Atlanta Day 5 and 6

Day 5

We started our day at LSG helping them deliver bags of rice to about 10 refugee families. We visited with Augustine, a recent refugee that has been here for about 3 months. He was from Congo. After we finished delivering rice we just relaxed a little since it was cooler and was raining. We went to Inspire at 4pm. The students had the choice to play basketball or participate in art, which was origami. I personally choose origami which was really fun. During the exploration lesson, we discussed what is and isn't okay to say to a person experiencing homelessness. Megan, Cecilia and Chris led the lesson in which this was discussed, and also encouraged the students to come up with good ways to help people experiencing homelessness. We had the students put together little care packages that included some simple toiletries. It was a busy last day with the students, overall the week with them was great and I'm sure that we will miss them all very much.

Day 6

A big Thanks to KIND bars for their donation to our group. These bars were #kindaawesome and you should definitely #givekindatry 

Today, our last full day in Atlanta was our free day. We said our goodbyes to everyone at LSG and Inspire yesterday. We started our day going to the Atlanta Zoo which was awesome! We saw all kinds of cool animals including baby panda bears, they are so cute! After we all finished walking around the zoo we met up with Dan, Annie's good friend that works at Spelman College. Dan arranged a tour of the campus for us as well as provided us with an awesome lunch in the cafeteria. Once the tour was over we met back up with Dan and Annie and Annie showed us the houses that she has here in Georgia. We decide to head back to Rehoboth where we are staying and relax before our early flight home. We are still debating on whether to stay up the whole night or try and get some sleep before we need to leave to the airport. It was definitely a great week in Atlanta Georgia; filled with service and fun and for sure a trip of a lifetime. 

-Sami

Atlanta 2017 Day 4

Today we had an unexpected morning, as we thought we were going to be directly working with clients. Instead God had a different plan for us. There were six clients that were expected to show up at the downtown office of LSG, but none showed. We were originally going to help them in setting up their voicemail and teaching them basic job entry skills, through resume building, one-on-one conversations and actives that would help them advance in their English language learning. Due to no-shows, we ended up filing paperwork, documents, etc. This was frustrating in the beginning when we were assigned these tasks for a couple different reasons, one feeling these documents were too important to be put in our hands, and two because we had expected to meet and interact with these individuals. It’s hard when things don’t go as planned, but that’s why it’s so important to be flexible and go into service projects with an open-mind. Many of us felt as though we were doing the staff’s work, although taking a step backing and realizing what we were doing, really did make a huge difference in our work and to LSG. This allowed to think through things and remember what we were doing and why we were doing it. It brought some new and unexpected perspectives to our volunteer projects, and I think that’s what the intentions were. Just because we didn’t work directly with the clients, we did served them through putting their files away, filling out paper work and organizing in order for them to get the proper services they need and are in search for. We were able to see behind the senses and get a feel for what the staff at Lutheran Services of Georgia, does, which I believe was fulfilling. Service is service, regardless of how one is completing projects and I definitely think we needed to experience that, in a new light.
 Our next activity we did in the afternoon was visit the Martin Luther King Jr. national memorial center. We were able to tour the original Baptist church his grandpa built, and where he was baptized in and preached in. We also saw his grave site, along with his wife’s and look through the many different walk-throughs in the museum. This was a self-guided tour, which was beneficial because we were able to go at our own pace and really take in the movement and the life he and others lived. This was overwhelming and impactful because of how much intake we were able to visualize and read about, in regards to the struggles against fighting segregation and oppression, seeking to obtain equal justice. His center captured the incredible movement through social change. It helped by taking a step back, and just taking it all in slowly, embracing his philosophy. -Cecilia

 Today we went to INSPIRE the after school program again, I got to spend time with Ayub during the designated homework time. He is quite and smart. He was trying to make me do his homework, by cracking jokes at me and pretending as if he doesn't know how. I pushed him to do his homework, he completed a writing assignment for teacher appreciation week. Reading his letter to his teacher was heartfelt because his teacher is inspiring him to get good grades so he can go to college. Then we had 20 minutes left to finish his next assignment for social studies, he was getting off track a few times but I continued to keep him focused. When it was crunched time Ayub pulled through and finished both assignments. Ayub is very smart and friendly, today was all in all a great time. -Julia

