Posts Tagged ‘Refugee Resettlement’
Resettled: One Woman’s Journey Beyond Rebuilding
As the number of refugees arriving in the U.S. continues to increase in the coming months, we invite you to partner with us as we welcome them. Today, we’re excited to give you a glimpse at the lasting change that can happen when we move together.
A Crossing of Paths
At World Relief, we’re honored to walk alongside refugees and immigrants from around the world as they rebuild their lives in the U.S. Sharing their stories with you is a privilege. Often though, the stories we share are limited to a short and intense part of people’s lives.
Years later, you may wonder along with us, “How is that family doing now?” I never expected to get an answer to this question when I moved from North Carolina, where I worked at World Relief Triad, to Utah. But that’s exactly what happened.
Two weeks after moving, I bought a plant on Facebook marketplace from a woman named Buthainah. It didn’t take long for us to realize our shared connection: she had been resettled by World Relief Triad in 2009. Hearing her story reminded me of the lasting impact we can have when we move together. Buthainah eagerly agreed to share her story with us today.
When Everything Changes
Buthainah grew up in Baghdad, Iraq. Although the country was tightly controlled by Sadam Husain’s regime, she remembers having a happy childhood.
Her father worked as a major general at the naval academy, and her mother was an architect. Buthainah did well in school. She was a child of imagination — drawing, reading and writing stories in which she was the heroine. “Life was simple for us kids and family,” she said, “we were happy and content!”
But then war broke out, and everything changed. At 13, Buthainah fled with her parents and four sisters to Jordan. Two and a half years later, they were selected for resettlement in the U.S.
Flying to the U.S. was stressful. As a family of seven, they struggled through the airport with two suitcases each. Buthainah remembers bringing clothes, drawings and a memory book from elementary school with notes from her friends and teachers. “I’m a very sentimental person. [They’re] silly things, but they hold a lot of value for me.”
Buthainah’s family arrived on June 25, 2009. From geography to environment to culture, Buthainah was immersed in a world of difference. And a world where she, herself, was labeled as different.
“You have your life, and all of a sudden, it’s taken away from you,” she said. “And then you are labeled as a refugee, not who you are. It makes you feel unseen and it diminishes your value… or at least it did for me.”
Someone to Walk With
But someone did see Buthainah and her family — former World Relief Case Manager, Brian Boggs. “Brian was one of the very few people early on to really understand us,” Buthainah remembers. “He spent time to explain the system to us.”
Brian drove the family to appointments and made sure the kids were enrolled in school. He helped them navigate their new home, finding grocery stores and bus routes.
“[Case management is] basically like helping somebody start their life over in a new place,” Brian explained. “If you think about all the basics people just take for granted — children going to school, parents, if they need it, getting English classes — you’re trying to guide people in a way that will help them be successful later on.”
In the midst of hectic transitions and changes, Buthainah remembers that Brian was there for her family when they needed him most. “He was a stranger to us, [but he] made it easier to feel people cared and saw us for who we were, not just another number or another person who is going to be a burden.”
Life After Resettlement
With Brian’s help, Buthainah’s family adjusted to their new lives in America. The girls settled in at school and their parents found work. Their lives were being rebuilt. Eventually, Brian became busy caring for more recent arrivals, and Buthainah and her family transitioned out of World Relief programs, pursuing new dreams of their own.
Buthaina’s parents both went back to school for master’s degrees and then PhDs in computational science. Her mom is now working as an energy analyst and her dad is retired.
One sister is completing her residency in Delaware. Another is working as a paralegal and plans to go to law school. The third is in college, and the youngest, who was only five when they were resettled in the Triad, is hoping to finish high school in just three years.
As for Buthainah, she graduated high school with excellent grades, went to college, and worked as a process chemist at a pharmaceutical company. She then decided to attend graduate school in Utah.
Today, she’s moved back to Greensboro to be closer to family and has successfully completed a PhD in organometallic chemistry. She’s now dreaming of starting her own business and maybe even a reform movement.
“Like reform of education and reform of the way we think,’ Buthainah said. She wants to help people understand the many ways we can learn and approach life. “Exactly how I’m going to get there?” she laughed, “I don’t know — but I have faith that it will all work out.”
When We Move Together
Twelve years later, Buthainah’s had time to think about her experience of resettlement. When asked what she would say to her younger self, she said, “Just know who you are. Be true to who you are, and don’t be ashamed of where you come from.”
