Posts Tagged ‘World Relief Durham’
Time is running out for many Ukrainians living in limbo in the U.S.
by Michael Kovbanyuk //
“In June, Russia launched its missiles at Ukraine in two separate pre-dawn attacks leaving 23 dead and many more injured. While the war in Ukraine may be fading in the minds of Americans, these recent attacks serve as a painful reminder that countless Ukrainians still live in fear for their lives every day.
Since the war began in 2022, more than 118,000 Ukrainians have found safe refuge in the United States under Uniting for Ukraine. This program, established by the U.S. government last year, grants Ukrainians seeking refuge temporary parole status in the U.S. for two years. However, it leaves vulnerable people in need of refuge in limbo while they wait to learn their fate regarding permanent residency. …” Read the full piece at the Greensboro News & Record
Was Jesus a Refugee?
“Jesus Was a Refugee.” Recently, I’ve seen that message all over — on billboards, TV ads, on t-shirts, debated on social media and beyond. Much of this messaging is part of a broader campaign called He Gets Us that aims to help people recognize that Jesus was a human being who can identify with us in our humanity.
That’s a powerful reality for the more than 32 million refugees in our world today, a number unprecedented in recorded history. Jesus “gets” them because, early in his human experience, the Gospel of Matthew tells us that he was forced to flee the threat of Herod’s persecution. He was carried by Joseph and Mary to Egypt, beyond Herod’s dominion, where they would be safe from the genocide inflicted by a jealous ruler on the little boys of Bethlehem.
Many of today’s 32 million refugees know viscerally what it means to awaken in the middle of the night and to flee with what little they could carry, as an angel instructed Joseph to do. To feel danger just behind them. To complete a grueling journey only to arrive in a new land and a new culture with the ongoing grief of the loss of one’s homeland. Jesus presumably lived all of that in his fully human flesh as a small child. And millions today find solace in that reality. He gets them.
But was Jesus really a refugee?
We now have formal legal definitions for the term “refugee” in both U.S. and international law: refugees are those outside of their countries of origin who are unable or unwilling to return because of a well-founded fear of persecution on account of their race, religion, political opinion, nationality or membership in a particular social group. But, of course, these definitions did not exist when the holy family made their journey.
Some, especially on social media, have vehemently insisted that Jesus was not a refugee — perhaps defensive at the implication that their preferred refugee and immigration policies to keep most, if not all, refugees out might actually have harmed the incarnate God.
But while it is clear from the biblical text that Jesus was displaced by a credible threat of persecution, it’s fair to ask just how he would fare under our contemporary policies — as theologian Glenn Butner Jr. does in a new book, Jesus the Refugee: Ancient Injustice and Modern Solidarity.
Butner argues that Jesus largely satisfies the contemporary legal definition of a refugee, but it’s debatable whether the journey to Egypt took him “outside of his country of origin,” since Egypt and Bethlehem were both part of the Roman Empire. Perhaps it’s more precise to characterize the holy family as “Internally Displaced Persons” — those, including more than 60 million people in our world today, who have been forced to flee their homes but remain within the boundaries of their countries.
Would Jesus have faced the barriers many families fleeing persecution face today?
Perhaps Jesus was actually an asylum seeker: asylum seekers profess to meet the definition of a refugee. They say that they’re afraid of persecution on account of one of the enumerated grounds — but they’re not ensured protection under the law unless and until they have demonstrated (to the satisfaction of the governing authorities of the country where they hope to find refuge) that they indeed qualify. Sometimes they lack documentary evidence of the credibility of their fear. Would Joseph have cited an angelic message as his evidence that persecution was likely for little boys in Bethlehem? Would that have satisfied an Egyptian immigration judge?
Fortunately for our Lord and Savior and his earthly parents, there’s no evidence in the biblical text that they faced any barriers to finding refuge in Egypt. But the Gospel of Matthew gives us very few details about their experience there. We’re left to speculate: were they welcomed, seen as a potential threat or simply ignored? Did Jesus learn to speak his first words with a different accent than his parents? Did Joseph easily find work, or was he told that he would be “stealing” a job from an Egyptian carpenter?
Decades later, in one of his final sermons before his crucifixion, Jesus commends certain individuals for having welcomed him when he was a stranger. The disciples are confused: “When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?” (Matthew 25:38). They did so, Jesus says, when they welcomed one of “the least of these brothers and sisters of mine” (Matthew 25:40). Jesus identifies himself perpetually with the vulnerable and the stranger — which, at least early in his life, he himself was.
Does Jesus’ story shape how we respond to refugees and other immigrants?
Whether Jesus would satisfy the precise legal definition of a refugee or not, what’s clear for those of us who profess to follow him today is that an unprecedented crisis of forced migration — with more than 100 million people forced from their homes, experiencing displacement similar to what Jesus experienced as a child — presents an unprecedented opportunity to demonstrate love for Jesus himself.
