I have found that getting involved with refugee outreach is so much more than just teaching English or having fun with kids. It's about connecting with people, hearing their stories, and becoming part of each others' lives. And it is amazing to watch how God can direct women from totally different backgrounds to cross paths and find that we actually have so much in common!
Having prayed for a creative way to advance my language learning, I first met Rafia after asking a friend if she knew someone with whom I could practice speaking Arabic in an informal sort of English/Arabic language exchange. She then introduced me to Rafia, a young woman from East Africa who speaks fluent Arabic (among other languages) but very little English. She was delighted to meet someone who attempted to speak/understand her language, and I was delighted (and a little overwhelmed) to practice my very rusty and limited Arabic! She immediately recognized my colloquial dialect, and that's when we discovered our "Egyptian connection." She had spent nearly three years in Egypt prior to gaining refugee status in the U.S.
As we reminisced about the charms and the woes of life in Cairo, I realized in a new way how God never wastes anything that happens in our past, and He has a way of answering our prayers in creative and unexpected ways! But it also reminded me how sovereign God is and how small this world is. As a kid, I had carelessly observed countless refugees attempting to pass through Egypt from oppressive and war-torn countries and hoping toward an eventual better life in the West. Now I was chatting in the home of one of them, welcoming her on the other end of her journey to "my country, America." Realizing this was incredibly humbling; we had literally walked the same streets, yet we come from vastly different walks of life. I don't know why God has allowed me the blessings of being a citizen of a free country and living in safety with my Christian family, or why He would allow another girl in her 20's to arrive in America only after a possibly permanent separation from her home and family and nearly losing her life. But God knows His purposes, and He has given His followers the opportunity to be a part of that purpose as channels of His love. "For the love of Christ compels us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf" (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
*Names changed for privacy reasons. To respect the privacy of individuals mentioned in this post, please do not share this information in a public setting or on social media.*
