Disciple: Let the World Come to You
Welcoming the stranger becomes real
By the Rev. Maureen Flak
In August 2021, we all watched the fall of Kabul in Afghanistan. A feeling of helplessness washed over us as the images cascaded into our homes, images of people in desperate straits for whom we could do nothing.
And then we found out there was something we could do. In fact, we were to become front and center in the world of relocation of refugees. Thousands of Afghan citizens who escaped were coming to tent cities on military bases in the United States.
[Image: Refugees: The Holy Family, by Kelly Latimore. Courtesy image/Episcopal News Service]
OPENING OUR DOORS
The state of North Carolina is not a newcomer to the work of helping relocate those who come here to find a new life. We have opened our communities to 1,000-3,300 newcomers annually for years. Vietnam, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Syria, Iraq and now Afghanistan are just a few countries designated by the International Organization of Migration (IOM) and the United Nations as reaching refugee status. In the 10 years I have worked with Church World Service (CWS) and African Services Coalition, I have had the pleasure to meet families from each of these lands and others.
I am not the only one. Over those same years, many of our churches and individual members have helped welcome the world travelers from these lands into communities all over the Diocese of North Carolina.
Having met so many who had to flee their homes under extreme circumstances, what made this event feel so urgent, so challenging, so different? Why did the survivors of the horrors seen on a runway in Afghanistan make us hold our breath and shed a tear? The answer: It was the speed and sheer numbers of refugees arriving to our country and our state overnight.
Too, there was a second, unseen and mostly unknown, complication with which our relocation agencies were grappling that quickly came to the forefront.
Over the last few years, the total number of refugees arriving in the U.S. dropped from nearly 100,000 each year to about 18,000. The domino effect from that drop precipitated the closure of some of our relocation agencies both nationwide and in North Carolina. The agencies that managed to survive had to face the reality of cutting staff to a bare bones level to remain open. The outcome was, at the time Kabul fell, our agencies were not at full employee levels, and they needed to build back—quickly. And they had to do it while positivity numbers of COVID-19 started to rise dramatically for the third time.
TURNING TO TEAMWORK
The agencies did what they have done for years: They turned to their communities and asked for help. And, as always, faith communities were among the first to respond, and, if history holds true, we will be the last to leave. The Diocese of North Carolina rapidly became part of that response.
The agencies went back to an old practice of co-sponsorship—teamwork—to provide the structure needed to help families adapt to their new homes and communities. Several of our diocesan churches went back to the practices and plans they used years ago to welcome those from other countries. We even had congregations that had welcomed earlier Afghan arrivals. Additionally, there were those congregations that went to the relocation agency in their part of the state, and said, “What does it take to co-sponsor?”
Co-sponsorship of a refugee family is less a financial arrangement and more the start of a relationship. When a congregation co-sponsors a family, they may contribute to financial needs, but they are, more importantly, walking with that family, providing support and guidance as the family adapts to their new home. That support may start with receiving the family upon their arrival, assisting with locating housing and furnishing the home, the provision of clothing, transportation support, assisting with accessing resources, and being a front-line support system as the family orients to a life in a new land and culture.
To date, CWS has relocated just over 400 people into North Carolina since October 2021. They are only one of many agencies working in North Carolina.
And the work is not done.
YOU CAN HELP
There will be a steady stream of Afghan refugees coming to our local towns and cities for the next three to six months. Almost 70,000 have landed in our military tent cities and need to move to their final destinations.
Afghans will not be the only new citizens seeking refuge in the U.S. and North Carolina in 2022 and the coming years. Our nationwide welcoming numbers are close to being back to the 100,000 of years past. Some of those who will be part of that total number of arrivals have been in the pipeline for more than five years. Many have families already here waiting to be whole again.
As we have continued to stay in contact with the relocation agencies and monitor the changes in the needs of our incoming folks, we have been able to continue to offer our congregations thoughts on how to help and why.
Let’s start with this: The size of your congregation or budget makes no difference. There is a place for each one of us to help in this ongoing process.
People become a refugee only when all other options are exhausted and life is at risk. Imagine having to do that: leaving your home, your possessions, in some cases your family and everything you know just so you can stay alive. That’s just the first part. Once the danger is past, you are in a new land where you likely do not speak the language, nothing is familiar, and you have only what you carry with which to start a new life. When you think of what it means to be a refugee, it is hard not to be moved.
We have more that unites us than separates us. The truth is, despite the language barriers and probable cultural differences, those who come here have basic human needs. They seek only to have a roof over their heads, a way to earn a living to provide for their families, food on the table, education for their kids, a safe place to sleep each evening and a place to practice their faith safely. Sound familiar? My forebears came here for the same reasons.