At World Relief, it’s our great privilege to partner with local churches both across the United States and in various other parts of the world to welcome and care for refugees and others who have been displaced. From our U.S. refugee resettlement program’s foundations in the 1970s, we — and the tens of thousands of church-based volunteers who have partnered with us — have resettled more than 300,000 individuals, motivated by Jesus’ challenging words in Matthew 25. As Evelyn Mangham, the cofounder of World Relief’s refugee resettlement program said, the Christian response to an unprecedented global refugee crisis is “simple”:
“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.”
Find out how World Relief is advocating for and welcoming refugees and other vulnerable immigrants.
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.
Compassion & Advocacy
by Hunter West //
Last December I took a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border, led by Abara, a nonprofit faith-based organization, alongside pastors and ministry leaders from around the country. There, I gained a first-hand look at an issue often found in our news headlines.
However, headlines often do not give the fullest sense of the issues that plague the southern border. Oftentimes we hear of the border being an issue of national security though these problems go beyond security conflicts. There is an abundance of humanitarian issues that must be addressed as well.
During our trip we discussed the complexities of immigration policy. Questions arose as to how we can have a compassionate and just response to a family of undocumented parents and documented children. We talked to border patrol agents about how they are overworked and underappreciated. (The attrition rate of border patrol agents is twice that of other federal agencies.) We also learned that a broken immigration system leads to even more broken lives as between 14,500 to 17,000 individuals are trafficked into the United States each year.
However, the most memorable portion of the trip was visiting El Buen Samaritano, a migrant shelter in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. As one of the 23 shelters in the city, it offers a place of rest and restoration for weary travelers who typically stay an average of two weeks to two months waiting for their asylum requests to be processed. It also is one of many shelters run by a church, showing that Christians are on the frontlines of the issue at the border, offering our immigrant neighbors physical and spiritual nourishment in such a desperate time of need.
As my group pulled up to a faded blue stucco building, we were met by numerous women and children who warmly greeted us with gentle smiles and soft holas.
Most of my visit was spent talking to a young girl who took a journey from southern Mexico along with her brother and mother. She is unaware of the location of her father. She is 17, uses Duolingo to learn English, loves Harry Styles, and wants to be a kindergarten teacher. With her English better than my Spanish, we talked for an hour about typical teenage-level things, like pop singers who have weird styles. Yet even if the conversation lacked depth, the interaction did not.
While stereotypical descriptions of people approaching the border may cast them as drug traffickers or individuals determined to break U.S. law, neither my new friend nor the other residents I met at El Buen Samaritano resembled that caricature. The details of their stories may differ, but all of them were seeking a legitimate way to enter the United States and build something good for their families as part of a safe community.
Neither a border nor media-induced stereotypes of asylum seekers; neither a physical wall nor a language barrier could overshadow the truth that this girl is made in the image of God and is, therefore, worth protecting. This is a young girl who is no mere mortal but someone who has a soul, who was knitted together in her mother’s womb, who has the potential to create. This is a girl who is eager to flee the poverty of her hometown and connect with her cousin in the U.S. so she can finish her schooling and teach one day.
As she was filled with the hope of what life could be like in the United States, I was filled with sadness over the struggles she will likely face as an asylum seeker. I knew she would have to show a credible fear of persecution to request asylum as poverty alone would not be enough to gain asylum approval. Further, even if that request should be processed, she would face a significantly backlogged immigration court – on average, expected immigration hearing wait times are now 1,572 days (4.3 years). Title 42 also poses an issue as it would allow her to be turned back for public health concerns. She could also encounter metering, a practice that has been in place for a while now (where asylum seekers may be forced to wait in Mexico as their asylum request is being processed).
In other words, my new friend would encounter a broken system where legal immigration is not as straightforward a process as it could and should be.
Before I left the shelter, I gave her a big hug, feeling frustrated with living in a fallen world and not having any power in my own strength over it. It is not God’s heart that this young girl should continue to live in impoverished limbo and be vulnerable to exploitation.
I also think of Jesus, the holy Son of God who took on flesh and made himself vulnerable to exploitation by the very ones he came to save (Romans 5:7-8). Christ’s incarnation took place because it was not the heart of God that we should live subjected to our world, our flesh, and the devil. Therefore, the Father sent Jesus to not only live, die, and defeat death for us – but he also is currently advocating for us before the holy God (1 John 2:1). So yes, Jesus came to save us but he also calls us to discipleship, living as he lived and lives (1 John 2:6).
Instead of balking at our brokenness and forsaking us to fend for ourselves, Jesus moves toward us in compassion and willingly becomes our advocate.
