Yesterday Asha’s Refuge volunteers spent our first day organizing and delivering school supplies, backpacks and a few uniforms to refugee children in need. We are still in need of about 50 backpacks, uniforms and more supplies. We actually are most in need of the backpacks and any school uniforms we can find. In particular we need more boys backpacks or backpacks that could be for a girl or boy.

It was truly a blessing yesterday to be able to visit with my refugee friends and hand the children a backpack full of supplies they need. The children are always excited about going back to school and eager to learn and do well. I think it’s interesting how it seems these children are more excited about going to school than the average American student. Perhaps some of the refugee children understand better what a blessing it is to be educated and especially educated in American schools. I truly enjoyed seeing the smiles on the faces of the children and parents as we were able to visit.

I want to mention something that occurred yesterday while my friend Jake and I were handing out the backpacks. We were surrounded by young refugee boys as we were delivering. Each of them seemed to be watching out for their family to ensure that they were not forgotten…they knew their siblings and they needed the supplies. I didn’t have enough backpacks for all of these boys (the few I had left at the time were all girlie backpacks). I explained to them that I had already been in contact with their mothers and that more backpacks were on the way next weekend, just before their first day of school. As we were talking, the ice cream truck was driving by. The dozen boys or so I was talking to showed faces that expressed wanting ice cream but none of them had the money to get any. I wondered to myself how many times that ice cream truck came by and the refugee children were not able to get ice cream. I was so blessed (and I give all glory to God) to be able to group all the boys up and buy them all ice cream from the ice cream man. These boys were so well mannered, appreciative and thankful.

Please know that your kind gifts and donations are going to such appreciative young boys and girls. I have never experienced a greedy refugee child. They are each so in awe it seems that they have been provided for. I pray that you will consider helping us to be sure every refugee child in need that we know of in Memphis has the supplies they need to be ready and excited for another great school year. Thank you in advance for your help. We will organize and make more deliveries this Saturday, August 3, starting at about 10am. Let me know if you can help.

We’ve been collecting a lot of school supplies in hopes of providing each refugee child we serve with the items they need to begin the new school year. We’ve got backpacks, loose leaf paper, spiral notebooks, secondary tablets, pens, pencils, three ring binders, folders, erasers, highlighters, crayons, index cards, glue sticks, scissors, sharpeners, and uniforms. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

We serve approximately 50 families and on average there are five to six students per family. That’s between 200 and 300 backpacks if we were to be able give to every refugee child in need that we know. We will first pass out the backpacks to the families we directly serve, but are hopeful to offer the school supplies to refugee families we know of but are not as active with. Passing out these supplies provides us with an opportunity to talk about the reason we give (Jesus). Our kindness and love may lead our friends to a knowledge of who Jesus is. So, please prayerfully, will you keep these items coming as we are certain that we need more.

Also, we need scientific calculators for high school students. These graphing calculators are important to their success in learning algebra and doing well on their ACT and other tests. They are rather expensive to refugee students. The schools often have the calculators for students to use while in class but having these for homework would be a good thing. I believe the ones we need are Ti83’s.

Computers and laptops in good working condition are also helpful to high school students. Please consider donating your older computers that may still work okay for these students.

If you are interested in helping us pack the backpacks and deliver them, please let us know. We will be doing this sometime within the next two weeks. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Thursday our American Life and Language classes were really neat. I was truly blessed by watching the volunteer teachers work with refugee women and children. There was so much passion and love in what learning was going on at the school. I am so thankful.

My life at home has somewhat flipped upside down due to some personal family issues. I’m not afraid to admit that on the website I guess. In some way it’s interesting how much I am learning about myself, others and God in the midst of the suffering and trial. I’m okay but I’ve faced and am facing some real heartbreaking challenges. I was in a place where I could be a stay at home mom and put a whole lot of my time into serving refugees through Asha’s Refuge. But, the newest season of my life has caused me to have to work a paying job full time. It has stretched my heart in many different ways. My time has been limited but I have still managed to find many ways to stay connected to my sweet refugee friends. It has forced me to delegate and move out of the way so that ready and willing volunteers can settle into the very places that God may have prepared them for. I’ve enjoyed the weekend visits and have been able to meet more of the refugee children, husbands and men as I makes visits. The unfortunate happenings in my life have also brought about many blessings.

