Posts Tagged ‘refugee’
Finally, I’m Home: Raphael’s Story of 8 Years Waiting for Resettlement
“Anything can happen and your future is over…after years of war, it was hopeless.”
Meet Raphael
Growing up in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Raphael was the youngest brother of five older sisters. Together with his family of sisters and a single mother, Raphael was constantly uncertain about the future. Conflict in their homeland, instability, and poverty are the things that he says he doesn’t want to remember.
Waiting for Resettlement
Eventually, Raphael fled to seek a better life. He found himself in a refugee settlement in Namibia, where he applied for asylum again and again in different countries. Just waiting to find a place to call home. Waiting for resettlement.
“The thought of saying one day I wish I could be an American…I could not even dream of it because it was impossible. It couldn’t come to be, so why dream of it? And then, all of a sudden, there is this new door that is just opened for you.”
Raphael, a refugee who was granted entry to the U.S. in 2018
After eight years of waiting, Raphael was granted entry into the United States in May 2018. With World Relief, he set out to begin a new life.
Watch the video below to hear Raphael share about his experience of being a refugee and gaining the opportunity to come to the United States… building relationships with staff and volunteers along the way.
Resettling Refugees for More than 40 Years
For more than 40 years, World Relief has partnered with volunteers from the community to welcome and serve immigrants and refugees across the Chicago area. Together, we have helped thousands of refugees like Raphael achieve stability and work toward a future they may not have dreamed was possible.
You can help welcome refugees like Raphael by applying to volunteer with World Relief Chicagoland today. Take the next step toward building relationships and being part of “welcome” for another refugee like Raphael.
Watch other stories of transformation on World Relief Chicagoland’s YouTube channel!
More like this:
New Opportunity in the U.S.: Jenny’s Story
I Was No Longer Safe in My Country: Yomardy’s Story of Seeking Asylum
New Opportunity in the U.S.: Jenny’s Story
“Life in the Congo…was just good. It’s one of the most friendly places and a community of togetherness.”
This is how Jenny began her story. Describing what life looked like before. Before she was forced to flee. Before members of her family died. And before she left the home that she loved.
“It became a different place,” Jenny told us. And at the age of 13 years old, Jenny left the Democratic Republic of Congo to become a refugee, living in a Namibia refugee settlement for seven years before coming to the United States.
And though there were bright spots, like the chance of a quality education, Jenny and her family faced immense challenges too. She saw people acting out of desperation. Doing terrible things simply to put food on the table.
“I had all these hopes and dreams that I keep talking about. I think I was nineteen years old…so all of my dreams are just shattered.”
Jenny, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo
How did Jenny’s story change from that of a young woman questing for education and a better life to someone seizing that brighter future? Watch the video below to see Jenny share her story of taking a chance and receiving new opportunity.
Refugee Resettlement
For more than 40 years, World Relief has welcomed refugees like Jenny into community across Chicagoland. You can help young women like Jenny achieve their biggest dreams by joining our mission to welcome. Become a volunteer with World Relief Chicagoland. Whether by offering friendship, serving as an English language tutor, or helping set up homes for new refugee arrivals, you can make a life-changing impact for someone like Jenny. Someone who has risked at all at the chance of a better life.
Learn about World Relief Chicagoland’s work resettling refugees here and watch other videos of hope on our YouTube channel!
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Volunteer Impact Video: Abdul and Yao
When a Story Becomes a Person
[this blog post was written by Kelly Dolan, World Relief’s Content Strategy Manager.]
If you can’t remember anything about World Refugee Day 2015, you’re not alone. If you’re like me, you didn’t even know such a day existed. I mean, we knew (roughly) what a refugee was because we’d occasionally hear a story in the news about those who had been displaced. But that’s all the refugee crisis was for a while—a distant story.
But then one morning last September, our computer and TV screens were filled with the now tragically iconic picture of the lifeless body of three-year-old Alan Kurdi, his body washed up on a Turkish beach. As we learned more about one refugee child, a story in the news suddenly became a person.
This happened before I came to work for World Relief, before I was learning and telling the stories of refugees on an almost daily basis. I’m honestly embarrassed I didn’t know more about the refugee crisis before the photo surfaced.
After all that’s happened this year, more of us are aware of World Refugee Day 2016. And many of us care about refugees in a new way. But now there’s a different kind of story that’s filling our computer and TV screens. It goes like this…
“Refugees are dangerous. They’re violent people. They’re a threat to whatever country takes them in. The only way we can truly protect our country from terrorism is to keep refugees out.”
I’m guessing you’ve heard that story at least once already today. But without being rooted in any facts or personal narrative, that’s all it is—another story. It’s a story based on fear. There are some who want to use recent tragic events to tell us a story that creates fear. It may be a convenient story for their agenda. But it doesn’t make it true.
So today, on World Refugee Day, we want to not only tell you a different story, but to introduce you to a person. Meet Samir, a young man from Syria who has experienced much pain and much suffering, but has also found much hope.
