Yesterday evening I was informed about a three car accident involving a refugee gentlemen that I have worked with for over three years. Over the past few weeks he has had a difficult time on the road. He was involved in two car wrecks recently and it has been said that he was the innocent driver in both wrecks. Yesterday he was driving home in the rental car he had received while waiting on his car to be repaired and another car hit the side of him. He was pretty bruised up and frightened but x-rays and CT Scans showed that he was going to be okay.

Car accidents involving refugee drivers seem to be a common occurrence. It was only a few months ago when another refugee man was involved in an accident near Nashville that took his friend (a refugee mans) life. And not even a year ago a refugee man accidentally backed up over his wife in their apartment parking lot as he mistakenly hit the gas pedal instead of the break pedal. She was killed and this left the man and their children traumatized. I have seen young refugee drivers attempt to back up or park into a parking spot struggling for well over 15 minutes. I remember a mother who we had to take to physical therapy appointments bi-weekly after she totaled her van. Something must be done!

I wish very strongly that Asha’s Refuge could be further down the road in some way that we’d have a partnering relationship with a driving school or have our own new drivers teaching program. There must be some way to implement a program to help out in this area. Refugees are desperate and needy and truly need to be able to get themselves to and from places with ease. They are tempted to drive cars with no license or a license obtained falsely or only a permit not because they are bad people who want to break the law but because they are in difficult situations. Its complicated to go to the grocery store or a job with no mode of transportation. Unfortunately the city bus system does not run all the time or in every direction. Most refugees understand the danger and would prefer to be properly trained but do not have the resources, the know how, or English skills to make it happen. I have an idea that could help out with this huge problem refugees face, but Asha’s Refuge needs a lot more funding and support in order to get programs like this in place.

Perhaps for now, there are volunteers interested in going through the driver’s handbook or driving with a refugee man or woman trying to learn to drive. Many of the new refugee drivers are between the ages of 16 and 25. The younger adult refugees are typically able to get their license sooner than their parents because often times their English is better. A refugee could sit in the passenger seat while watching and learning from an experienced driver. Even a little time spent with a new refugee driver could help them a lot and keep our streets a little bit safer.

If you have any thoughts on this or are interested in helping out, please contact me. We appreciate your prayers as my friend involved in last nights wreck recovers. His family needs him to be well as they lean on him for their families income and he’s lot of help around their home.

There has been a lot going on at Asha’s Refuge. This week (Wednesday) we will meet a group of volunteers from Operation Broken Silence to help us spruce up our preschool playground area at our new location inside Highland Heights Baptist Church. We plan to paint the older swing sets with a fresh coat of paint, weed eat the grass (which was thankfully mostly done by the HHBC youth) and block off some areas for safety. We are hopeful to soon add a large plastic rubber maid storage box for keeping our playground toys. Kortney and Christy, our preschool coordinators have requested playground toys such as large plastic balls, bubbles, hula hoops and jump ropes. We will be excited for our refugee preschoolers to get to learn through play on the playground.

Deliveries of school supplies are continuing to be made. We are are also delivering a large amount of cleaning supplies to various refugee families who have requested help with the purchase of these items since their food stamps do not buy them and they are struggling to find work. Thank you Church at Schilling Farms Bunco Friends for your cleaning supply donations. Deborah thinks it’d be a great idea to show our friends what a great cleaner vinegar and baking soda paste is because it works great. It’s cheap and they can more easily purchase these items with food stamps. Tomorrow will be a neat day to make refugee visits.

If you read this and find yourself interested in helping to make donation deliveries with me, let me know! It’s a great way to meet some of our clients and know better how to pray for them. We could also use some help with the playground, late notice, I know. We are thankful to everyone for their donations and to Operation Broken Silence for their plan to help us tomorrow with our playground. We could not have been able to help as much without your support. I wish I could take more pictures for you to see the faces of the families, but I am unable to because we try to protect our friends. Just let me know if your interested in coming with myself or Deborah ever to make a visit. I am certain our clients would love to meet you and thank you themselves.