Similarly, may we not forsake the thousands of individuals coming to the southern border, considering them a national security issue. Rather may we move toward them in compassion, ready to receive them. Further, may we consider stepping into the opportunity of advocacy by praying for our elected officials and immigrant image-bearers, speaking out to our legislators and voicing our support for the individuals coming to the southern border.
And as you do, remember my friend from El Buen Samaritano. Remember we can advocate for people like her only because we have a Savior advocating for us.
Join us in advocacy by signing on to this letter.
Originally from Kinston, NC, Hunter West is the Advocacy Coordinator at World Relief Durham. She works to equip and empower congregations across the state of North Carolina to understand God’s call throughout scripture to welcome the stranger, to identify practical ways to serve immigrants in their communities, and to speak out with and for vulnerable immigrants.
7 Ways to Love Your Neighbor
In Rwanda we have a saying — “Ifuni ibagara ubucuti ni akarenge.” This literally means, “a hoe that cultivates friendship is a foot.” In other words, we love our neighbor by visiting them and helping if they need anything.
No matter where you live, loving your neighbor is an integral part of our call as Christians. Having served alongside local churches in Memphis and Rwanda, we have seen first-hand how loving your neighbor comes in all shapes and sizes.
In some places, loving your neighbor might mean sharing baked goods. In another, it may mean dropping by unannounced for an afternoon tea. And still, for others it could mean fetching water or making bricks for a neighbor who is building a house. Yet, no matter where you live, one thing remains the same: We love because God first loved us. That’s why today, we’re sharing 7 Ways to Love Your Neighbor.
1. Take the Initiative and Value Small Acts of Kindness
Helping one another without being asked to do so is part of the culture in Rwanda. And doing something for your neighbor does not always require much. If your neighbor is sick, you could visit them, deliver groceries to them or take them to the doctor when necessary.
In rural Africa, if a neighbor is building a house, you could lend a hand by fetching water for them, making bricks or finding wood. In short, loving your neighbor is in action more than words.
2. Spend time
Quality time is said to be one of the five major ways people experience love. That’s true no matter who you are or where you’re from. When refugee families first arrive in the U.S., many often feel isolated with no family, no community and no means of transportation. Even if there is a language barrier, the simple act of spending time with our neighbors can make a world of difference. Whether you pop in for a tea or a walk, just knowing that someone cares and that they are not alone allows refugee families to feel the love of Christ through our actions.
3. Share a meal
Sharing a meal is perhaps one of the best ways to show our love for our neighbors. Whether it’s at your home or theirs, breaking bread together meets not only a physical need but also the mental and spiritual need for relationship.
No matter where you live, meals are an opportunity to connect, sharing our own culture while experiencing someone else’s. Especially for many refugees rebuilding their lives in the U.S., sharing a meal also demonstrates respect and interest in their life and culture, something that may often be overlooked in their new home.
4. Foster Reconciliation
Loving your neighbor can encompass more than lending a hand. It’s also reconciling relationships. In some Rwandan communities, church members often disregarded people from other denominations, sometimes to the point of viewing them as non-believers and refusing to work together.
After being trained by World Relief, church leaders, volunteers and program participants are reaching across denominational lines to adopt a culture of loving their neighbor by acting together. They’ve realized that together, as a unified body, they can accomplish much more, and they’re seeing ripple effects of love, joy, peace and harmony across whole communities.
Ask yourself — is there someone I can love by moving toward reconciliation and forgiveness? Is there someone I disagree with politically or denominationally that I can build a connection and a friendship with?
5. Listen
Paying close attention and listening to what your neighbors are saying is so important. We may have had very different upbringings and viewpoints, but we are all made in the image of God, and each of us has a story to tell. By listening to that story, we’ll learn new ways in which we can be intentional with our neighbors, showing them that they are welcomed and loved.
6. Advocate
While loving our neighbors on an interpersonal level is who we are called by Christ to be, sometimes systemic injustice is at the root of a problem, and loving our neighbor means advocating with them as well.
Advocacy is speaking up with those who are vulnerable to address the underlying causes of injustice by influencing the policies and practices of people in power. By starting with the reality of “what is,” we can leverage our voices to make systemic changes that lead to a vision of “what should be.”
7. Go Together
At World Relief, we believe we can accomplish so much more when we go together. In the U.S., our church partners form Good Neighbor Teams who work together to welcome and serve their new immigrant neighbors by taking them to appointments, picking up groceries or fostering friendships over lunch or dinner.
In places like Rwanda and Haiti, Outreach Group volunteers pair up to visit the homes of struggling families. Outreach Groups give local churches the opportunity to intentionally engage the community in a consistent way at a wide scale. Ordinary church members are equipped to do what Jesus taught and did — reaching out to their neighbors to share messages that lead to holistic development and facilitate relationships.
If you’re considering reaching out to a neighbor or participating in a service project, why not ask someone to join you, so this movement of love can grow further?