If you’ve been afraid of refugees resettling in your town, our hope is that by meeting Samir, you’ll see your new refugee neighbors a bit differently. We hope it inspires you to meet more refugees. Because when you meet a refugee, a story becomes a person. And it’s much harder to be afraid—and so much easier to extend a loving welcome—when it’s a real person, not just a story in the news.
Also, let’s use today as a reminder to do everything we can to make sure that our new refugee neighbors like Samir don’t see us as just a story. Today, let’s commit to extending ourselves to our refugee neighbors so that as they are in the process of adjusting to a new country, new culture, potentially a new language, and discovering their best contribution to a society far from the place they once called home, we become real people to them as well.
As a story becomes a person for each of us, may God bring hope, healing, and peace to us all.
Want to know exactly how you can help refugees? Here are 6 ways.
Want to support World Relief as we serve refugees? Commit $15/month through Unlock Hope.
The Refugee Crisis is My Problem
[The following blog post was written by Mark Lamb, World Relief’s Church Partnership Director. Mark recently returned from a trip to the Middle East with Eugene Cho and One Day’s Wages.]
Just a few weeks ago, Eugene and I along with a translator, walked a little girl home from one of the schools that One Day’s Wages has been sharing about this week. It was a beautiful, sunny, 75-degree day and this little girl with her pink backpack and her hair in a ponytail reminded me of my two daughters. As we walked, she got turned around and so we wandered through the streets enjoying the day together.
Eventually we got back on course and found our way to her home where we were warmly invited in by her mother and grandmother. It was a small two-room cinderblock apartment which looked like a construction project that hadn’t quite been finished. The ceilings were low and a small 1980s TV was playing in the corner. We sat on the floor around the edges of the room on thin cushions and talked about our hopes for our kids. (There was a future Syrian doctor in the room, we were told.) Even with the stop-start cadence of communicating through translation, it was easy to forget we were talking with refugees. They were people. Parents with hopes for their kids and kids who love to play with their friends at school.
This encounter, along with many others I had over two weeks, has forced me to confront my own apathy. Is this crisis my problem? Is this your problem?
At every turn, it seems like people around the globe are saying, “Not my problem.” Countries around Syria are erecting fences and even shooting refugees who try to cross. The EU is paying Turkey to keep refugees from migrating to Europe. At its highest number, 31 U.S. governors said they would not take Syrian refugees in their states. The Governor of Texas sued a refugee resettlement agency and the Governor of Georgia temporarily refused State services to Syrian refugee families.
At World Relief, we’re a group of Christians striving to follow the example of Jesus, who left the comforts of heaven for the messiness of this world. He entered into our reality, ultimately offering up his life for us. We fail at following his example a lot. You may too. But, we think it’s worth it to step into this situation and say, “This is my problem.”
We’re partnering with One Day’s Wages because both organizations are passionate about saying, “This is my problem.” We invite you to join us. You can give to our joint campaign, but we hope you won’t stop with that. More than giving, we hope you’ll find refugees where you live. We hope you’ll enter into their lives through relationship and advocate on their behalf. I think you’ll find little girls with pink backpacks, future doctors, and moms with high hopes for their kids.
[World Relief provides various opportunities to serve refugees locally across the US through Good Neighbor Teams. Check with your local World Relief office]
The Refugee Crisis is My Problem
Who is a refugee and what do they go through to get to the U.S.?
A refugee is someone who has fled one’s home country and cannot return because of a well-founded fear of persecution based on religion, race, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.
Check out this infographic to learn the steps refugees must go through when immigrating to the United States. Then, learn more about the ways we currently serve refugees in the U.S.
U.S REFUGEE SCREENING PROCESS INFOGRAPHIC
World Relief provides initial resettlement and placement as well as employment, education and legal services for refugees arriving in the United States. Collaborating with local churches and volunteers, World Relief comes alongside vulnerable families as they begin their lives in the U.S. Since 1979, World Relief has helped resettle more than 260,000 refugees from over 80 nations.
How a grateful Syrian family has resettled in the US
Rami never expected the devastation that would hit his homeland and his family in 2011. After high school, Rami went to university to finish his associates in veterinary science and began assisting a veterinarian by providing vaccinations and caring for cows and chickens.
Everything began to change when the Syrian revolution started in March of 2011. Protests increased as the government and police counteracted and things became increasingly violent. From their home, Rami’s family could hear the gunfire as it moved through the city and ultimately to their neighborhood.
Rami fled to neighboring Turkey, found work as an air conditioner repairman and sent for his wife and children. Rami remembers being treated poorly because he and his family were Syrian refugees. He began applying to the UN, was referred for resettlement to the US and he and his family arrived in Aurora, Illinois in 2015.
“I thank God for being able to come to the US because I know that many people do not have the chance.”
Rami hopes to continue his education in the future and return to working with animals.
Read more of Rami’s story here.
Support refugees like Rami and his family.