People often ask me if we have any success stories. I’m sure with all the desperate requests for help we have made and the many stories we have shared about struggling refugees the success stories are not expressed as loudly. We actually do have several of our refugee clients who have moved forward pretty successfully with their new life here in America.

Our very own Asha and her family is a success story. She first came to Memphis speaking no English, having no form of transportation, no wheelchair to aide her in getting around since she was unable to use either of her legs, no easy way of getting in and out of the bathtub, no decent place to call home, no job or job skills, no understanding of her bills, no way of communicating with her nieces new teachers (which she considers her own children since she has taken care of them since they were infants right after her sister, their mother passed away), not enough food to eat in her pantry, no warm coat and very little clothing, broken furniture, no warm blanket, no soaps or toiletries and the list goes on. Since 2009 when I met Asha and started
working with her family, Asha, her brother Abdullahi and two nieces have learned a lot.

Asha and her family currently live in Nashville in a townhome. While she is still receiving some assistance for her housing expense, she and Abdullahi are doing well. Asha has an electric wheelchair and a manual one that enables her a lot more freedom. The last I heard, Abdullahi had moved from folding laundry in a hotel in Memphis to driving a truck for a company in Nashville. He and she have been continuing their education which includes English classes. The two girls have been doing well in school and speak fluent English. I can now have a phone conversation with Asha and each time I do it melts my heart. Asha has learned to function well as a disabled young woman in America. She has figured out how to get in and out of the shower more easily with her shower chair and how to reach the things she needs in the kitchen cabinets when cooking. This family has gradually collected the furniture and household items they have needed to pull their home together and have been able to make small payments for a long couch for their living room. Everyone in the family seems to be doing very well with lots of healthy smiles and great thankful attitudes for the opportunity they have been given to live in America away from the civil war backlash and hard life living in the refugee camp. They have each obtained their green card and are looking forward to studying hard to become naturalized citizens.

I continue to check in with Asha and her family periodically. She came to visit me and Deborah in Memphis a month or so ago. She looked so happy and was giggly as she tried to express to me what she remembered from the first time she and I met and I would help her hold her pencil to teach her to write her name and to where she is today. She and I exchanged texts New Years Day to say Happy New Year as we do every year. Asha still has a way of encouraging me with Asha’s Refuge
as we continue to help others in similar situations to what she was in when I first met her. She reminds me that she one day wants to volunteer and help me at Asha’s Refuge serve
and help others. I look forward to that day. I continue to tell her the reason I have had a heart to help her and others was because of Jesus and she always listens contently…I only pray that Asha will fully know the Jesus I know. It’s in Jesus’s hands…I have surely planted the seed and trust that He will water and grow it.