My day seemed as though it would never end today. There was a lot going on with my friends from other countries. I had to make an appointment for my friend, Fadumo, to get some help at Immigration Services. She wants to bring her husband into the country. She has ten children and could use a helping hand. I’m not for sure why her husband didn’t get to come into the country initially with her. I’m confused about that. Maybe I’ll find out when I take her to the Immigration Office next week.

One of my friends needed some help figuring out why she didn’t receive the food stamp money that she was expecting. She’s a single mother with two little preschoolers. The system for receiving food stamps now is done through automated transfers and computer phone services. It’s confusing for refugees to learn the system, but Asha’s Refuge tries to help. At least she has some money for food in her account. I just pray that it is enough for her and her children the rest of this month. Asha’s Refuge may have to help her out a little if something has gotten messed up until it is corrected. Having enough food isn’t usually a problem for refugees because they quickly receive food stamp assistance. When refugees first arrive, however, it’s my understanding that the food stamps haven’t had time to be set up for the family. During this first month, I believe Catholic Charities’ food donations from the community helps some. I know for a fact that their food donations aren’t always able to help during this early stage enough. I have a close enough relationship with the case workers to know that sometimes they help large families with food out of their own paychecks. (That might should be a secret, but the secret’s out now!)

Single parents, especially large single parent families like Fadumo’s, have to learn to spread their meals out throughout the month so that they don’t eat it all up too fast and not have enough to last them through the month. They must think ahead as they wait for their food stamps to kick in or their allowance to be renewed.

I’ve gone grocery shopping with refugees before. It’s interesting. I have a great time. My friends from other countries are always confused by the two isles of cereal, two isles of sweets and crackers and two isles of ice cream. Most of them have never had cereal with milk and can’t fathom adding water to oats and putting it in something called “a microwave” to zap fry it. I usually feel silly standing in the cereal isle of a grocery store trying to entice my friends to buy my favorite Tony the Tiger cereal, Frosted Flakes. The silly cartoon tiger on the front doesn’t explain to them what is in the box. We have lot’s of laughs in the grocery store. Sometimes they get a little frustrated I think. It’s an overwhelming process for them. They are trying to find real food like milk, fruits, potatoes, beans, fish and fresh vegetables. They have to weed through all the confusing pricing and adds, maneuver through the isles and find courage to finally check out with the sales clerk.

My friend Asha is the easiest to go grocery shopping with. She sits in her wheelchair. I stroll her and she tells me exactly what she wants. Somehow, she is not enticed by anything that tries to distract her from the list of grocery items she needs. It’s as if she feels unsafe and scared and wants to run in, grab what is familiar and run out. She often gets a bunch of carrots with the leafy tops still on them (and baby carrots won’t work – I tried getting her to do those and she was teasing me about the puny little things I called carrots), onion, celery, grapes and milk. Asha loves oranges too. I pick her up some every now and then and bring them to her family for a treat.

Today, Asha and her niece, Hodo, asked me if I’d plan a day to teach them how to make American Pizza. They apparently love it and want more of it. We will do that together one day soon. That will be fun.

I took Hibo and Hamda back to the government housing place today. Deborah and three teenage girls who were helping me with the children at the ESL/Preschool class today went with us. Deborah and I worked with the Chickasaw Apartment Staff to help complete Hibo and Hamda’s apartment application. You’d think we were buying the apartment. There was so much paperwork involved. It took us literally about 2-1/2 hours to complete the application. There is no way these two ladies (even considering they could speak pretty good english) could have completed these applications alone. They needed our assistance. We were glad to offer help. I think Mrs. Theresa with the Chickasaw Apartments was appreciative of our help as well. We had to spend a lot of time just interpreting the documents they were signing.

Asha’s Refuge will offer a lot of help and collaboration to other organizations who are trying to help refugees to successfully resettle. It will be a neat thing as I hope that the volunteers and staff with Asha’s Refuge always gets to work on the side of the refugee. I mean, it was great to be their friend, to know them well enough and to truly care for their well-being so that we were better able to speak up on their behalf today.

Tonight, I’ve worked a long time with Asha’s Refuge paperwork. I had to send several emails, do a lot of writing, schedule appointments and make a few phone calls. I’m tightening up our Mission Statement for our 501(3)c documents. My work with Asha’s Refuge is work. Some days are long, but I’m greatful to be able to help. I enjoy it. I really enjoy it.