She also had some advice for those welcoming refugees now. “You have a choice to judge another human being and make them less than you or not,” she said. “We’re very thankful to the people who really gave us a chance and gave us a start.” People like Brian.
When Buthainah and Brian recently reconnected, she told him, “You made us feel seen and you made us feel like we’re humans and we have equal chance. Because of that, we were able to believe in ourselves. It just takes some people sometimes to have that faith in you at your lowest when you doubt yourself.”
But Brian is reluctant to take credit.
“When you know people who are going through some of the hardest things not only that they’ve been through, but maybe all of humanity could go through,” he said, “you see potential. I don’t take credit for any of it… [Buthainah’s family] worked hard and believed in themselves. It’s theirs. It’s really nice to be invited into their journey.”
For refugees, the road to rebuilding their lives is long. You can help Pave the Path for more families like Buthainah’s by joining our community of monthly givers who are committed to helping refugees and immigrants thrive today, tomorrow and long into the future. Will you join us in building lasting communities of welcome?
Kelly Hill serves as a Content Writer at World Relief. She previously served as Volunteer Services Manager at World Relief Triad in North Carolina before moving to Salt Lake City. With a background in International and Intercultural Communication, she is passionate about the power of story to connect people of diverse experiences.
We Move Together
Compounding Crises
In my 14 years of working at World Relief, I have never felt the weight of compounding crises quite like I have this last year.
The same week I stepped into my new role as President and CEO, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti and Kabul fell to the Taliban, putting thousands of Afghan allies and civilians at risk.
Like many of you, I watched heartbroken and angry at the sight of such injustice as women and men chased after U.S. aircraft carriers, desperate to get to safety. And all of this on top of a global pandemic, on top of a global economic crisis, on top of unrest in places like Tigray and Geneina, a food crisis in DR Congo and a multitude of other crises that never make headline news.
We are living through some of the greatest humanitarian crises of our lifetime. It’s a lot to take in, and certainly too much for any one person to hold alone.
And yet, there is hope.
Called to Be the Church
In Acts chapter 17, the Apostle Paul writes that God himself gives life and breath to everyone, that he has marked out the appointed times in history and the very places where each of us exists. In other words, the church — that’s you, and that’s me — was created for such a time as this!
I will never cease to be amazed at the way God can move through his church and his people.
In my time serving as Country Director of World Relief Rwanda, I saw church members from our local Church Empowerment Zones come together in incredible ways to care for those suffering from AIDS, build peace among families who had harmed one another and lift their communities out of economic poverty.
Similarly, over the last few months, churches across the globe have responded greatly to the crises in Haiti and Afghanistan. Many of you have generously reached out with prayers and donations.
Together, we have welcomed and resettled more than 600 Afghan refugees since August. Our staff in the U.S. are currently working their way through 4,128 volunteer applications that have been submitted since August — that’s more volunteer interest in a six-week period than the total number onboarded for the entirety of the fiscal year 2020.
And with the help of 300 local volunteers, our team in Haiti has distributed kits of food and hygiene items to over 4,400 families affected by the August earthquake.
The wave of generosity has been inspiring. It has reminded us that while creating change that lasts isn’t easy, it’s possible when we move together.
Moving Together
How powerful it is to know that you and I were created for such a time as this? And what responsibility does this place on us, I wonder?
Today, the local church in Haiti is leading the way as we help the communities of Les Cayes rebuild. In the U.S., roughly 50,000 Afghans are living at U.S. military bases awaiting their resettlement assignments. Our U.S. office network of staff, churches and volunteers is preparing to receive as many as 7,000.
We have the opportunity to respond together as God’s church — to not be overcome by evil and injustice, but to overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21). Across the globe, men and women just like you are rising up to meet the needs of the most vulnerable among them, and you can join them.
No one of us can carry the world’s burdens on our own. But when we move together, anything is possible. Will you join us?
Move with us this season by signing up for this four-part Advent series delivered right to your inbox. You’ll receive an invite to a virtual gathering plus updates on how to stay involved and make lasting change at home and around the world.
Myal Greene has a deep desire to see churches worldwide equipped, empowered, and engaged in meeting the needs of vulnerable families in their communities. In 2021, he became President and CEO after serving for fourteen years with the organization. While living in Rwanda for eight years, he developed World Relief’s innovative church-based programming model that is currently used in nine countries. He also spent six years in leadership roles within the international programs division. He has previous experience working with the U.S. Government. He holds B.S. in Finance from Lehigh University and an M.A. from Fuller Theological Seminary in Global Leadership. He and his wife Sharon and have three children.
