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Post by CU Service Leadership.

Day 5

Today was our final day here in Atlanta.

As we write this post, we are finishing up our final packing and cleaning duties and will head to the airport at 4am to return to Portland.  We are scheduled to be in Portland by 11am on Saturday May 3rd. This was completed at 3:03am.

It began as we awoke and headed back out to Clarkston to spend our final morning volunteering with a senior ESL class at Clarkston Community Center.  Once we arrived, however, we learned that the classes were not taking place today and that there was no other programming today that we could jump into.  This freed up a morning for us because we did not have any afternoon service planned.  Luckily, despite not being able to volunteer, we were able to donate our leftover food from the week to the center so the students could have some snacks or treats when they return.  Our team was sad to know we would not be able to explore a new population of refugees and a new age group we had not worked with throughout the week, but also recognized the opportunity to spend more time at the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic Site.  With this change in time, we were able to secure a reservation to tour Dr. King's birth-home.

We headed back into Atlanta and were able to reserve an afternoon tour of Dr. King's birth-home.  This changed up the schedule even more and the team opted to check out a local business' museum.  We took a trip to the World of Coca Cola to learn more about the company's history, it's impact on the Atlanta (and global) economies, and tasted over 60 flavors from around the world of the popular soft-drink.  Our next stop was lunch at a local BBQ restaurant which was delicious, authentic cuisine.  The rest of our afternoon was spent at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic site.  We were able to tour his birth-home and hear stories of his childhood, including stories of friendships, broken hearts, sibling rivalries, and gaining an understanding of racism and discrimination at a young age.   It was deeply impactful for our team to be in the home of "Little M.L." (as the tour guide called him).  After the tour and our team visiting Ebenezer Baptist Church, Dr. King's burial site, and seeing the neighborhood he grew up in, we spent some time reflecting on the week outside of the Kings' burial site reflecting pool discussing how we would take this week home.

Our team has gained a deeper understanding of the meaning of 'neighbor' and what it truly means to be a refugee and experience having to resettle to a foreign country.  Many of our team members expressed having stereotypes broken and learning more about the various types of resettlement processes.  We discussed how the experience of having to leave a situation and transition into a new unknown environment will be something we will experience ourselves throughout our lives and we will encounter through each of our careers.  Sometimes we may work with refugees who are relocating internationally and sometimes we may be working with individuals who have left families and homes to move to new and/or strange places.  All of these individuals experience loneliness, fear, uncertainty, and disconnection from their homes and previous lives.  Through this week, we have been able to better discern and discover how best to empathize with these individuals.

The end of the night was a spectacular show (literally). Our night ended with an amazing team bonding activity-an Atlanta Braves baseball game. The Braves played the San Francisco Giants and ended up losing to them 2-1. Even though the game was not won, we had an amazing time. Half of us even had a chance to dance on the Jumbo-Tron. The night was made even more spectacular with an amazing fireworks show at the end of the game. Naturally, after the fireworks we went to Waffle House (a delicious restaurant) that satisfied the hunger on waffles could subside.

Day 4

• clean out storage/set up mattresses
• take items to apartment and set them up
• lunch - met Shannon from Breakaway
• after school program ending party, finishing science projects
• KABOBS!
• storytime and reflection, preparing for our final day

Today was a great day!

This morning we met up with Melanie from Lutheran Services of Georgia who introduced us to Vedad and Christian who would be helping us clean out a storage unit LSG uses to store household items that are given to refugees for their first apartments as they arrive in the United States.  We spent some time cleaning out and organizing the storage unit so that it could become a mini 'store' for those coming to collect items for apartment to be set up and ready for those who arrive.  Several of our team members went to set up and construct the furniture that would be in the apartment.  The family we were setting up for will arrive at midnight tonight, so it was quite a morning of getting ready!

After cleaning out the storage unit, the crew from our team that helped with the heavy lifting and furniture assembly returned to gather smaller household items to take to the apartment we were to finish setting up.  Thanks to the encouragement from Christian and the diligence of our team, Vedad was able to quickly pick out some items and get us on the road to setting up for the soon-to-arrive family.  Below are some photos from setting up the apartment.

We spent some time over lunch with Shannon from Break Away - a national alternative break organization.  Our team enjoyed hearing more about the national movement they are a part of through their service.   Shannon works here in Atlanta at the national office and was able to hear from our team about how the week had been so far and shared information about the different ways groups around the country (and globe) are collaborating in their efforts.

This afternoon was both our final afternoon with the students in the after-school program and the final afternoon for this school year of the after school program.  The kid were treated to a celebration with extra snacks and we were able to have some great last moments playing games, triumphing over science projects, and even had the chance to meet many of the parents of the students.  It was bittersweet to say goodbye to the children, but it was great to hear from them how much of an impact we had on them throughout the week.  We also took time to appreciate Clarkston and Mrs. Daniella with a "Certificate of Awesomeness!" 

Tomorrow we will be heading to work at Clarkston Community Center's ESL program with refugees who are seniors.  We are excited for this opportunity because it is a new population we have not been able to work with this week so far.  After finishing up our service for the week, we will head to lunch and back to the MLK National Historic Site and hopefully catch a tour of his birth home.  This is slated to be a great experience especially if Wednesday's preview is any indication.  We have 1 full day left here in Atlanta, so pray that our team goes out on a great note and are able to wrap up the week successfully.  