Atlanta 2017 Day 3

Today was the day that we finally got to experience the Atlanta sun that we have been prepped for.  Because of this, we took advantage of our free time to ride up to and hike down of Stone Mountain (picture from the top is below).  We spent the morning visiting with refugee families from, Somalia, Congo, and Syria. It was eye opening and humbling experience to hear the stories of these families, some of which were our age.  At INSPIRE this afternoon we were able to teach a class, and share with students lessons on homelessness.  It was great to see the students engage in activities that we had prepared.  After dinner, our brave leader Alyssa and newly graduated Pauline, saved us all from the the residential cockroaches that have invaded our room. If you don't hear from us in the next 24 hours call for help!

-Megan and Pauline

Atlanta 2017 Day 2

Still smiles after our first day of working with students at Inspire. Participated in different activities and enjoyed sharing stories. A full day of orientations and learning about the Refugee crisis and resettlement in the world. So pleased that we can do our part to make a difference. Loving the weather. We have sun!! Enjoying our Southern experience. Had dinner at Mary Mac's

Tomorrow we look forward to visiting with refugee families and working with refugee students in the afternoon.

The ABLE Atlanta Team. 

Atlanta 2017

Hello family and friends! We have made it to Atlanta after a long day of travel. Stay tuned for more exciting news as we have our orientation and begin working with the Inspire after school program tomorrow. Thank you all for your prayers and support as we share this service experience together! -Alyssa

Day Three: Success!

Today we woke up feeling a little sleepy but excited for what the day would bring! In the morning, we returned to Lutheran Services of Georgia and spent a few hours in an ESL class with several refugee adults (and a couple of adorable kids!) playing games and speaking English with the clients. Some of the clients came from countries such as Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, and others. We talked about our similarities and differences, listened to the refugees share where they came from, and played two rounds of Simon Says in which a 9 year old from the DRC proved to be the true champion! It was a great experience for us all to meet such a diverse group of people and converse with them.

We had a nice lunch break before heading back to the after school program, so we took advantage of being in downtown Atlanta. It soon became the hunt for some good chicken for lunch! Some people ventured into Georgia State University and found a Chick Fil-A, while another group found Gus' Famous Fried Chicken. The rest of the time was spent exploring different parts of downtown Atlanta and taking in all the city has to offer.

This afternoon, we returned to Inspire and got to see the refugee students once again. We worked with them on making "boats" out of straws and tape. The objective was to be able to make a boat that could hold 25 pennies and float in a bucket of water for at least 10 seconds. It was fun to see what they came up with! We then spent the rest of the time helping students with homework, and leading small groups of students in "Reader's Theater" in which they practiced lines in a play and performed it for the group. All in all, it was another wonderful day! We are learning a lot about everything that refugees have to do and learn when they come to the United States. Until next time!

Day two: A breakthrough day!

Today the team met with a group of representatives from Lutheran Services of Georgia (LSG) at The Rock of Ages Lutheran Church who took our team to meet with refugee families from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria and Nepal. These families generously welcomed us into their homes with open arms, and warm hospitality. LSG staff served as translators for our team as English language skills varied but were mostly limited for our hosts as they have all very recently found refuge in America. Highlights from the visits included sharing Syrian coffee and open cross-cultural dialogue, learning some french from Congolese refugee Mama Susanne, and drinking tea in the home of Nepalese refugees who were so friendly, it was like we'd already met.

We had a phenomenal buffet lunch of international foods such as lamb stew, samosas and lentils at the Dekalb Farmers Market, an African market not too far from our accommodations. After we refreshed and some of us napped, we spent the afternoon back at the Inspire program where we played ultimate frisbee, elbow and octopus tag and did a fun and interactive geometry lesson with the kids. Today some of the more quiet kids really came out of their shells.

After Waffle House dinner, we shared stories and reflections about the day and took advantage of our private basketball court at the Rehoboth Baptist Church where we are staying. Looking forward to another awesome day of service tomorrow!

Day One: Welcome to Atlanta!

