Yesterday I learned that many of the African Refugee Clients we serve who escaped Congo or Rwandan terror went to the Gihembe Refugee Camp for safety. Several of the children we serve today were born in this camp and have known nothing other than life in the camp. Many have grown up to be teens and young adults and now they are here in the inner city of Memphis, TN.  The young adult and teen girls yesterday invited me to check out their camp, the home they all actually miss, on You Tube videos.  

We watched video after video of their camp which showed several hills of dilapidated refugee housing with larger buildings they which they would point out as their classroom.  They were so excited to share this piece of their life story with me and I was so excited to learn about it with them.  

They showed me video pictures of their classrooms, mud walls, a chalk board, little light from the sun since there is no electricity in the camp, often no desks for writing and little space.  Food was scarce.   They pointed out their actual homes in the rows of thousands of identical small white buildings with plastic sheets over them.  Rain was always a problem.  It was hard to sleep in the homes with leaky rooftops.  They pointed out the one hour path they would routinely take to get the dirty water and how the rain storms had made a trench down the hill that was daily growing and caused them danger.  The erosion from the water had created such deep crevices in the earth that children would often fall down in them and be buried alive.  How horrific!  

Despite the heart wrenching stories I heard, there was an overall happiness and joy that filled the small apartment I was in yesterday. About 15 of the refugees from the Gihembe Refugee Camp were now all together in the apartment with me in America!  And little did I know, they were all part of the Gihembe Choir!!  The group went to various videos of the choir group they had left behind after they came to America, laughing and pointing out some of their friends but sadly missing them. They still connect with some of their friends via Facebook, which is the cheapest way.  Phone calls are very very expensive.   

The girls explained to me they were required to cut their hair short and would cry when the time would come for their hair to be cut short.  It was not a religious thing, only part of the uniform procedures of the schools. 

As they played the You Tube videos of the school choirs they had been a part of, many of them danced and sang along.   It was not long until I too was singing and dancing with them.  Many of the videos of the songs they sang had the English lyrics displayed.  The songs were often about the hope of Jesus. 

As I continued to listen to the choir sing around me and the sweet refugee friends I have asked to tell their stories, I wanted to cry.  God was about to do something amazing for them and for anyone who might benefit from knowing them.  I learned that a family I had been working a lot with over the past year were apparently leaders in the Gihembe Refugee camp.  I had been busy helping one mom, Ruth, before and after the delivery of her twins.  I  am also helping her young adult brothers, Mupenzi and Eugene, with things like learning to drive, obtaining a drivers permit and then license, understanding insurance, understanding staffing agencies, and helping with their mail.  I had no idea that Mupenzi wrote several of the songs their choirs sang and was a choir leader.  He never told me this about himself.   I immediately contacted him and told him my dream and vision.  We would start an Asha’s Refuge Choir!  And would he help make it happen? He was so excited and said he would work today on translating some of the words to his songs in English so we would understand what they are singing.  

So Deborah, Mary Lou, Erica and other volunteers who know my previous desires on getting a choir going for the refugees who also share this passion, I believe it will soon happen!  We are excited and cannot wait to see how God uses the choir to help educate others about refugees and even more share the hope and love message of Jesus.  We are also hoping to find ways to truly help the choir and displaced people still living in harsh conditions at the Gihembe Refugee Camp.  I am so blessed to see the joy in the hearts of the clients I serve today and better understand the joy that many of the refugee parents were still able to instill in their children who we Americans might consider unfortunate to have to grown up in the camp not knowing or understanding life in a different way.  I admire the adults and parents in the Gihembe and (probably other refugee camps) who worked hard to keep life moving forward for their children by offering education, music and dance, karate classes, arts and crafts and a church group with hearts to share about the goodness and love of Jesus.  Though their life circumstances living in the camp certainly had its challenges and hardships, it seems LOVE was not scarce.  It is quite possibly LOVE that motivates them and gets them through each day.  Remember, Love IS God.  (1 John 4:16)

The Camp and Information about the importance of Facebook for Refugees – https://youtu.be/9Xtm68eFep4

Gihembe Choirs https://youtu.be/R9xhRfH19XI