Leading and Inspiring Change: Celebrating Evelyn Mangham
A Celebration of Life
Every once in a while you meet a person who truly inspires you. Evelyn Mangham, who, along with her late husband Grady Mangham, began World Relief’s refugee resettlement program in the 1970s, was one of those people. She passed away October 5, 2021 at the age of 98, and today we mourn the loss and celebrate her life and ministry.
Born in 1922, Evelyn spent the early years of her life living in what is now known as Syria and Jordan as the daughter of missionaries. After marrying Grady Mangham, she moved to Vietnam, where the couple lived and ministered from 1947 to 1967 as Christian & Missionary Alliance missionaries.
Together, they taught Bible school and supported church planting and discipleship among the Montagnard people. They returned to Nyack, New York in 1967, where they worked from the Alliance’s headquarters. Evelyn, though, said that she felt stuck at that time— missing the people she had befriended in Vietnam and the life to which she had become accustomed.
Soon, the political situation in Vietnam deteriorated. Six Alliance missionaries were killed in 1968 as the Tet Offensive began. In 1975, when Saigon fell and the flow of refugees increased dramatically, Evelyn and Grady began receiving urgent pleas from people whom they had known in Vietnam, who had now been forced to flee as refugees. “We had to do something,” Evelyn told me when I interviewed her in 2016.
Seeing People as People
The couple tirelessly worked to advocate for refugees to be welcomed to the U.S., knocking on the doors of both the U.S. government and the various churches that had supported them as overseas missionaries.
Evelyn would often work from the hallway of the Alliance denominational offices in Nyack, calling up local churches, pleading with them to take in a refugee family. While some pastors were hesitant, many were eager to welcome refugees into their communities.
Evelyn recalls one pastor who initially declined to help, saying his church was busy working on a parking lot project. Evelyn responded, “But these are people!”
More often than not, however, local churches stepped up to the challenge, meeting newly arrived families at the airport, welcoming them into their homes on a temporary basis, and eventually helping them to find permanent housing, jobs, and everything else necessary to restart their lives in a new culture.
In a single year, Alliance churches welcomed more than 10,000 refugees who had fled Vietnam and from conflicts in neighboring Laos and Cambodia.
As refugees from Southeast Asia continued to arrive, Grady and Evelyn ran out of Alliance congregations to call upon. Evelyn was undeterred. She began cold-calling pastors from the directory of the National Association of Evangelicals, expanding her outreach to Baptists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Wesleyans, and others. When she encountered resistance—understandable in the political context, given that most Americans disapproved of the effort to resettle Vietnamese refugees at the time — Evelyn would remind them of the repeated injunctions in Scripture to care for vulnerable “strangers.
Partnering With World Relief
In 1979, this effort that had initially been coordinated by the Christian & Missionary Alliance’s CAMA Services and then through Lutheran World Relief was brought under the auspices of World Relief — the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals.
Up until then, World Relief had been focused on empowering churches to care for vulnerable and displaced people overseas., But under the leadership of Grady and Evelyn Mangham, began its U.S. refugee resettlement program.
Grady Mangham continued to lead World Relief’s refugee resettlement program until 1987, resettling an average of 6,300 refugees annually from countries all around the world. Since then, several of Grady and Evelyn’s children and grandchildren have served World Relief in various capacities.
The refugee resettlement program that Evelyn helped to found has now resettled roughly 300,000 refugees to communities throughout the United States.
In the coming months, World Relief anticipates receiving between 7,000 and 10,000 individuals who have recently fled Afghanistan in an evacuation with many historical parallels to the refugee crisis in Vietnam that sparked Evelyn and Grady Mangham’s ministry. The local church remains central to our mission, just as it was when Evelyn and Grady founded the program.
The World Relief family throughout the globe grieves Evelyn’s death — but not without hope, confident in the resurrection through Christ that was Evelyn’s greatest hope. And we celebrate the incredible legacy of Evelyn and Grady’s life and ministry.
Even into her last years of life, living in Florida, Evelyn always would greet refugees from the Middle East with a smile, singing with them the Arabic songs she remembered from her childhood.
