New Roots for Refugees

Perhaps many of you recognize these pictures - perhaps you have recently seen them in a common Mennonite publication. Mennonite Mission Network's magazine "Beyond Ourselves" did a cover story on the New Roots for Refugees program - a program run partly by Catholic Charities of NE Kansas, where I work. My housemate, John, volunteers at the farm where the refugees spend their days toiling over their gardens, getting ready for selling at markets. This program is awesome, but I won't bore you with my version of it. I encourage you to check out the following links that have great information about this program:

Article in MMN's magaine "Beyond Ourselves"

New Roots for Refugees (Catholic Charities website)

New Roots Blog (Click on the tab "About Us" for a general info)

world refugee day!

This past Sunday Catholic Charities celebrated World Refugee Day with a little shindig. After spending the morning on an adventure to pick up an entire palette of watermelons from Price Chopper that Rainbow Mennonite donated to the cause, I headed to the office where a big fiesta was set up. I worked a booth with two Karenni women and one Chin woman who were selling AMAZING things they had made - scarves and bags woven on an awesome loom and adorable baby clothes hand-knitted to perfection. There were also great activities for kids, and ethnic cultural performances put on by the refugees in our community. The news even came to cover the event, and I briefly made my moment of fame on NBC (although where you see me in the shot it's me trying to get out of the picture so one of the refugee women who made the items could get in the shot!) Ah well. Check it out:

Click here for the article by NBC.