Helping Our Refugees

About a year ago, I felt like we should volunteer to help a refugee organization, Utah Valley Refugees. So I called them and gave them our information but nothing happened. About six months later, in June, someone called me and asked if we were still interested in helping and I said yes. So we were assigned to a family that lived really close to us. They had recently moved over from Democratic Republic of Congo. This family ended up being really hard to help for a variety of reasons. So the organization assigned us to a different family and that has been working out much better.

This family is a single mother and her four children. They recently moved here from a different state, leaving a bad family situation. They have lived in the USA for several years so they know more English and have a better idea of what they need to do. I have been teaching the mother English over the phone and have also helped her in other ways--get groceries, take her to the bank, etc.

Tonight we went over and played card games. The oldest boy was feeling kind of grumpy because what he really wants is a new video game. But the other kids were enjoying themselves.

Most of the time, I really like helping this family because it feels like they have real needs and I can help solve at least some of the problems. It's a good feeling to know we are making a difference.

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Our Cousin Drew

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