As refugee resettlement has become increasingly controversial in recent years, including within evangelical churches, Evelyn was asked how she would advise Christians who felt reluctant to engage in refugee ministry:
Well, respond to what Jesus said, that’s all: “I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger” — refugee — “and you took me in… Inasmuch as you did unto of the least of these my brethren, you did unto me.” It’s simple obedience.
*elements of this reflection were drawn from a 2016 article written by Matthew Soerens for Christianity Today.
Matthew Soerens is the US Director of Church Mobilization for World Relief, where he helps evangelical churches to understand the realities of refugees and immigration and to respond in ways guided by biblical values. He also serves as the National Coordinator for the Evangelical Immigration Table, a coalition that advocates for immigration reforms consistent with biblical values.
Abe Ibrahim Helps Refugees Feel More at Home
Mbanzamihigo “Abe” Ibrahim is helping people feel at home. Born in a Tanzanian refugee camp and resettled in the U.S. at the age of 10, Abe is no stranger to feeling out of place.
A Burundian, Abe remembers his first days in the U.S. when, suddenly, everything from music to food to language was different. But after being welcomed and encouraged by World Relief Quad Cities in Illinois, Abe adapted to his new home while holding onto and celebrating his Burundian heritage. Today, Abe works as a caseworker at WR Quad Cities, helping others feel welcomed and embraced in their new community. Abe is passionate about inclusion, representation and walking alongside people as they rebuild their lives.
Abe shares how his role at WR Quad Cities helps him give back to his community in the video below.
*Update: Since this article was first published in 2021, Abe has moved on from his full-time position at World Relief.
Working for World Relief Quad Cities helped Abe achieve his dream of going to college and pursuing a career as a public speaker. In 2021, Abe was crowned Mr. Burundi America through the Mr. and Miss Burundi America pageant in Quad Cities. He took a year off from school and traveled back to Burundi to visit family, and he also got the chance to speak to local schools, where he distributed school supplies and encouraged kids to keep pursuing their dreams.
“They saw me, face to face, and saw how much is possible,” Abe said.
Today, Abe is back in the Quad Cities working and plans to go back to school and complete his Bachelor’s degree. He remains committed to helping refugees in Quad Cities and stays connected to World Relief, contracting part-time as an interpreter. Abe is grateful for his time as a caseworker, and we’re grateful for him too!
“If I never worked with the World Relief family,” Abe said, “I wouldn’t have developed that mindset to make an impact. It became more influential, see, like ‘hey, I can make a difference.’ …Now, there are certain things I can recognize and communicate, and I only have that knowledge because I was a caseworker. It helped me with my community, and it helped me think bigger.”
People like Abe are changing the world, and you can join them when you apply to work at World Relief! World Relief is growing our team to meet the increased needs of our world, and we’re looking for people like you to join us.
Kelly Hill serves as a Content Writer at World Relief. She previously served as Volunteer Services Manager at World Relief Triad in North Carolina before moving to Salt Lake City. With a background in International and Intercultural Communication, she is passionate about the power of story to connect people of diverse experiences.
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.
Never Expected to Be a Refugee: From Sunset to Sunrise
I never expected to be a refugee. I joined a university when I was 18 years old, enrolling in the English department at Basra (the Port of Iraq). At the end of my time there, I graduated second in my department. After graduation, I stayed two more years as a researcher’s assistant and then five more years when I was accepted for my masters in the linguistics program.
I became a professor in 1987 and moved to Baghdad in 1992 to teach undergraduate and post graduate students of the English Department at Baghdad University College of Education for Women. Life felt almost perfect, and it seemed I had great success. For the next 10 years, I continued teaching, translating for the women’s newsletter, participating in academic, cultural and social activities, and supporting needy students during the 12-year blockade. I especially enjoyed my big extended family’s weekly gathering to have our authentic food and spend the most precious time together.
Then, in 2003, the unexpected happened. The United States invaded Iraq. This is when my life would change forever.
In hopes to rebuild my country, I stayed three years after the U.S. military arrived. However, the targeted people were the Iraqi brains. Doctors, professors, scientists, and engineers were receiving life threats daily. I knew it was only a matter of time before they reached me. It was then I knew I had to leave. My sister, niece and I packed our bags to escape the ongoing danger.
Becoming a Refugee
Life had taken a sudden turn. The complete unimaginable came to be. We had never expected to be refugees. I took a one year leave to live in Jordan, just to rethink and find some rest. However, the war continued on and when we were accepted into the States, we took our chance to go.