Day One-Morning: Everyone finally settled and got some much needed sleep and got excited for the next day's activities. Some people woke up early, went for a run, other shot some hoops, and it was time for breakfast before we took off. Our first stop of the morning was a training downtown Atlanta at the Lutheran Services of Georgia (LSG) offices. Our host for the day, Melanie, trained our group about refugee services offered by LSG, struggles faced by refugees prior to resettling, the process of resettlement, and what life after resettlement looks like. Our group learned about how our volunteer

work directly contributes to the services being provided.

Day One-Afternoon: After our visit to LSG, we had resting time in between. We visited a park closer to our next service area, where we had our lunch and enjoyed exploring nature and playing on the playground. Then we were off to our next activity area with the INSPIRE program, led by Natalie, which serves middle school refugee students. We  helped run after school activities including homework help, soccer, frisbee, enrichment activities and art activities. The day started well, and ended great! We met and learned from refugee kids from Pakistan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Rwanda, and Burma. They met and learned from us representing Burundi/Oregonian, California, Congo DR/Oregonian, Montana, Washington, Oregon, and North Dakota. We also talked about college and the Concordia experience. Now time to head back, eat some dinner, play some basketball, and relax! 

May the Fourth [day] Be With Us

Today was a more relaxing day. We had the chance to so some sightseeing so we went to the Martin Luther King Historic Site and the Georgia Aquarium.

The MLK Historic Site was incredibly fascinating, to say the least. We started at the walk through museum that took us all through the journey of segregation in the south. Watching it all evolve through MLK's history really made the whole thing more real. We then traveled to MLK's childhood home and took a tour that took us through each room of the house. To finish it off we traveled to the the burial site  and Ebenezer Baptist church. Walking through these four historical sites brought to life what we have all learned while growing up. It made MLK's journey seem more real, and it truly was a beautiful site to discover. We were able to reflect on the progress that our nation has made but we also realize that there is still so much that needs to be done. Walking through this site showed us that it is possible for great change to happen.

The Georgia Aquarium was so freaking awesome. WE SAW A WHALE SHARK! and a lot more sea animals. We also got the chance to see a dolphin show. It was nice to be reminded how small we are. The Aquarium was also a stress reliever. A lot of us were waiting for that final grade to get put in and finally be able to not have any focus be on school and with the grades being due yesterday the aquarium was some peace to go along with it.

Later that day we did the same thing but with a different group of kids and this time it was out in the garden so it was way more organized. These kids are so bright and friendly. They just want to have someone to play with or to just hold someones hand.
While playing with the kids this guy, Gregory, came up to us and just started chatting. We learned that he was from Congo and wanted to practice his English.  Through conversation we were able to learn that he enjoyed to play basketball and wanted to eventually go to college to study accounting. Gregory was a prime example of what it meant to be a member of Clarkston, where all are welcome. He did not need anything from us, he simply just wanted to talk and we were eager to listen. While the four girls were talking to him, the others were all playing four square. Gregory had never played, so we threw him right into the game, and he loved it!
While talking to Gregory a wind came and blew some papers around and so Torrey and Hallie went and ran to go pick them up and ended up meeting Marwan, who was from Baghdad. He showed them his wood workshop and shared his passion with them. He went around explaining all the different things that he could build and what tools do what. Then he offered to show them how to paint but we had to leave. He makes mostly kitchen furniture and you can find that at bestwoodmakers.com

HUMPPPP DAYYYYY

Throughout our time here in Georgia the main theme that we have noticed it the importance of just listening. In the refugee community no stories are the same or similar… every story seems unreal because it is hard to fathom that these people actually went through these hardships.
This morning we went to the Clarkston Community Center to help out with there ELS interactive class. It was difficult during these classes because the room was loud and the structure seemed to be a bit all over the place, but in their defense it was LSG's first time holding class at the Community Center. In the  class we first played this game where one person stood on one side of the sheet and another person stood on the opposite side and the sheet would drop and we would have to say the other persons name [I know it sounds confusing….trusting me it was]. This game was good though because it got people out of their comfort zones. Next we played charades of occupations, again it was a little hard for everyone to understand but it was still fun. The most beneficial point of this time was when we were able to separate and talk to a table full of refugees and try to find out what we had it common with them. In this exercise it just showed that it doesn't matter what you go through or where you come from, we aren't as different as we appear. It also opened our eyes because some things that we liked that we wrote down were like sports, types of food, hobbies and for the refugees they wrote church, jobs and being clean. It showed us that they appreciate so much and the every day things that we take for granted like being clean and going to work are things that they look forward to everyday.