Living justly and loving our neighbor is better when we do it together. Share this article with a friend and invite them to join you in loving your neighbors this week.
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.
A pioneer in the documentation space, Emily Kankindi is the communications and documentation unit coordinator at World Relief in Rwanda. She started with World Relief in 2005 and has been growing through different stages while pursuing a career in creative communications with a passion to tell the story of impact. Driven by a mission to serve the most vulnerable, Emily is best known for inspiring others to care and serve the needy by using all possible means of communication to promote and call forth positive ramifications of WR interventions in all aspects of life. Her educational background is marketing and travel operations.
Welcoming the Stranger by Opening their Home and Their Hearts: Q&A with Tim and Gretchen Foley
By Nathan Spencer //
How we answer God’s command to welcome the stranger varies from person to person. For Tim and Gretchen Foley, it meant opening the doors of their home on a literal and spiritual level.
Tim, who has traveled extensively in the past, said the experience of being welcomed into another’s home left a permanent impression on him.
“Having traveled internationally and benefited from hospitality, knowing that you’re able to go in your own room while in a new place makes a huge difference in your level of comfort,” Tim said in a recent interview. “I wanted to return that hospitality for folks in our country for the first time.”
Gretchen said her experience with exchange students as a high schooler has persistently fueled her desire to serve.
“I’m from a college town that had a big international community,” Gretchen said. “Growing up, we partnered with the international house and were paired with students who were here for several years for their education. We built friendships through shared meals and holidays. That was immensely impactful to me as a teenager.”
“To have extended relationships with people who speak a different language or have different customs and cultures to learn from is a blessing,” Gretchen continued. “I see our three-year-old playing with a child from a family we partner with. The two don’t speak the same verbal language, but the universal language of love flows through them without a moment’s hesitation.”
This childlike faith is what Tim and Gretchen have been emulating through their work as a host family for World Relief Durham. Read the interview below to learn more about their journey.
How did you first get involved with World Relief?
Tim: We heard about World Relief through an employee who is at our church.
What we heard from her really inspired us and aligned with things that we were already interested in. We’ve always have had a very strong international interest, a desire to engage with and learn from other cultures, and to serve and meet people from other cultures. Knowing that we, in this country, have so much, it seemed a perfect opportunity for us to engage in helping, but also learning.
What led you to decide on hosting families as your primary way to serve?
Tim: Shortly after we signed up to volunteer, it became clear temporary housing was one of the best ways that we could serve, and that there was a need. We had plenty of space in our house for people who needed a spot for a week or two until World Relief could find them permanent housing.
Gretchen: When we were first interested in volunteering, there wasn’t a group of us to be an apartment setup team or friendship partners. We were trying to figure out what we, as a family, could do. We greatly value hospitality. The temporary housing seemed a good fit for that – being able to help people feel welcomed and provide space when they’re first getting here while things are chaotic.
How many families would you estimate you’ve had or how many times have you hosted like that since then?
Tim: Maybe half a dozen, ranging from one night to a couple weeks. Unfortunately, our volunteering after the first couple of families aligned with the decline in refugees coming into the country. There wasn’t as much of a need for temporary housing as was envisioned.
We then partnered with [World Relief Durham] to focus on assisting people who are already here as refugees who had additional needs beyond their first three months in the U.S. They paired us with Yohana, who wanted to go to Job Corps and needed temporary housing before that transition. She came and stayed with us through that, and then she moved in with us for a year after Job Corps.
Gretchen: She also came back to stay with us on the weekends while she was at Job Corps.
Tim: She became part of our family.
Gretchen: We are also now ESL tutors to a Congolese family. We were at their apartment a couple of weekends ago to have dinner and watching our three-year-old play with their grandson was sweet. There’s the hospitality piece, but there’s also that relationship building. Seeing and experiencing our separate families become one family is truly powerful.
What is your favorite story, or family memory, of your involvement with World Relief?
Gretchen: One of our favorite experiences was also one of our hardest. We hosted a Sudanese woman and her two sons. They spoke zero English; we speak zero Arabic. We had no real way to communicate. The boys were at a very inquisitive age and so just figuring out how to manage them – not just in our house – but in our neighborhood was challenging. But with that family, our neighbors really came around and supported both us and them, which was a different experience for us. The neighborhood children befriended them despite the language barrier, and would play with the kids and ride bikes together outside. Another neighbor picked up clothes and shoes for the family from the store. It was beautiful to watch happen in a community that did not typically interact with Africans, and who were giving out of the little they had.
You have served as a host home and as ESL tutors. Have there been any other roles that you served in?
Tim: I’ve done a handful of different things during COVID, as needed. World Relief Durham got 50-pound bags of rice. We put a bunch in my truck and helped deliver those, and we did some apartment setup because things were a little different without being able to be around people. Teams were smaller and requests were more finite and deliberate.