All I knew of America was what I had studied in literature and what I had seen from Oprah and Dr. Phil’s shows. I had an idea of what American culture would be like, but it proved to be very different.
In the beginning, our time in America was really tough. Our family had come from a comfortable background. We were different than refugees that had come from impoverished countries or refugee camps. We went from having everything to nothing and it was a shock.
My sister, niece and I cried for the next two weeks. We were depressed and longed for what life had been. But we had to move forward. Surviving a war together, we knew we were not weak, but strong. We made the decision to do whatever it took not only to survive, but to be successful again.
Razkya, my sister, took on the responsibility of home life. My niece, Shatha, was the first one to begin working and thriving (she later got her diamond star from JC Penney and now she is furthering her education in make-up artistry and fashion marketing). I applied for community college, but was rejected, even though I had studied the same courses others at the school had. My degree was not from the States and this was enough to receive their rejection.
Three months later, a glimmer of hope came. World Relief offered me a job as an Arabic interpreter and I eagerly accepted it. Not only did they offer me work, but they embraced me. They became my second family, a family I had lost from my home country. I knew this job was meant for me.
[Re]Building
Eventually, I went from working part time with World Relief, to a full-time position as a program case worker. I now have the opportunity to advocate for refugees and immigrants just like myself. I have also served as a member of the Refugee Advisory Counsel for the past three years, along with starting a WhatsApp group to build community for refugee and immigrant women. This group shares needed information on health services, employment opportunities, educational support, and even recipes during the COVID pandemic.
I have felt so loved during my time at World Relief. I have gained community I never imagined having in America. I have been participating in many cultural festivals in order to create a mutual understanding about our Iraqi-Arabic-Islamic culture. World Relief has given me the chance to teach about my country and culture and offers this same opportunity to other refugees.
This past year, the support and love I have received from World Relief was so important, as I endured the painful loss of my sister, Razkya. She recently passed from COVID and life has just not been the same without her. My grief is so deep. However, my niece and I do our best to press on. We are turning our grief into honor and success for Razkya.
By giving back, our family has been able to show our gratitude. My sister always did this through her cooking and had even taken on the nickname of the “Iraqi Martha Stewart.” Every year, Razkya would make her favorite dish, biryani . She served it to our office, police station, and community. It was her way of saying thank you.
It has been a long journey. Looking back, I am able to see all the ways God has worked through my life. I never expected to be a refugee: it has not always been easy, but He has always provided, from sunset to sunrise. Even through all the pain and struggle, God has given a second family and a job I love through World Relief. I continue to give back and advocate for other refugees in hope of bringing help to those that are the experiencing the same pain I once did.
We are so grateful to Amira for sharing her story with us. You can join Amira and the rest of the World Relief family as we help refugees and other immigrants [Re]Build their lives in the U.S. Learn more and get involved.
Summer Lecas
Amira co-authored her story with Summer, a spring semester intern with World Relief and recent graduate of Liberty University with a degree in Strategic Communication.
All My Hope: A Refugee Story
Long Distance Love
On the morning of February 17th, Rafia woke up and prepared a feast for the arrival of her husband, Abdinasir. But when an unprecedented snowstorm hit the Mid-south, Abdinasir’s flight was canceled and he got stuck in Chicago. Rafia, however, was undeterred.
The next morning, she woke up and cooked another welcome-home meal for her long-awaited husband. But again, for the second time, his flight was canceled.
For five years, Rafia and Abdinasir had communicated only by telephone calls. The two met as refugees at a camp in Kenya after fleeing their home country of Ethiopia. When they were married in January 2015, they never imagined that the first years of their marriage would play out like this.
“I loved and married this person, and this person was leaving me,” Abdinasir said through a translator. “It was very hard on me to grasp the reality of it, but in everything, it’s God’s will, so I did not have any control.”
Rafia’s resettlement paperwork had been filed separately from Abdinasir’s before they were married. There was no time to change it between their wedding and her departure 11 months later, so when her visa was approved, she left for the United States, and Abdinasir was left behind.
Rather than spending the honeymoon period together, the couple found themselves in a long-distance relationship. Moreover, when Rafia arrived in the U.S., she discovered she was pregnant.
“Everything kept twirling in my head,” Abdinasir said. “My life was just one surprise after the other. All of the sudden she got there, and she was pregnant.”