School has started back and our refugee families were all very excited about the new year. Thanks to The Church at Schilling Farms and Central Church in Collierville, TN for donating enough school supplies and backpacks to hand out to about 65-70 refugee children in need. Asha’s Refuge focused first on those refugee students who have disabilities themselves or parents who are disabled, widowed or single parents, parents with no education who struggle to find work or elderly parents. This focus covered pretty much all of the families we have as clients.

It was so good to see the children happily receive their supplies. One 1st grade child, a girl from Bhutan, giggled and smiled enthusiastically when she saw that she had a brand new box of crayons. A single parent of a disabled child, a teen and a middle school aged boy immediately lifted her hands and repeatedly thanked God when she opened her door and saw that we were standing at her door with three filled backpacks. One Kindergarten girl (who we had last year in our Kindergarten Readiness Program) was so excited to hold her very own pink school bag. A Somali boy, about age 13, enjoyed choosing his sisters and brothers backpacks out of the back of our vehicle with a smile on his face and gestures of thanks from his heart. Parents and children were grateful and they want to tell you, “Thank You”!

Going to school is exciting for refugee families. Older children realize the blessing because some remember what it was like to not have an opportunity to go to school or to try to go to school during war or while dealing with issues of famine in their land. Parents are extremely grateful for a way to educate their children. One parent once told me, “Education is Wealth”. That statement and how that thought may resonate with many refugee parents has stuck in my mind. Many American children dread getting up to go to school. Many American children go to school and do not put forth their best effort. It’s interesting to see the differences in the hearts of so many of our refugee friends who will attend school this year. It’s sad when refugee children go to school excited and are surrounded by the sights of other students who may act out, are disruptive or disrespectful to their teachers. This is shocking to most all refugee students. It’s not only the children that have a respect and pride for their school, but their parents do. And when parents are excited about the school year, this seems to overwhelmingly transfer over into the hearts of the children.

Please pray for the refugee families, American and other families, teachers and the school board as this new school year takes its course. And thank you Church again for all the school supplies as it makes it a lot easier for a refugee child to confidently walk into an American school. It also helps out our teachers and our parents. Thanks Church!

It’s almost time for school to start back. Each new year refugee parents struggle to provide their children with backpacks and school supplies. Not only is the cost difficult for them understanding the required list is often confusing. We need your help.

Asha’s Refuge is collecting school supplies and backpacks. We need backpacks, fabric lunch boxes, wide ruled paper, glue sticks, color pencils, pencils and pens, fiskars blunt tip scissors, quart size zip log bags, baby wipes, Kleenex, 10 pack markers, 24 pack crayons, plastic rulers, pencil pouches, 2″ 3-ring binders, spiral notebooks, highlighters, red ink pens, plastic pocket folders w/ brads, 3×5″ index cards, water color packs, sharpie’s and 1st and 2nd grade writing tablets.

We are also in need of school uniforms…all sizes. Navy or Khaki pants or long skirts (ankle length), white polo shirts and white children’s or teenage sized socks.

If you can help, you may bring any of these supplies to anyone on our Asha’s Staff or contact me, Jamie Koch, at 901-292-3101 or jamie@ashasrefuge.org. Thank you for your help!

Asha’s Refuge has held weekly English Conversation and Kindergarten Readiness Classes. These classes aim to assist adult refugees with conversational, reading and written English as well as help prepare preschool refugees for what is expected of them in Kindergarten. These classes are only a very small part of what our volunteers and staff do throughout each week with refugee clients.

As we approach the new school year and begin our classes in our new building location in the Binghampton/Highland Heights area at Highland Heights Baptist Church (675 National) we have decided it would be a good time to use a more appropriate name to describe our classes as a whole. Our English Conversation and Kindergarten Readiness Classes will now be referred to as American Life and Language (ALL). As Deborah pointed out, our classes are open to ALL peoples with refugee or a green card from previous refugee status. While we will still be teaching English at a conversational, reading and written level we believe the new title gives a better sense of what our organizational goals are. This title will also be appropriate for our Kindergarten Readiness program for preschoolers as they too will be learning about American Life and Language but of course on a level that is more fitting for their age. American Life and Language allows us to speak about our current and future classes as a whole without a mouthful of class titles. In addition to the Kindergarten Readiness and English Conversation classes we currently hold, we envision a future with small group classes teaching art, driving, computers, job skills, and citizenship classes. We will continue to also walk along side of our refugee friends teaching them about daily life here in America such as understanding their mail, registering for school and communicating with their children’s teachers, exhibiting acceptable behavior, social and cultural skills, making doctors appointments, understanding basic health and doctors orders, going to the grocery store, using available community resources and completing forms.