Gretchen: Up until our three-year-old was born, I was working on a farm. The farm wanted to donate food shares last summer, and so we connected them with World Relief. They wound up donating five food shares to some of the families in the greatest need. Every Wednesday over the summer, I along with another volunteer would go out to the farm, pick up the bags of produce and deliver it to three or four of the families that were in Durham and Chapel Hill.
As parents of young children, what would you say your hope, or vision, for the world is, and how is partnering with World Relief helping you create that vision?
Tim: It’s connecting [our children] with the broader world around them in an authentic way. Allowing my kids to learn about the world for themselves and meet new people and learn about new cultures is an important piece of that. This also helps them learn about themselves. Through those relationships, they learn who they are, and who they are in God.
Gretchen: I think there are so many levels to that question. At the first level, it’s just them as kids getting used to being around people who sound and look different from them, and not feeling uncomfortable around that. They are getting to learn about people from people directly rather than a history book, or a news article where somebody else is telling another’s story.
Tim: I also want them to grow up with a hope that the things they see aren’t intractable, and hopeless. Though the world is broken, there is hope through engagement, even if it’s just one life being changed.
Gretchen: Seeing our three-year-old’s eyes light up when he sees Yohana coming up the sidewalk because she’s coming over for the day to hang out and eat a meal with us is so sweet. And seeing him learn how to eat traditional Eritrean food like Injera with her, that’s special.
Tim: And one day, he’ll be old enough to learn about the Eritrean conflict and put those pieces together.
How have you seen your community move together this year?
Gretchen: The work that World Relief is doing right now is so vital, especially as the numbers of refugees allowed into the U.S. are starting to rise again. The farm story I mentioned earlier was something that truly inspired me with how creative it was. Even with COVID raging, people found a way to work together safely to spread love and life to refugees in our community. It may seem small in the grand scheme of the global refugee crisis, but it means the world to those families here.
If someone were to ask you, why World Relief, what would you say to them?
Tim: They do ask us, quite often. I reply with something that is simply the truth.
I don’t know of any other nonprofit working in Durham doing so much tangibly for the community. That’s why, in addition to having a heart for the work World Relief does, we really respect World Relief as an organization. When you donate, your money is going to very important places. When you volunteer, your time is not wasted. You’re being structured into a system that adds the most value to the community and to the people that work with this service.
Gretchen: Over the last year and a half or so, I know World Relief has supported refugees even after their initial six-month financial support period. We saw that with Yohana, and she had been in the U.S. for over a year. World Relief helped her get plugged in with Job Corps. Her old case manager who was no longer officially her case manager still supported her by helping her apply to Job Corps, and then found temporary housing for her with us. That’s above and beyond what one might consider the job description.
It’s not just about getting refugees here and getting them started, to then leave them to figure things out from there. World Relief commits to the long-term walk alongside the refugee community. This is not easy, but it is so vital and speaks to their commitment to answering God’s call to welcome the newcomer.
Peace like Breath
These days, peace feels hard to find. International conflicts, ongoing fall-out from COVID-19 and climate disasters can all disrupt our peace and well-being. Yet, at World Relief, we have the privilege of working alongside people who have overcome some of life’s great challenges, finding personal peace even in the midst of difficult circumstances.
That’s why, as a part of our inaugural World Relief Youth Writing Contest, we asked participants in World Relief Durham’s Mentorship Program to reflect on how each of us can be peacebuilders in our own lives and in the lives of those around us.
We are proud to announce Muhammad Hasham Ahmad as our 2022 contest winner! As the leaders of tomorrow, we believe refugee and immigrant youth have important things to say today — things we can all learn and grow from, no matter our age or where we’ve come from.
In his essay below, Muhammad shares how he believes we can all find peace, even in the midst of life’s challenges.
Peace has become a fancy word nowadays. Everyone likes peace but not everyone has it!
For me, peace means to be satisfied — to have a quiet and calm state of mind or simply to be in a situation where you are not worried about anything. From this definition, we can assume not everyone has peace.
Every year, there are millions of people who migrate because of problems they face that make them lose their peace. People leave their home country, some leaving their family and friends, to go to a new country in the hopes of finding peace.
Do you think they find their peace as soon as they land in a new country? No! They still have to face many problems in those new countries too — like my mom did.
She came to the U.S. without knowing any English. At first, she wasn’t able to communicate, but as time passed, she learned English well enough to be understood.
But still my mom worries as millions of thoughts cross her mind every day. Thoughts like: how am I going to provide for my children, myself, housing, insurance, finding work? How are my family back home doing? And many more worries…
Now, let’s talk about how children can lose their peace. Some come to the U.S. with little to no ability to write or speak English because they didn’t have the opportunity to go to school — like I didn’t.