Today, I visited several refugee families. I so enjoyed my visit with a single mother of nine children. We giggled a lot and I am hopeful that I talked them in to making me an apple Sambosa (like a fried apple pie, something I invented stretching their Somali Sambosa recipe by suggesting that they add chopped apples and cinnamon instead of meat into the triangle pastries they fry) around the days of Ramadan. I also worked with one refugee lady who was recently told by her doctor that she was diabetic. She is currently trying to learn how to take care of herself as she deals with her up and down sugar levels. I took an American friend of mine with me who is also diabetic. The two of them discussed the frustration with daily sugar checks and having to carefully monitor what they eat. I felt it a blessing that my refugee friend could learn from someone who had been dealing with having diabetes a bit longer than her. I always learn a lot as I serve refugees. Today I learned how God allows certain thorns in our side to occur that can feel unfortunate but when seen in a different light, or as time goes by, they become blessings.

Asha’s Refuge seeks to share the love of Jesus with the nations through serving local refugees. Many of the clients we serve have never heard of Him and certainly do not understand anything about His message of hope. Struggling refugees arrive to Memphis with just the tattered clothes on their backs, a plastic bag from the UN with their legal documentation inside and a dangling sign around their neck that labels them as a refugee. They are eager and ready to start their lives anew in our city but have no idea of the additional challenges they are about to face in obtaining a successful resettlement. Their recognition of these unforeseen obstacles often causes them great stress, confusion, depression, anger, fear and anxiety.

There are many ways we can help. For now, we are collecting school supplies for the students of the clients we serve. Please prayerfully consider helping us collect these supplies. We will need the regular type classroom supplies, all sizes of school uniforms (navy or khaki pants and white shirts), and backpacks.

We thank you in advance for helping and trust that our new friends will come to know Jesus through our actions of love. Contact jamie@ashasrefuge.org, deborah@ashasrefuge.org or erica@ashasrefuge.org if you have any suggestions or questions.

This Thursday, June 6, 2013, Asha’s Refuge will begin our six week summer session for American Life and Language Classes. We have had a nice break from the class time but are eager and ready to begin our summer class time with our refugee friends. We will introduce our new textbooks and incorporate a field trip or two. We are hoping to take a learning trip to The Pink Palace Museum. The museum trip will require a lot of extra helping hands from volunteers. If you are interested in learning more about serving refugees through Asha’s Refuge, please contact us so that we can give you more information. Our heart is to love ALL people unto Jesus and we believe we have a unique ability to connect with the Nations. We thank you and love your prayers and support.

At times I have wondered how refugees survive at all without me. But they do. When I am visiting with many of them their many needs are vividly expressed to me or to the volunteers that work with me. The needs almost always are serious: a doctor, food, clothing, shelter…love. Most want a job but are not educated enough to obtain one in the States.

Just about every time I leave the faces of my refugee friends I am reminded that when I leave they will struggle on their own to try and accomplish the tasks necessary for their families survival. They will try to connect with the resettlement agencies for some help, with one another for support and with any American passerby that they can grab the attention of to ask for better American life understandings and a little assistance. In the beginning, walking away from a needy family was near impossible for me. Today, I have learned that my walking away for a few days is part of what helps them to learn quicker and me to maintain my sanity. In addition, we both grow by releasing the needs into Gods hands so as not to become dependent on my own ability to find ways to help. While I cannot walk away from a person who is hungry before feeding them, I must at times temporarily walk away from a person needing something like an additional pair of shoes or help completing a form.

