Those involved call it a “God Thing”.
Westminster and Floris United Methodist Church, almost 300 miles away in Herndon, Va., came together recently to help an Afghan refugee family called to Washington, D.C., for an asylum hearing with U.S. Immigration. The two churches made the connection with one week’s notice, getting the family from Greensboro to D.C. and back smoothly and safely.
Nancy Dezan, a member of Westminster’s Refugee Resettlement Committee and a transplant from the D.C. area, reached out to Floris UMC, where she worshipped for decades before moving to Greensboro. Nancy knew the family, two parents and three young girls, could never make the trip alone. No one in the family speaks English, and things we take for granted like elevators and hotel room key cards are new to them.
“Someone was with them every step of the way,” Nancy says. “This partnership is awesome. It warms my heart.”
The family called to D.C. for an asylum interview is one of three Afghan refugee families adopted by Westminster and supported by the resettlement committee. As Nancy expected, Floris UMC was eager to help. Floris UMC volunteers met the family at the train station, provided transportation and food, and placed the family in a hotel a block’s walk from the immigration office.
The story took another serendipitous turn as Jenny Bradley, a longtime member at Westminster, stepped in to help. Jenny had relocated to Arlington, Va., for the same reason Nancy moved to Greensboro: She wanted to be close to her grandchildren. Jenny, who lives a mile from the immigration office, served as a de facto guide for the family on the day of the interview. She met them at their hotel with breakfast, walked them to the immigration office, and stayed with them all day through the process.
“The thing that was beautiful about it, frankly, is that I recognized the need, I was there, and it all just came together,” Jenny says. “I still consider Westminster my church home, and to be able to support that team of people meant the world to me.”
The family, who left everything behind when they fled Afghanistan, are brave and “incredibly grateful” for the simplest things, Nancy says, even if it’s only an umbrella on a rainy day. “I’ve learned so much about their culture, but I also see how appreciative they are of just little things. It gives me a whole different perspective.”
Nancy says Westminster’s resettlement committee is hardworking and dedicated. “They are amazing, and those volunteers in the D.C. area are just as dedicated and just as wonderful. It gives me hope that there are really, really good people.”