not just emanating from the far corners of our society but carried out from the highest levels of government.
We mourn the lives that were lost in the violence and grieve the ongoing trauma that refugees, immigrants and people of color, in particular, experience in this country. At the same time, we commit to continue our work in creating welcoming, just communities where you and your families can find safety and thrive.
We pray for peace, for reconciliation, and for justice and accountability for those who perpetrated the violence in our nation’s capitol last week. We pray for truth, decency and the rule of the law to prevail. We pray that there will be no further bloodshed and that a peaceful transition takes place. And beyond that, we pray that the seeds of division and discord begin to wither in the light of truth.
Most of all, we are praying for you. We are praying for your families to be safe during this time and for you to continue to find a welcoming and loving community that represents the best that this country has to offer.
We do not write today because we have answers to offer but, as an organization that has served over 400,000 people like you and whose staff is composed of many refugees and immigrants, we want to affirm our commitment to continue serving you as best as we can. To that end, please do not hesitate to reach out at any time to any of our staff if you are feeling overwhelmed and need someone to speak with. Please note our list of local offices on our website at www.worldrelief.org/us-locations.
We thank you for allowing us to journey with you and believe we can work together to contribute to the healing this land needs. We recognize you. We stand with you.
With respect and affection,
World Relief
Blessed are the Peacemakers
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons and daughters of God. — Matthew 5:9
A Contested Election
On New Year’s Day in 2008, my wife and I arrived in Nairobi and witnessed up close the horrific aftermath of a disputed election result between the incumbent President Mwai Kibaki and his opponent, Raila Odinga. Within minutes of the announcement of Kibaki’s victory, violent protests broke out in the street, alleging Kibaki had “stolen” the election.
Police moved to quash the unrest, but the violence quickly escalated along tribal lines. As many as 1,400 people died in less than two months, and an additional 600,000 people were displaced from their homes, as Kenya slipped dangerously close to outright civil war. The church in Kenya remained silent.
Determined not to see a repetition of such violence again, local World Relief staff and other community leaders from around Kenya committed to work on peace and reconciliation in the run-up to the next election in 2011.
Together with my wife, Michele, who grew up in Kenya, I joined them as we worked with pastors in the Kibera slums of Nairobi and in the White Mountains, north of the city where some of the most horrific violence had taken place. Our purpose was clear: To call them to the central truth that all people are made in the image of God and that as believers, our identity in Christ comes first, before either national identity and tribal identity.
Evil Has Left The Room
Our time with these pastors was a powerful lesson for me of the importance and power of both personal and community reconciliation. We were there to catalyze healing across tribal boundaries, but we quickly found ourselves drawn into the circle of repentance and forgiveness ourselves, rather than simply facilitating the healing of wounds.
In the White Mountains, as pastors and local leaders explored the enmity and distrust between them, the legacy of Kenya’s colonial history and the missteps of the colonial transition were too obvious to ignore. As one leader after another repented for the actions of his tribe and asked for and received forgiveness, my wife and I were drawn into the circle to ask for and receive forgiveness for what we, both Brits, had done to this beautiful country and its people.
As we knelt in prayer listening to one another’s confessions and the granting of forgiveness, the total stillness of the place was suddenly broken by a gale force gust of wind crashing doors and windows open. After a few seconds, everything was still again. Then one pastor spoke, “Evil has left this room.”
Repentance and Returning
Many of us in the U.S. today struggle with why we should repent for what was done generations before we were born; many of us struggle with repenting for injustice that we are not directly and personally inflicting upon another person or group of people, despite the fact that this was modeled for us in the Bible by both Nehemiah and Daniel.
Perhaps our attitude is one of denial – a wishful blindness to the realities of another person’s life; perhaps it is a lack of curiosity – the implicit assumption that there really is equal opportunity for all, and if somebody is struggling, it’s because of some flaw in their character.
Perhaps it is a sense that “this is not mine to fix.” Perhaps it’s because we are just too consumed with the concerns of our own lives in a world that seems increasingly chaotic, or that we have never really understood or experienced the divine flow of love that calls us to love one another as God has loved us.
For healing and progress, we must first submit to repentance and forgiveness through honest self-evaluation. The Hebrew word that we associate with repentance — “teshuvah” — is more accurately translated as “returning.” We are called to return to our true selves as God made us and see in others the same image of God that is reflected in our own being. But repentance is incomplete without a commitment to repair.
Repentance is a movement of the heart and is an essential part of healing, but it must be accompanied by changes to systems that, whether intentionally or unintentionally, too often exclude those on the margins of our society.
Sadly, too many of us have failed people of color, women, the unborn, children and others, both in our communities and corporately as a nation. We have not protected immigrants, refugees or the poor. We have not treated with dignity those who hold different opinions. We have not always used our faith as an example, a light shining in the darkness.
Commitment to Love
Today, our society is more divided than ever before as we enter this election week nervous about what might happen, but beneath our concerns I am sure most of us hold on to the belief that the kind of violence we saw in Kenya could never happen here. Most Kenyans thought the same.
Sadly, we live in a time when the moral foundations of our society are seen as under assault – whichever side of the political divide you fall on. In the heated rhetoric of the day, the conditions for an escalation in violence lie just beneath the surface.
Whatever our political and doctrinal preferences, we are called to be people of peace, and to love one another. As Jesus taught in Matthew 22, the greatest commandment is to “love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind … and to love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
It is not too late for church leaders to remind their congregations that we are all made in the image of God. And that ultimately, we will come before the throne of the Lamb together in peace, as described in Revelation 7:9. A great multitude from every nation, tribe, people and language, worshiping in adoration to our God.
Tim Breene served on the World Relief Board from 2010 to 2015 before assuming the role of CEO from 2016-2020. Tim’s business career has spanned nearly 40 years with organizations like McKinsey, and Accenture where he was the Corporate Development Officer and Founder and Chief Executive of Accenture Interactive. Tim is the co-author of Jumping the S-Curve, published by Harvard Publishing. Tim and his wife Michele, a longtime supporter of World Relief, have a wealth of experience working with Christian leaders in the United States and around the world.