We are excited about new opportunities for refugees as we partner with a friend that cleans houses to teach job skills. We will certainly need more houses as this training begins to take shape and we get more refugees ready and willing to be trained. We are so appreciative of our friend and supporter at Covenant Cleaning who is ready to take some of her time by teaching our refugee friends the American ways if cleaning.

It has been interesting to watch our friends from other countries clean their apartments. It seems that they are very unfamiliar with our cleaning tools, do not really understand what germs are, and are a bit overwhelmed with the American pressures for them to disinfect everything, throw junk in the garbage and to better organize their homes. Cleaning the American way doesn’t come naturally for our friends and they therefore can often be frustrated and unsuccessful if they are thrown into a job such as cleaning hotel rooms.

I once witnessed a group of young adult refugee women pull a thick bedspread and house rugs out of the bathtub soaking wet then drag them through their apartment to hang over the apartment porch to drip dry. I can’t imagine if they tried this to one of the bedspreads they were attempting to clean in a hotel suite.

I’ve seen refugee ladies confused by our everyday household cleaners as to what to do with various types of tools, sprays, wipes and chemicals. This could be dangerous!

Now that I look back, here’s a funny but true story. One late afternoon, I watched one young women who was kindly preparing dinner for me pick up an old gray dingy rag that was in a corner of the floor by a mop. She dried up some water droplets on the floor and then used that now somewhat wet rag to begin drying off her dishes. That day she also filled a cup with water and began tossing it onto the floury countertops she was trying to clean. She took two fingers and began circling them in the puddles of water on the counter thereby rubbing the pasty flour off of the counter. As if that weren’t enough to shock my OCD American house cleaning self, this sweet young lady then reached for a roll of toilet paper that sat atop her refrigerator. She unrolled the paper and began drying off the counter with the toilet paper! What makes it even more interesting was that I noticed soggy bits of toilet paper pieces left of the counter. My friend threw the dough she had just finished making onto the counter and began shaping little meat filled triangular pastries (they call these Samboosa) to fry. The toilet paper pieces were now in the pastries! And..yes…I smiled at her and ATE the pastries. 😉

I am always amazed at how God protects me and also shows me that my way of American living isn’t necessarily the only way. I’m
continually learning to be flexible with the less important stuff and stand strong for what matters most to God! So I ate a few bits of toilet paper but was able to remain at peace as I watched a young lady prepare my meal. There was a lot of discussion going on in that kitchen that day. I can assure you that our talk, the encouragement I felt God allowing me to offer, and the growing in Christ I my self was doing was much more important than my worrying frantically over a few strings of wet toilet paper.

I did, however, become more sensitive to the fact that most refugee women are not aware of our American way of cleaning and will need a lot of training to be successful in a cleaning job. They very much need to understand more about germs for their families health sake but not to the point of becoming an OCD, panicking germa-phoebe. Refugee women and men also need to understand good apartment cleaning and house cleaning habits to keep bugs from taking over their homes, to show respect for others as well as appreciation and care to God for what He has blessed them with.

If you are interested in helping us with this project, please let us know. Again, we will need more homes to clean. We promise to leave your house cleaner than it was when we came and we won’t put your bedspreads in the shower or tub! The house cleaning will be monitored by a professional American House Cleaner with a heart to use her skills to help those refugees in need of learning this job skill. We trust that there will be opportunities for Kingdoms growth as our friend at Covenant Cleaning is able to build friendships and be the hands and feet of Jesus as she does her training. Please be praying for Covenant Cleaning to be blessed beyond measure as they move forward with this new adventure in her life too. We mostly need reassurance that CAN actually communicate with those refugees who do not speak English. Thank you for your prayers!

Contact Covenant Cleaning for a quote to clean your house at (901) 315-4863. Tell them Asha’s Refuge referred you.