A Baby on the Way
From a distance, Abdinasir watched as his wife carried his child and suffered through six months of morning sickness in a completely new country, alone. Her pain was so great that Rafia considered terminating the pregnancy. Thankfully, a new friend from her home country of Ethiopia stepped in to provide support, and Rafia was able to carry the baby to full-term. But her difficulties didn’t stop there.
Due to labor complications, her baby was delivered through a cesarean section.
When she was sent home from the hospital in Atlanta, she was unable to care for herself or the baby because of the strain it would place on her wound. Eventually, she was forced to return to the hospital due to an infection.
This time, another friend took her under his wing, giving her lodging and helping with her newborn when he could. His job as a truck driver, however, often took him away from home for weeks at a time, and Rafia struggled to care for herself and her baby in his absence.
“Even though I laugh about it, sometimes I don’t even want to remember it because it was a very painful experience,” Rafia said.
Meanwhile, Abdinasir was still in a refugee camp on the other side of the ocean. With no news of when his visa would be processed and approved, he could only watch his daughter grow up through a phone screen.
“Her leaving me behind, and me being alone, was hard enough,” he said. “The fact that she was here, pregnant, alone and going through all of that was just another heartache for me. I was not here physically, but I was just feeling all the pain.”
Hope on the Horizon
Slowly, Rafia regained her strength and was able to meet others within her community. Eventually, she moved to Memphis, and with the help of a friend, she contacted World Relief’s local office to start the process of bringing her husband home.
“Life was getting better afterwards, and I am grateful for everything. Even though once upon a time I thought this was just the end of me, that I was just going to rot and die alone,” Rafia said. “But once I got [to Memphis], I told them all my story. They were able to process the visa for Abdinasir, and now he’s here. In many, many, many ways, my survival was because of World Relief.”
In March 2020, four years after their wedding, Abdinasir and Rafia received the news that his visa was being processed. For the first time in a long time, the couple had hope.
“I heard a lot about World Relief, and the fact they would do everything in their power to reunite families,” Abdinasir said. “That gave me the biggest hope that they would do anything and everything to unite us.”
Each time Abdinasir called his family after that, his daughter would ask the same question: “Daddy, when are you coming?” And each time, the truth that he would soon be with them became a little more real. If Abdinasir could have had it his way, he would have grown wings and flown out at that moment.
Instead, he and Rafia drew strength from their faith and maintained hope in God’s plan for their lives, counting down the days to when Abdinasir would arrive and they could begin life as a family. After five years of waiting, a delayed flight in Chicago was nothing for the couple.
Finally Reunited
On the morning of Abdinasir’s arrival, Rafia eagerly awoke. But this time, she didn’t cook a welcome-home meal. Jokingly, she said Abdinasir could eat what was left over from the other two meals she made. Instead, she and her daughter waited patiently at the airport, giddy with excitement.
When Abdinasir finally landed in Memphis his first thought was who should he kiss first — the daughter he was meeting for the first time or the wife he had said goodbye to five years ago? Overwhelmed with emotion, he embraced his wife first then turned to hug his daughter for the very first time.
“It’s my turn now since she’s been through all this hardship all this time alone. I just really want to be the anchor for my family and be the man of the house for everything going forward,” Abdinasir said.
A month into his new life with his wife and daughter, Abdinasir is working hard to learn English and find a job. His prayer is that this is just the start and not the ending. He is filled with hope as he thinks of the future that lies ahead of his family — one that he had never thought possible when he was forced to leave his country so many years ago.
“Coming from all the horror stories and everything else, you come here and you’re a human. You have rights,” he said. “To me, I have left all the troubles and everything right there where I came from. Nothing but the best moving forward, and that’s all my hope.”
Give today and help us welcome and reunite more families like Rafia and Abdinasir. Together, we can build communities of love and welcome that we all feel proud to be a part of.
Bailey Clark serves as the Communications Coordinator for World Relief Memphis. With a background in journalism and advertising, she is passionate about storytelling and its power to make a difference.
Imagine What it Should Be: An Advocacy Q & A
At World Relief, we believe the government has a role in promoting peace and justice while also addressing systemic and structural issues that perpetuate extreme poverty and injustice. Our commitment to advocate on behalf of the poor and oppressed is based on biblical truths and on the example of Jesus. We believe such advocacy is an important witness to a watching world about the character of Jesus. Recently, I sat down with Jenny Yang, World Relief’s Vice President of Advocacy and Policy, and asked her all about advocacy, why we do it and why it’s important.