Each of us has something to offer to help with meeting these basic needs. It might be helping folks shop in our stores; getting someone to a doctor’s appointment; identifying businesses that are looking to hire or have apartments to rent; finding afterschool help for the children with English or other homework; donating that washer/dryer combo, living room or dining room set when you downsize; or donating cookware or linen. All you have to do is contact one of the agencies listed in the sidebar. But if your congregation (or multiple congregations that can join forces) wants to pull a team together to try to provide a coordinated effort for one family, those agencies now have the case managers to help you get there. The help you give is not indefinite and is expected to be time-limited. The hope is that the assistance will provide the proper tools to get our new arrivals on their feet, and then supporters step aside to allow them to grow and live the life they hoped for when they arrived.
I speak from experience when I say you will receive more than you can ever give. As a military family, for 25 years we lived all over the world. But in the years my husband and I have assisted CWS, we have been to a goat-roast celebration for a family finally united after 10 years, been blessed by a Buddhist monk, attended a traditional Nepali wedding (and watched the bride slide the saber into the sheath on her new husband’s hip to show support of her warrior husband), answered call at a mosque, celebrated Buddha’s birthday and been invited to a celebration for Krishna. When we talk to others about these experiences, my husband says, “I used to travel the world to meet new people. Now, all I have to do is open my front door and let the world in.”
Open your front door and let the world come in. We are still being asked to help the traveler, widow and orphan. There will not be an end to that need any time soon.
RESOURCES
For more information on diocesan involvement in refugee ministries and resources to assist, visit the refugee ministry page. Find additional resources at:
- Church World Service (CWS)
- International Organization for Migration (IOM)
- Episcopal Migration Ministries
- The Outcasts United by Warren St. John: Recommended reading to deepen understanding of the plight of refugees
The Rev. Maureen Flak is the deacon and parish nurse at Holy Spirit and Abundant Life, Greensboro, and represents the Diocese of North Carolina on the Church World Service/AFC Refugee Consultants Team. Contact her via the communications department.
Gifts Given and Received
St. Francis, Greensboro | By the Rev. Matt Addington
When St. Francis learned refugees were coming to Greensboro, it just made sense that we would get involved. The words of Teresa of Avila’s “Christ has no body but yours,” combined with a calling to love God and love neighbor as self, made saying yes the easy part. Our collective “yes” became a way to bring St. Francis together after so many had been away for so long because of COVID-19. It also made sense to see what others were doing. Because we didn’t know what welcoming refugees might look like, we reached out to St. Barnabas and St. Andrew’s to see if pooling resources could work. Our three churches together found a way to reinvigorate many in our communities after a time when less was happening in our churches.
At St. Francis, we hold closely to the words attributed to our namesake. Working with our refugee families has brought all the typical feelings to many in our three churches. We all know the sense of good we get when helping one of our brothers or sisters. I believe one of the more important things it has brought to our community is a reminder of how our support systems, whether in Greensboro, North Carolina, or elsewhere in the U.S., function in particular ways—ways in which we, as the privileged, might have forgotten or never had to learn. We have been reminded what patience is. We have been reminded how to celebrate small victories in big ways. This work has shown our churches the value of community. Subsidized housing looks very different through the eyes of a refugee family than it does through the eyes of others. Living life with those who have had the same experiences, speak the same language and have the same cultural customs is more important than a nicer neighborhood or the stuff of the world.
Our two refugee families have reminded us that we are all truly God’s beloved, and this is the most important lesson for all of us to remember as we try to figure out what church will look like moving forward. May we always remember we are instruments of peace.
Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
St. Paul’s, Cary | By Aleta Payne McClenney
The Refuge for Refugee ministry at St. Paul’s has contributed to our parish’s consistent, outward focus—the call to love our neighbors and to live as part of a larger community than the one defined by our church walls.
R4R, as it is known in parish shorthand, began in 2015 when a group of parishioners, concerned by the suffering in our newspapers and on our screens, decided to hold an open meeting at the church to see if others were interested in helping people coming to the U.S. as refugees. They were.
The first family arrived from Afghanistan a few months later, young parents and two little girls we helped settle in a Raleigh apartment. Seven additional families have followed from all over the world; the most recent arrived in December.
We have learned a great deal, from the basic logistics of trying to navigate complex government bureaucracies to the challenges presented by a shortage of safe, affordable housing. Some of the families we have walked with remain in the area, while others have moved to other parts of the country. They are remarkable people, and it is humbling to witness all they must do to establish themselves here.
We became engaged in this work because we believe God calls us to see God’s face in our siblings and to behave accordingly. We continue to feel a commitment to help build a world where all are safe and have enough.
Tags: North Carolina Disciple
