Our Venezuelan Refugees: A Journey in Accompaniment
Last year our Justice and Outreach team invited Pastor Melissa of Tapestry Church in Richfield to speak to us. She talked about her bi-lingual ministry and the people she serves, mostly from Venezuela and other Spanish speaking countries.
About the same time, our friend Beth Grosen was helping host refugees from Ukraine and learning the process. With her experience and leadership, we decided to sponsor refugees from Venezuela. Four more people stepped up: Laurie, Cindy, Margaret, and John. John is Beths friend who brings additional experience with Ukrainian refugees.
We worked with Welcome Corps and Alight. The Welcome Corps is a program of the U.S. Department of State, administered by a consortium led by the Community Sponsorship Hub with funding provided by the U.S. government. Alight began in 1978 as the American Refugee Committee and has been helping settle refugees ever since.
According to Alight, sponsor groups provide practical support alongside hope, possibility, and a sense of belonging for a refugee’s first 90 days in the United States. Our sponsor group has learned about the concept of accompaniment; we are not saving our new friends or judging their behavior but rather serving as friends while they navigate their resettlement journey. Our members have been very excited to contribute to this “hands on” effort, not to evangelize but to love and care for these new neighbors in the Twin Cities. We will likely be involved well past the first 90 days.
Once we learned we had a young mother and her son who would be moving to Minnesota and relying on us, we had to get serious. These young people spoke no English and needed people they could trust. Three of us met at the airport with welcome signs, a balloon, and flags. While we waited, we met some others welcoming refugees from Afghanistan. The world is getting smaller as we finally meet Ruth and Eithan, who are visibly relieved to finally be here. We then took them to their first apartment, which will be for 30 days until we find long term housing. Most importantly, we had help from Elena, a Que Tal teacher, who was able to translate and help Ruth learn about her new home, how to lock the doors and other useful details. We use WhatsApp to communicate and Google Translate on our phones.
Beth has been a steady leader, taking on the heavy task of paperwork with the government. We are all learning what is required for a small family to start fresh in a new land. She also helped get a used iPhone set up for Ruth. Laurie has helped with some signups, researching language classes, and taking Ruth shopping for food and basics. Laurie has also been publicizing our progress and requests for help from the congregation.
Margaret has helped by attending weekly online Alight/Welcome Corps sessions and reporting back what we need to know. She is researching online for possible apartments for Ruth and Eithan and will help tour the possible units with Beth, Ruth and Eithan.
We are also tapping into the Richfield Spanish community with Tapestry. We made connections at an event in September, meeting others from the community including a daycare provider for when Ruth is able to get a job. Cindy will be taking Ruth to weekly English classes at Tapestry, while trying to learn Spanish herself.
So far, this has been rewarding to all the volunteers involved. Margaret told us “More than any other aspect of my Christian faith is the incredible fact that God loves me no matter what I do or how I am. And my gratitude for that gift should be that I love others as much as I am able, like God has loved me. This is why being in accompaniment with Ruth and her son is important and joyful.” With her upcoming 85th birthday, Margaret is asking for donations on the GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-ruth-and-son-new-start-in-mn
Our church has already been generous. We thank the Quilters who donated a new car seat and others who donated clothes. There will be more needed. If you would like to donate money, please put it in the offering (or online) with a note for Refugees. It is good to be part of such a caring church community.