Nowadays, all kinds of people lose peace in childhood because they are worried about living up to society’s standards. Standards like having good grades — fun fact: in an Asian household like mine, you better bring a report card home with all A’s! — a successful future, handling bullies at school, stress from moving, leaving old friends, getting along with new people and much more.
It is natural to lose peace while going through all of this. Everyone wants peace in their life, but not everyone knows how they can find it.
Peace may not be easy to find, but I remember something my teacher once said: “It is human nature to never be satisfied with what we have, so we worry about what we don’t have. If you keep worrying about something you can’t control, you will lose what you can control. So focus on your present rather than the future.”
This helps me find my peace.
We all should work on ourselves to become better, more peaceful people. Focus less on the expectations of others and worries about the future, and you will most likely find peace.
Lastly, I think peace should be as important as breathing. What happens if we don’t breathe? We die! In the same way, not having peace of mind slowly kills you every day and every moment. We lose our concentration and our ability to act and be in the present moment.
So work with the things you can control to save yourself from dying every day. That’s how we can all live a happy and peaceful life!
Pave the Path to lasting change. For young people like Muhammad, finding peace in a new home takes time. You can help create more opportunities for immigrant and refugee youth to heal, thrive and share their voices by joining World Relief Durham’s community of committed, monthly donors, The Path.
Muhammad Hasham Ahmad is 15 years old and lives in Durham, North Carolina. He came to the U.S. with his family four years ago after leaving his home country of Pakistan. He loves writing and making people laugh with his stories.
Peace like Breath
These days, peace feels hard to find. International conflicts, ongoing fall-out from COVID-19 and climate disasters can all disrupt our peace and well-being. Yet, at World Relief, we have the privilege of working alongside people who have overcome some of life’s great challenges, finding personal peace even in the midst of difficult circumstances.
That’s why, as a part of our inaugural World Relief Youth Writing Contest, we asked participants in World Relief Durham’s Mentorship Program to reflect on how each of us can be peacebuilders in our own lives and in the lives of those around us.
We are proud to announce Muhammad Hasham Ahmad as our 2022 contest winner! As the leaders of tomorrow, we believe refugee and immigrant youth have important things to say today — things we can all learn and grow from, no matter our age or where we’ve come from.
In his essay below, Muhammad shares how he believes we can all find peace, even in the midst of life’s challenges.
Peace has become a fancy word nowadays. Everyone likes peace but not everyone has it!
For me, peace means to be satisfied — to have a quiet and calm state of mind or simply to be in a situation where you are not worried about anything. From this definition, we can assume not everyone has peace.
Every year, there are millions of people who migrate because of problems they face that make them lose their peace. People leave their home country, some leaving their family and friends, to go to a new country in the hopes of finding peace.
Do you think they find their peace as soon as they land in a new country? No! They still have to face many problems in those new countries too — like my mom did.
She came to the U.S. without knowing any English. At first, she wasn’t able to communicate, but as time passed, she learned English well enough to be understood.
But still my mom worries as millions of thoughts cross her mind every day. Thoughts like: how am I going to provide for my children, myself, housing, insurance, finding work? How are my family back home doing? And many more worries…
Now, let’s talk about how children can lose their peace. Some come to the U.S. with little to no ability to write or speak English because they didn’t have the opportunity to go to school — like I didn’t.
Nowadays, all kinds of people lose peace in childhood because they are worried about living up to society’s standards. Standards like having good grades — fun fact: in an Asian household like mine, you better bring a report card home with all A’s! — a successful future, handling bullies at school, stress from moving, leaving old friends, getting along with new people and much more.
It is natural to lose peace while going through all of this. Everyone wants peace in their life, but not everyone knows how they can find it.
Peace may not be easy to find, but I remember something my teacher once said: “It is human nature to never be satisfied with what we have, so we worry about what we don’t have. If you keep worrying about something you can’t control, you will lose what you can control. So focus on your present rather than the future.”
This helps me find my peace.
We all should work on ourselves to become better, more peaceful people. Focus less on the expectations of others and worries about the future, and you will most likely find peace.
Lastly, I think peace should be as important as breathing. What happens if we don’t breathe? We die! In the same way, not having peace of mind slowly kills you every day and every moment. We lose our concentration and our ability to act and be in the present moment.
So work with the things you can control to save yourself from dying every day. That’s how we can all live a happy and peaceful life!
Pave the Path to lasting change. For young people like Muhammad, finding peace in a new home takes time. You can help create more opportunities for immigrant and refugee youth to heal, thrive and share their voices by joining our community of committed, monthly donors, The Path.
Muhammad Hasham Ahmad is 15 years old and lives in Durham, North Carolina. He came to the U.S. with his family four years ago after leaving his home country of Pakistan. He loves writing and making people laugh with his stories.