What is Advocacy?
Advocacy is speaking up with those who are vulnerable to address the underlying causes of injustice and oppression by influencing the policies and practices of people in power. We should love our neighbors on an interpersonal level. But when systemic injustice is at the root of a problem, loving our neighbor means advocacy as well. Advocacy consists of organized efforts and actions seeking to highlight critical issues, influence public attitudes and enact or implement laws and policies. It starts with the reality of “what is” so that a vision of “what should be” can be realized. The ultimate aim of advocacy is to demonstrate the good news of the coming of the Kingdom of God.
What is the Scriptural basis for pursuing advocacy?
Throughout Scripture, we see God move for justice. Time and again, through ordinary people, God brings His vision of justice to a broken world. Moses helped free the Israelites from slavery, speaking boldly before Pharaoh. Esther asked for mercy on behalf of the Jewish people before King Xerxes. Nehemiah went before King Artaxerxes to ensure his people were protected in Jerusalem. Deuteronomy 10:18 says, “He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.” Malachi 3:5 says, “I will be quick to testify against… those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice.” If these are the actions God took on behalf of vulnerable people, then these are the actions we must also do to reflect God’s character in the world.
When did World Relief start doing advocacy work?
World Relief has been engaged in advocacy work for many decades. Evelyn and Grady Magnham, the founders of World Relief’s U.S. refugee resettlement program, began conversations with the State Department in the late 1970s to help refugees from Vietnam resettle to the U.S. These conversations led to a partnership between World Relief and the Department of State to resettle refugees with the passage of the Refugee Act of 1980. World Relief has received several distinctions for our advocacy work, as Matthew Soerens was recognized by President Obama as a Champion of Change for Immigration Reform and met with him in the Oval Office to discuss our immigration advocacy work in 2013.
How is World Relief involved in advocacy?
We’re involved in two ways — directly with the U.S. government and through mobilization and education to broader communities. We meet with Members of Congress and their staff to help write policy briefs, organize letters and campaigns and build and work in coalitions to address key issues such as international humanitarian assistance funding, gender-based violence prevention, and promotion of refugee and immigrant rights in the U.S. As we connect with communities and educate people on policy issues, we empower more people to advocate themselves. Through sign-on letters, calling their Members of Congress directly and even working with pastors, we help people raise their voices on important issues.
Can you share a story from your work in Advocacy and how you’ve seen God move to help those we serve?
In January 2017, an executive order suspended most all immigration to the U.S., including green card holders and refugees. In a collective effort to call out inhumane targeting of people groups, World Relief collaborated with prominent church leaders to publish a full-page ad in the Washington Post, speaking out in support of refugees and immigrants. After the national outcry, the executive order was rescinded, although there were subsequent iterations of the executive order targeting smaller groups of immigrants. But this was a key moment where the church spoke, and our voice was heard.
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.
Proverbs 31:8
Dana North serves as the Marketing Manager 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.
Your Rebuilding Questions Answered
A Conversation with Jenny Yang and Matthew Soerens
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be sworn in as the next President and Vice President of the United States at noon today, January 20, 2021. The Biden-Harris administration has a proposed set of policy goals that they hope to accomplish in their time of office, one of which includes increasing the refugee ceiling to closer to the U.S historical average number at 125,000.
Recently, World Relief’s Matthew Soerens and Jenny Yang sat down to discuss what raising the refugee ceiling means for the United States, for World Relief and for refugees around the world.
In this conversation, you’ll hear Jenny answer questions like: Is there a precedent for an incoming president changing the ceiling mid-fiscal year? How does COVID-19 affect this plan? Would the increased ceiling affect World Relief’s work? What can I do to help newly arrived refugees?
Listen in on their conversation to get these answers and more.
If you prefer to read instead of listen, access the audio transcript here.
Links for Listeners:
Matt and Jenny shared several ways that you can support refugees by getting involved with World Relief. Check out the links below for resources and partnership opportunities:
Advocate
Contact your congressional representative in support of refugee resettlement.
Welcoming the Stranger
Read the book and download the discussion guide to host a small group or book club.
Join The Path
Welcome refugees arriving in the United States and create lasting change in communities across the globe by joining The Path.
Rachel Clair serves as a Content Writer at World Relief. With a background in creative writing and children’s ministry, she is passionate about helping people of all ages think creatively and love God with their hearts, souls and minds.
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
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