Simeon and I met the end of 2018 online in a prayer group. The African refugee community of Next Gen hosted a meeting and they invited me to attend. Little did I know, I was in a group among many refugees who were in a camp praying for things like shelter, food, jobs, medical help, safety, school supplies, internet, and money to support themselves and their family. Simeon was tired and feeling pretty frustrated. He wanted to give up. At the time, I was sitting underneath a cozy blanket in my American suburban home on my living room couch. A nonprofit founder that assisted new arriving refugees in my city, I felt helpless and embarrassed. How could I begin to truly understand Simeon, his family, and his community’s great needs? Who was I and how could I possibly help? I felt very inadequate, but Simeon insisted that I could help.

I learned that it would only cost about 75 US dollars a month to help provide him with a better place to live, food, clothes, and even reassurance that he could be innovative to help his family and his community. The dollar was 9x more than what was equal to one dollar in Rwanda. Simeon lived in a Rwandan refugee camp in a mud home that often leaked water due to the many days of rain in their more tropical climate. As he told me that he really felt like giving up, I knew that I had to share with him the hope of Jesus. He was a Christian but he just felt unable to get himself and his family out of a very hard situation no matter how much he tried. He was so smart and had put forth serious efforts to learn things. He had learned English, attended school in the refugee camp, taught himself a lot of skills on the land, and volunteered his time helping educate the children. He enjoyed helping his community.

His family had applied for refugee status after his parents fled a terrible war in the Congo and had hoped to go to another country to start their life over since it was too dangerous for them to go back to the Congo. They had been waiting in a refugee camp for over 26 years while many others that came to the camp when they did had already left the camp to resettle elsewhere. He was confused at why his family and a few others were being overlooked. During our text and phone conversations, I didn’t think there was really much I could do to help him move along his refugee case. So we prayed. He and I both cried feeling hopeless to the situation. I felt like I didn’t deserve the blessings I had and had to deal with my own inner battle within myself with God’s help. I wanted to help Simeon and many others like him stuck in refugee camps for years or trying to start their life over after experiencing the traumas of war and or disaster.

Simeon and I became prayer partners for a time. He’d check on me and I would check on him. He always encouraged me with the nonprofit and serving individuals that sometimes were challenging. I found that I could explain to him cultural things I was trying to work through with the nonprofit to understand our newly arriving African clients better. And he could help me. If I knew better what their life was like right before they came to us then I could better understand their educational and basic life skills needs. Simeon volunteered to teach me about life in the refugee camp. He partnered with me and then I connected to a few other refugees in refugee camps so that I could understand. Simeon created some videos for me to watch and to share with other Americans to teach us all what life was like there. Simeon devoted himself more to serving his community and teaching the kids there what he had learned. I think I may have helped to inspire him to make the best of his life there because I knew God had a plan.

This was back in 2019. I ended up meeting his sister in Memphis and helping her some to resettle. We were all hopeful for Simeon to come with the others in his family. Then Covid19 happened. And then the Afghan war. And then the Ukrainian war. Many refugees were backlogged. It seemed Simeon and the rest of his family were included in those that had to again wait. Simeon and I spoke here and there to check in with one another. And finally, in 2022, we got word that he was coming to the US. Simeon arrived the end of 2022 and just recently more of his family (brothers and sisters and their kids) arrived to Ohio. We will one day all meet, but today I am so happy for Simeon and his family. We are still praying for his grandmother to follow and join the rest of his family.

One day, I decided to research Simeon’s situation. I made a phone call and sent some emails to Washington and to the Singapore US Embassy office. I didn’t think I would get any response. After all, who am I but merely a US wife and mom and founder of a small nonprofit on my city. But something in me told me to try. I was beginning to learn that my voice attached to my, professionally written letters, and my nonprofit organizational name could somehow help to amplify a voice for Simeon and gained us some kind of credibility to get the attention of people higher up in office. To my surprise, we got a response from Washington. They contacted the Embassy and UNHCR US officials closest to Simeon’s residence in the refugee camp. They scheduled a visit with him and others in his situation. They then scheduled an interview, researched, and vetted the individuals. After several months, Simeon and his family were on a list to come to the US!

As the family resettles, they are much like the other newly arriving clients that come to Memphis to start their life over. Most are a little anxious but excited. Depending on if they came from a long wait in a refugee camp or directly out of a war situation, they may have a lot of trauma to deal with. We are here to help to be a friendly face, a kind gesture, a helping hand, a voice, an advocate, and a praying heart. Please enjoy these photos of Simeon and his gaming who just arrived. I love this one of him on the airplane for the first time. He told me he was smiling so much on the plane. He will soon begin his first US job and is studying to take the drivers test. Please pray with me for Simeon, others like him, and the many individuals awaiting to get out of a refugee camp to start their life again. And remember, sometimes your voice is much louder than you’d have ever thought. Don’t be afraid to speak up for someone else in need. With prayer and a right heart, God will make a way!