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.

visit from the parental units

this past weekend i was blessed to host my parents at my house in kansas city. the troopers that they are, they spent 12 hours in a car (or should i say "the ugly") to get here. but i think it was worth the drive!

we of course spent a large portion of our time together eating at various restaurants - getting lots of ideas of what to do, and sometimes what not to do, at schmucker's. i started the weekend by writing down each thing we all ordered, but soon forgot as we were eating such delicious food! i of course made them return to my two favorites: Blanc Burgers & Bottles as well as Oklahoma Joe's for classic kansas city barbeque. but i have to say my bestest culinary adventure that weekend was eating CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER PIE from the one and only Schmucker's! dad brought out the deliciousness and it was by far the best thing i have eaten in months. definitely beats the typical beans and rice i eat on a daily basis! in the words of my aunt cynthia... "YUMMY!"

we also spent a fair amount of time working outside around the house. we drove about a half hour southeast of the city to pick up a rain barrel from some old warehouse.... 250 gallon bucket for $30! sign me up! but then we had to clean it and dad spent a long time hooking it up right to the gutter and getting a good valve for the end of it so we can water our GARDEN! yay! we also put up a fence around the garden to keep out the stray dogs that have been making their way into our beds of vegetables on an all-too-regular basis these days. and of course mom made two beautiful planters of flowers for our front stoop like she always does for my house! i am so grateful for all the help my parents lent this past weekend to beautify/mejorar my home :)

it was a lovely weekend that went all too fast (although i am grateful to be back sleeping in my own bed again...) my parents all the bestest ever. maybe someday soon i will live somewhere where they can visit me more than once or twice a year! here's hoping ...

the planting has begun!

The planting has begun...

My housemate john planted 72 tomato plants (yikes!) along with a select few other veggies to be transplanted later...

Our land is FULL of rocks. Everywhere. Pieces of foundation. Its ridiculous. So needless to say, using a tiller is out of the question. So we just use our brute strength, a hoe, and the garden weasel to make our raised beds by hand!

Here is the status of the herb garden. I transplanted some garlic chives from over in the other garden, and I also planted parsley and cilantro.

Here is the rest of the land we have to work with. Still lots to be done, lots of beds to be raised, lots of fun to be had!

The garden with the VS house in the background. Looking good!

snakes.

a few weeks ago john and i trompsed out into the plot across the street to get started on clearing out what will become our garden. we spent hours raking out brush, bushes, trash, etc. from the land. as i was raking out a big section of hay, our neighbors came running as they heard me let out a big scream. there was a (in my opinion) HUGE snake writhing around in what we quickly named "the snake pit." john took the snake across the street to an empty piece of land. and i kept raking. until i found another one. and another. and another. we ended up removing 6 snakes from the pit and i'm pretty sure i heard others rustling about in there. oh the adventures of starting up this garden....

spring is here.... ?

After several lovely days of 70+ degree weather these past few weeks, today it snowed.

but that did not deter me and my housemate john for getting an official start on our garden! now, i have never really gardened before, but luckily john's job, and his knowledge, is all about gardening. so my, our, garden will be in good hands!

this morning we started by planning what things we would like to grow in our garden, then dividing them into families, and trying to map out what our garden will look like...

across the street from us there is an empty plot of land. it appears as if someone used to garden on it, but has been somewhat abandoned lately...

(here is a look at the plot across the street)

lucky for us, RDA (Rosedale Development Association...[Rosedale is the neighborhood i live in]) officially "purchased" this land, and has given the MVS house permission to use it for gardening. it looks like it's going to be a lot of work, but i'm super pumped about giving it a shot!

(here my housemate john scopes out the scene)

(here is a view of the plot with the VS house in the background)

in addition to the numerous vegetables and other fun items we hope to grow across the street, we have a little slice of land next to our house that has been used by past VSers as a garden of sorts. we have decided this year to make it our herb garden full of basil, parsley, cilantro, and other goodies. today, despite the snow and sub-freezing temperatures, john and i trompsed out to get started on our herb garden.

(here is a look at the "garden" before we got started)

after a couple of hours of work, this small piece of land was transformed and is ready for some herbs to planted!

mmm pretty soil!

stay tuned for future updates on my gardening adventures this spring/summer!

my first airport pickup.

the sun is just setting as jessica and i hop in the catholic charities van and head out on our adventure. we make a quick stop to pick up B., a bhutanese refugee who was resettled in kansas city about 2 months ago. he and his friend are giddy with anticipation as they join jessica and i in the van. we hop on the highway and head north towards the kansas city airport, about 25 minutes north of our office.

we arrive 6 minutes before the flight is supposed to get in. B. and his friend follow us into the airport as we try to find the gate out of which our new arrivals will come. as we anxiously wait, B. explains to us that it is his brother-in-law (his wife's brother) along with his brother-in-law's wife and son, and father-in-law, that will be arriving shortly. while we wait i wonder how this new family will know where to go when they get off the plane. jessica reassures me that the big IOM (international organization for migration) stickers they wear are like a flashing red light and all stewards/stewardesses are trained to help people wearing those stickers to find their way.

in a moment, i see a bhutanese family cautiously walking out the exitway, apprehensive about each step and unsure of what lies ahead of them, what their immediate and longterm futures hold. B. goes up to them, but no words are exchanged, nor embraces. B. puts his hand on his brother-in-law's shoulder and says to me and jessica "this is the one." "welcome to the united states!" she says, even though they don't understand a word. the young boy with them quickly warms to his uncle that he hasn't seen in a long time, but the adults remain very quiet and apprehensive. we lead them to the baggage claim where we pick up the two bags that they have brought with them. 4 people. 2 bags. all of their possessions.

after a snafu with seating arrangements in the van (involving the newly arrived grandpa sitting in the booster seat instead of the boy) we make sure everyone has their seatbelts on and we are on our way. a rough bump in the parking results in B.'s head banging loudly with a very loud thump against the window and i spend about the next 5 minutes trying to subdue my laughter. these new refugees probably think i am nuts. nevertheless, we are on our way, headed back south towards the city.

we pull up to J.R.'s house, in a public housing complex. J.R.'s wife, B.'s wife, and the new arrival are all siblings. Although we try to make a slick exit, jessica and i are herded into the home along with everyone else. there sits grandpa, a little ninety-something-year-old bhutanese man with no teeth, sandals on his feet despite the snow, and a wood walking stick in his hand. what a delight. despite our protests we are forced to sit and enjoy some conversation with this large bhutanese family. B.'s wife immediately brings jessica and i glasses of cold pop, which we apprehensively accept, wondering why we are being offered beverages before this new arrival family that has spent their last 24 hours in travel leaving all they have ever known to start a new life in the united states.

it is getting late and jessica and i eventually leave, wishing the new family a restful night's sleep. as we head back towards the office i sit in wonder, completely unable to grasp what this new family is thinking at this moment in their lives. i have no idea what they have been through, and frankly have no true grasp of what their new realities will be like. i wish them the best. and who knows, maybe in 90 days after they've aged out of the reception and placement program, i might get to be their new case manager!