Day 3 on Day 4

This post is from Wednesday.

Today our group spent the morning working with Lutheran Services of Georgia assisting refugees who have recently resettled to the Atlanta area and are working to learn English, create email accounts, and develop resumes to apply for jobs.  LSG helps refugees who are resettling gain employment so that the time that the resettlement grant they are provided has been fully utilized, they are gainfully employed in a job where their skills are meaningful.  When we arrived at LSG, we took some time to do some morning stretches to prepare for the day.

After properly preparing for the day, our group welcomed the refugee families to LSG and were even able to reconnect with several of the families we met on Tuesday when visiting homes.  This was a great surprise and blessing!  As families arrived, each of our team members paired up with an individual or family to help with English language practice and develop natural conversation skills.  Once everyone had arrived, we heard the stories of one of the current women who had recently resettled to Clarkston, GA from Somalia.  She is only 24, which is close to the age of several of our team members; this was especially impactful as we reflected on her experience vs. ours and how resilient and determined she was despite having to resettle without her husband.  She is hoping he will be able to resettle to the USA soon.  They registered separately in the refugee camp rather than as husband and wife so that they could receive additional food rations.  This is a common and sometimes necessary decision because, even as a single mom with one child, they only received 3lbs of grain rations (the main food) for an entire month.  Her husband was able to receive food separately and they were able to have some additional food they would not have otherwise had.  The average person eats around 5 lbs of food per day, so it can be easy to see why her family made this decision.   This was shocking to many of our team members and her story left an impact on us.  

Next, the team heard from a current LSG staff member who had resettled to the Clarkston area more than 30 years ago from Iraq and began working at LSG as his first job.  He shared with the volunteers and refugees attending the classes how much more advanced and helpful the services offered to refugees have become since he resettled.  He discussed how he did not have a case manager or a matching grant to help with the first few months' expenses and transitions.  He encouraged those in attendance to pursue employment and work to learn English.  It was great to hear two very different stories of resettlement success.   We were also able to teach "Happy Birthday" to the clients and sing to Suelemon, who's birthday is May 1!

Our next task involved working with those who were in need of a resume and email account to become employed.  Many of the individuals we worked with were very early in learning English and had never created a resume before.  In many of their home countries, there was either no need because individuals traditionally remain in the same career throughout their lifetime, or they had been living in a refugee camp so long, it was difficult to include any employment.  Our team worked through language barriers with the help of translators and using Google images to determine which skills the clients we worked with had.  This was extremely helpful, however, it became apparent that we were now experiencing similar difficulties or frustrations as those we were helping have been experiencing when trying to communicate to us.  We were not able to understand some of the types of jobs, names of companies or cities, or translate the types of skills effectively from their lives in their home countries to traditional jobs in the United States.  Our team worked diligently to prepare resumes with as much correct and helpful information as possible, but the LSG staff mentioned that resumes often took several reviews by clients as their English improves to be fully ready to submit to employers.  Overall, it was a very impactful experience to help with this process and also to begin to understand (on a much smaller level) what it's like when you are working to communicate and there is a major language or cultural breakdown.  

Before heading to lunch, several of our team members were able to spend more time with the LSG staff sharing our stories from the week and learning about future involvement opportunities as a team and individually.  We have truly enjoyed partnering with Melanie and LSG in general.  It will be a bittersweet moment to say goodbye (hopefully temporarily) to Melanie tomorrow morning.  

The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic site is just down the street from LSG, so our team took some time to visit this site and look around the exhibit hall that detailed many of the stories of Dr. King's life and accomplishments.  We will head back to the site to fully explore his birth home, church (Ebenezer Baptist), and see he and his wife's burial site near Freedom Hall that honors additional civil rights leaders from the past and present.  This was a very meaningful preview of our visit to come and the team was moved by the many displays and exhibits they were able to see in our brief time.  Atlanta (and MLK) have been epicenters for Civil Rights movements and Atlanta is now one of the most popular places to resettle.  This is no accident.  The team discussed how MLK (and other civil rights leaders) paved the way for refugee resettlement to be possible in the United States. 

En route to the Clarkston Community Center we had naptime 

Today was our third day with the students at the after-school program.  Our time today consisted of working on science projects again, homework, and teaching four square to the students.  Most of the science projects were finished and the students were treated to afternoon entertainment by a local musician - Haywood.  

The storms have held off for most of the week during the day and we have yet to experience the washouts or severe weather that was forecasted for the week. In anticipation of thunderstorms, the concert we had planned to attend tonight was cancelled.  Instead of heading downtown immediately after finishing science projects and wrapping up for the day with the after-school program, we were able to experience local cuisine at Kathmandu Kitchen in the same area as the Thriftown grocery store where we met Amina on Tuesday.  This was a great experience!  Much spicier than some of our team expected, but the hospitality from the owner was fantastic and it was a treat to be able to not only support a local family, but to experience a new type of cuisine - Nepali.  

Despite the concert being cancelled, our team still opted to check out Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta and get a glimpse of the skyline from a new part of town (for us).  This was a great way to relax halfway through the week and our team was even treated to a music and light show at the Fountain of Rings.  After the fountains, we found a quick Geocache and headed back to our housing for a night full of great discussion and a full 10 minutes of laughter!  See some pictures below from our evening.