The Humble Lion
Samaki mkunje angali mbichi – Bend the fish when it is still wet and fresh
Mauridi Masumbuko admits that he lives by this Swahili proverb, and to hear him talk about his flexibility and adaptability you would think he had a lifetime under his belt to fully comprehend this invaluable lesson.
But Mauridi, known as Simba to his friends, is only 20 years old. The gregarious and excitable young man speaks upon the topics of faith, family and responsibility with wisdom and insight of someone twice his age.
Born and raised in a refugee camp in the region of Kigoma, Tanzania, Simba began attending spiritual classes with his father when he was just three years old. Although the classes were intended for older children, his father knew the importance of teaching children while they were young and impressionable, and Simba absorbed the Baha’i teachings like a sponge.
These fundamental lessons in his faith allowed him to see life through a unique lens. He found peace while shepherding his family goats in the quiet forests of Tanzania. He learned respect for elders when asked to run his father’s bike shop.
He gained responsibility as he earned extra money for his family, selling bags of peanuts at the beginning of local soccer matches. And he felt true kindness from a community that loved their neighbors as if they were family. This was his community.
Simba’s parents welcomed four more children while in Kigoma, and as the family grew, opportunities outside of the camp became more pressing. Collectively the family decided to apply for resettlement in a third country.
“One of the major reasons to go to the U.S. was the schooling opportunity, to provide for our family and [those] back home,” Simba said.
His father had anticipated the obstacles their family would face, and he encouraged them to remember why they left Tanzania. Once in the U.S., Simba recalls his father saying, “It’s not all of these other fancies – focus on what we talked about – our plan.”
“That kept us going…that was our fuel.”
Usiwe mwoga wakuuliza maswali – Do not be afraid of asking questions
On September 15, 2016, Simba’s family arrived in Durham, North Carolina with mixed emotions. The paperwork provided to them in the refugee camp had been in English – the family spoke Swahili – and the stock photos of a house, two cars and an airplane flying overhead led them to believe that it was a picture of their new life waiting for them in the U.S.
Simba laughs about this when recounting the story, but imagine his surprise when he walked into an 800-square-foot two-bedroom apartment outfitted for his seven family members.
The journey to find his new community in Durham was not easy. During his first year of American high school he was bullied, belittled and told to go home.
“[American] culture is way, way different…literally everything is different,” Simba said. “Making friends there it was like way, way easier because everyone was interested in everybody.”
During this time Simba enrolled in the Refugee Youth and Immigrant Services Department (RYIS) at World Relief where he found a mentor, Rob Callus, to help him through these early challenges.
Although his freshman year was unforgiving, Simba found his stride in summer school. Within three months of asking questions, as his mom encouraged him to do daily, he became fluent in English. With the language mastered, he breezed through the academics of high school.
He served as a pseudo-teacher’s assistant for those classmates who had previously laughed at him, stolen his homework and told him to go back from where he came. Simba proceeded to make honor role nearly every semester henceforth. In May of 2019 he was named Durham Public School Student of the Month, and in June of 2020 he was awarded student of the year at C.E. Jordan High School.
Mauridi was not just given the nickname Simba by his peers because he happened to like lions, he proudly earned the title proving his strength, courage and bravery.
After graduation, Simba had an opportunity to answer a personal calling to serve Baha’i youth throughout the U.S., teaching many of the fundamental lessons he had learned as a boy in Tanzania.
A year later, he returned to World Relief Durham to serve as a Youth Fellow under the leadership of his mentor Rob.
Jina jema hungara gizani – A good name shines in the dark
Rob created the Youth Fellows program in 2019 as a stepping stone for former youth program participants. Youth Fellows is a paid position at World Relief Durham that helps former World Relief Clients like Simba gain employable skills such as time management, program development and team building while giving equal attention to higher education, civic engagement and personal development.
That summer, Simba became World Relief Durham’s very first Youth Fellow, and he wasted no time diving in and making the most of his new job. His personal experiences provided a unique perspective for Rob and his team, as he could better relate to the youth RYIS intended to serve.
“He already had the bones and tools inside himself,” Rob said. “Our team created spaces for him to let it shine.”
Like many young adults, Simba has a multitude of stressors competing for his time. He is juggling a full-time job as a Youth Fellow, attending college and assisting with his siblings’ education.
“I’ve learned a lot about meeting him where he is at,” Rob said. “When something is bothering him, you can tell. Some days we just need to sit on the bean bag chairs in the office and talk about school work rather than jumping right into the program for the day.”
It is no secret that Simba misses his home in Tanzania, and after hearing him passionately speak about the community and culture which so lovingly embraced him, I understand. When asked what he misses the most, without hesitation he says, “I miss the opportunity to see transformation in yourself.”
After reflecting on this answer, I wish that I had been courageous enough to sit with his raw, genuine and wise response. But in a hurried fix-all American fashion, I told him that he is transforming the community here. He kindly laughed and humbly said that he doesn’t necessarily think in those terms, but he continues to pray for the ability to be of service to others. Simba, the humble lion, you are already living out your prayers.