It isn’t “me” that is responsible for changing the crisis situation for the families I meet. I believe its the work of the Lord and it will happen His way and in His timing. In order that I remain focused with a calm ,
compassionate and helpful heart, I have to remind myself that “I personally am not in crisis.” I aim to single-mindedly work with each refugee adult, teen or child slowly, calmly, intently and prayerfully giving them my utmost attention, respect and love. It is sort of like working in triage. Many people that first get involved with refugee work and learn about the piles of needs jump in scurrying around to accomplish much on their own. It leaves them feeling overwhelmed and stressed. I have learned that this kind of help can often hurt refugees more than it can help and it certainly can change a refugees focus to be on “things” instead of “God”. But for American Christians, it often eventually sends them on their knees with a harsh reminder that “they” cannot…and only “God” can.

Summer is here! There will be many opportunities to get involved by first showing love with our actions. We plan to begin our six week summer American Life and Language Classes each Thursday starting June 6. We are hoping to take a field trip to the Pink Palace. These activities will require a lot of volunteer participation.

We are also trying to get a head start on collecting school supplies for the 2013/2014 school year. We will need uniforms, backpacks and classroom supplies. As always, we are collecting liquid laundry detergent and toiletries.

Please consider helping us by volunteering in our ALL Classes, with the summer programs or with organizing and/or collecting these items. You can contact us at jamie@ashasrefuge.org or deborah@ashasrefuge.org.

May His will be accomplished through our acts of kindness and love.

Sunday, Mother’s Day, I had the sweet blessing of being able to share my heart and tell about Asha’s Refuge to the church family at Collierville Bible Church off of Wolf River Blvd. I wasn’t alone in sharing my passion with serving, encouraging and helping refugees. Steve Moses with World Relief and Danny and Jil Rogers, members of Collierville Bible also shared. Pastor Nick was very encouraging to each of us and it was truly wonderful that he gave up his preaching time to link hearts with ours and help his church to see the need in our city to love and reach the Nations!

Pastor Nick would say, “Serving refugees is incarnational.” I agree.
It is a kind of serving that beckons for relational connections stemming from the inside out. Jesus lived life among the people he wanted to reach. He loved on the inside. He walked with the people and loved out of a sincere and heartfelt relationship. (Just thinking and typing allowed.)

It was truly good to get to hear Steve Mose’s heart from his past experiences in life and on the ground and his current experiences working at World Relief, the resettlement agency. I am glad to know that he is in the position he is in as I trust that he is going to continue to have the best interest for those he seeks to assist. Steve mentioned that the mission statement of World Relief included involvement from local churches and it was pertinent that the church be involved in order for World Relief to be successful helping refugees. I so agree. It’s the same with Asha’s Refuge. We do not take federal grants as we believe it is or duty as Christians to love all people and to help others who are in need especially widows, the old, children, sick, the stranger and the poor. In addition, the Lord showed me early on that it was NOT my responsibility to handle all the needs I saw on my own. As a matter of fact, I cannot. I did not realize it at the time, but God actually allowed me to try it out on my own for a long period of time and I fell flat on my face in tears. God told me, very clearly,”Enlist the help of other believers.” So church, we need your support financially, tangibly with volunteerism and donated items, prayerfully and as the Spirit leads you.

I thank Jil and Danny for their hearts and leadership example as they have opened up their lives, home, church and hearts to a refugee family for I think near two years now. They have learned much that will enable them to walk beside others who are interested in becoming more involved with refugees. It is our hope that each refugee individual and family will be matched with a family advocate so that no refugee is left out feeling alone, afraid, unsure and unloved.

There will be lots of opportunities to serve this summer and to get to know more about connecting with local refugee families. One can serve through Asha’s Refuge, World Relief, Refugee Empowerment, Catholic Charities or Opportunity Summer Camp. Email me to let me know your interest and availability at jamie@ashasrefuge.org. Many of you ask, what do you need? We need financial contributions especially monthly support. We are currently collecting liquid laundry detergent, toiletries and school supplies (uniforms, backpacks and classroom supplies). Thank you in advance for your prayers and help.