Please be in prayer for Asha’s Refuge as we press forward in doing what we believe the Lord has invited us to do. There are challenges and always more things to understand or more needs to address. Thank you for your support.

Each year about 200 families who have been displaced by war, famine and persecution are resettled by the UN and State Department right here in Memphis, TN.  Most refugees have never experienced the love of Jesus Christ.   Because of His love for us, Asha’s Refuge serves the most disadvantaged refugees who experience many challenges in successfully resettling.  We will be holding our quarterly volunteer orientation on Saturday, August 25 at 9:30am. If you are interested in helping in this ministry in some way, this is a great opportunity to learn more about the work of Asha’s Refuge and how God may be calling you to be the hands and feet of Jesus to Memphis area refugees.

The location is The Church at Schilling Farms, 1035 Winchester Rd, Collierville TN 38017.  We’d love to know you are coming, so please contact Deborah or Jamie through the information on our contact page.  ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

In the silence while waiting on Gods direction through much prayer, heartfelt tears and careful consideration we believe we have heard our answer. Asha’s Refuge is pleased to announce we have building space in the Binghampton area of Memphis, TN. Beginning in August, Asha’s Refuge will hold its usual English Conversation, Kindergarten Readiness and life skills classes in our shared space at Highland Heights Baptist Church at 675 National, Memphis, TN 38122. This church is located at the corner of Highland and National and can easily be seen off of Summer Avenue. Highland Heights has partnered with a few other ministries that share their building space and we feel each of them aligns beautifully with the heart of our refugee ministry through Asha’s Refuge. The more we get to know the members and history of Highland Heights Baptist Church, the more it becomes apparent that God has prepared this church for such a time as this.

As I look forward to what is in store for Asha’s Refuge and refugees in the future, I cannot help but be reminded of the blessings, goodness and true support that we have experienced over the past year from New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Germantown, TN led by our friend, Pastor Esther. New Bethel Church open heartedly welcomed refugees through Asha’s Refuge into their church home and sacrificially served within the ministry even though it was an area of serving others in a much different way than they may have ever experienced. Relationships were formed and we are certain they will continue as Asha’s Refuge serves closer in proximity to the refugee community.

Asha’s Refuge will continue to have its suburbial office at The Church at Schilling Farms in Collierville, TN, our home church in order to continue serving our suburbial volunteers, manage organization of the ministry, hold various meetings such as quarterly orientation and house our client files. Our pastor, Dr. Scott Payne, is extremely supportive of our ministry and is excited about our Kingdom focus serving the Nations.

Thank you New Bethel, The Church at Schilling Farms, and Highland Heights Baptist Church. Your commitment to open your hearts to a people in need magnifies the heart of Christ as The Church as a whole. We look forward to what is to come and feel assured that the Place of Hope mentioned in our long term vision is coming together just as
God wills it.

My friend that was in her second surgery last week is doing well. She called me yesterday and said, “Jamie, I miss you big”. How sweet. I think that means she wants me to visit soon. I saw her last week but she wants me to visit more than once or twice a week. I know she gets bored and in her situation, her mind begins to work on her. She’s not alone. Many refugee men and women get depressed. Spending time with them to encourage and be a friend helps them a lot. The neat thing is, it helps me too!

We are always looking for people willing to offer their time to someone in need of a friend. If your looking for a new friend, I know friends who are looking for you. I’d love to help make the connection. There are refugee men, women, teens and children of all ages who would truly enjoy your friendship. (Sorry, I sound like a tv commercial.) Please don’t sit around and wait…give me a call…perhaps if you call me now, I will even have two great new friends for you to meet. 🙂