You can come alongside young men like Simba and create lasting change by partnering with World Relief. Give today to support programs like Youth Fellows or sign up to volunteer today.
Adrienne Morton began volunteering with the local refugee population in 2013, when asked to teach English to a recently resettled family from Myanmar. She went on to serve as a Resettlement and Outreach Coordinator for Lutheran Services Carolinas. In 2019 she received an MA in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration Studies from The University of London, and currently works as a contract grant and content writer for World Relief Durham. She recently launched BELONG NC, a nonprofit dedicated to providing early education to local immigrant children, in addition to opportunities that empower their stay-at-home caregivers, like herself, to lead and engage in their new community.
Stewarding God’s Grace: Q&A with Andrea Sheldon Tshihamba
“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”
— 1 Peter 4:10
When Andrea first arrived in Durham with her husband four years ago, she left behind a career as an ESL teacher. Burnt out and looking to apply her energies to other outlets, she discovered World Relief Durham through a friend of her husband’s. Andrea felt called to help.
At first, she was not looking to resume her ESL teaching. After spending time getting to know people within World Relief, Andrea was assigned to be a friendship partner to a family of new arrivals from Afghanistan.
“I was asked to accompany a now-former World Relief employee to visit two Afghan families – brothers, wives and nine kids all in one apartment,” Andrea said. “They told me their biggest need was for their wives to learn English.”
Upon hearing this, Andrea felt as though God was speaking directly to her through this family and challenging her.
“At the time, I was not currently teaching English and wasn’t planning on changing that, but I couldn’t stop myself from agreeing,” Andrea said. “Immediately, it became clear that this opportunity was a gift from God. I asked myself, ‘why was I not using what I knew how to do?’”
In rising to God’s challenge, Andrea has seen her community unite alongside her in leveraging talents and passions to serve. Now, as she works to mobilize other volunteers from her church she sees the immense impact World Relief has daily.
“You’re the first friendly face a new arrival sees in a place so different from where they came, and that’s a meaningful thing that they can hang on to when it’s hard and feel different,” Andrea said. “People are sometimes unkind. So, trying to love, lead and be friends with people arriving is a transformational act both for those arriving and those extending God’s love. It is an essential pillar of our faith and in being a good person in general.”
This week, as we celebrate and observe National Volunteer Appreciation Week, we’re excited to share more of Andrea’s story with you.
Tell us more about how you got connected to World Relief.
Before moving to Durham, I was an ESL teacher and worked with immigrants in class.
When I moved here, I wasn’t looking to teach ESL. I wanted to help refugees in other ways, and I was already comfortable working with people with the lowest level of English. Dave (Andrea’s pastor) pointed me to World Relief.
He paired me with a friendship partner, which was very difficult – the woman was older, and she had dementia which was unknown at the time. But it was a good learning experience. Next, I was then partnered with a 14-year-old girl from the Democratic Republic of Congo. [She had been] displaced to Kenya, and then arrived in the U.S. when she was in 4th or 5th grade.
The young girl had some learning deficits and posed a challenge. There have been periods when I’ve seen her multiple times a week when she needed more support. I would pick her up from school, grab a bite to eat, then work on vocabulary and tutoring.
Through this, I feel like I now have a close relationship with her family. I became close enough to go to her school with her mom and contact the teachers. We also have fun together. I will never forget when she said to me once, “You’re so much more than a teacher.” I’m sort of like the fun aunt in the family. She’s obsessed with K-pop, so I know all this stuff about K-pop.
How have you seen the community impacted by welcoming refugees?
There is an inherent joy in serving and connecting with people new to the community and from different backgrounds and cultures. That joy is transformational.
A few years ago, I was asked to accompany a now-former World Relief employee to visit two Afghan families – brothers, wives and nine kids all in one apartment at first. Eventually, they were able to rent the apartment adjacent.
They told me their most significant need was for their wives to learn English. At the time, I was not teaching English and wasn’t planning on changing that, but I agreed. Immediately, it became clear that this opportunity was a gift from God. I asked myself, ‘why was I not using what I knew how to do?’
For someone interested in getting involved with World Relief, what would you tell them?
I feel my faith tells me to get involved. There are so many passages in the Old Testament that command us to welcome foreigners. World Relief is a great entry point if this is put on your heart through your faith. It’s both a gift and a calling.
World Relief is the access point for us to reach out and impact. I’m always waiting for World Relief to call me and say, ‘we have a family arriving!’ I’ve realized that I have a gift of mobilizing people and getting them to join me on my mission – our mission. It’s what I love to do.
Nathan Spencer is a former Communications Intern for World Relief Memphis. A recent graduate of the University of Memphis, Nathan continues to volunteer for World Relief as a copywriter.