The two men in this picture are Farid and Ismail. Farid is from Afghanistan and was a civil engineer. Ismail is from Bhutan and is seriously so smart. He knew everything about colonization, geography, American and World history. They both shared their knowledge with us and taught us things about the U.S. that we didn't even know. The hardest thing was hearing this plethora of knowledge that they hold and because of the language barrier and their lack of status they are going to have to start at square one with entry level jobs which isn't beneficial to them of society because their knowledge isn't being put to use. This seems cynical but it's just really heartbreaking because refugee resettlement is such a great thing and there is so much that is being done for these people but at the same time it doesn't seem like enough.

In the afternoon we were still at the Community Center but this time helping to educate the children on plants and how to identify them and how to use them. These kids were so freaking cute and so eager to be doing something. It was still a little chaotic but rewarding at the same time. After the activity the kids began to warm up to us more and insisted on showing us all the rollie pollies that were in their plants or in the girls case play with our hair (even Josh's hair). Then they tried to teach us some gymnastics…. they insisted on trying to get Josh to do a cartwheel and land in the splits. He crushed it.

We ended the day by attending a slam poetry session by Mike Molina, the after school program director at Clarkston. The slam discussion was focused on listening to others stories, absorbing it, then applying it. It was directed at teachers but it applied to all. We are the keys to creating change in others and in order to do that we need to stop, listen, and understand. It applied perfectly to what we are doing here in Atlanta and afterwards the team seemed to appreciate this trip on a deeper level.

 Here's a video of one of his poems…I hope it works.

 https://www.facebook.com/danne.davidson.5/videos/10205338689363988/?pnref=story

Day Two

After a mixed bag of a night's sleep, we headed to the Clarkston Community Center once again. After a brief orientation with Melanie, our point of contact with Lutheran Services of Georgia, we split into groups of three, and each group visited the home of a refugee family (accompanied by an LSG staff member). Brief but impactful, these meetings are sure to be one of the high points of the trip, and one that will stick in our memories for a long time to come.

Jenny, Torrey, Sam, and LSG staffer Mary Emily met with Rawan, an Iraqi woman with one child. Rawan's husband is still in Iraq, and plans to arrive in the States "soon." Rawan shared her story, and her wedding photos!

Hallie, Josh, Malerie, and Melanie met with Tin Tiang and Sun, a beautiful Burmese couple who have only been in the U.S. for three weeks. They were overwhelmed, but so grateful to be here. They talked a lot about their faith taking them through the difficult and dangerous time in Burma, and then the Malaysian refugee camp they spent several years in.

Celina, E, D'Anne, and LSG case manager Crispin met Mbonekube (sp?), a single, Congolese mother of two, who was delighted for the company. During this meeting, it came up that E and Celina speak Spanish, and now have been given the opportunity to meet a Spanish-speaking family at the airport this Friday, to serve as interpreters, and the welcoming committee. 

We spent the afternoon pulling lots and lots of weeds, and running from giant snakes near the fruit trees of the community center, and had an enormous soul food dinner at the historic Mary Mac's Tea Room. 

A good one.

A.T.L.A.N.T.A.

Day One:

Today we got our first real look at Atlanta. The city itself is really beautiful, especially from the roof of the parking garage where we parked our giant 15 passenger van. We started our day on the 18th floor, where Lutheran Services of Georgia is located. We learned a lot about how we would be spending our week and received a ton of information about refugees.
Then we went to the Clarkston community center where we got a tour of the building. The most interesting part was that this community used to be completely segregated.The history compared to the present of Clarkston is so different, and so incredible. Clarkston community center was once the white segregated high school of Clarkston town, opposing the black school across the train tracks. What was once a place of race separation, is now a place where many different races and cultures come together to thrive. It's a beautiful transition and a powerful story. At one point, the walls of the community center were holding in all white high school students and now over 52 languages are being spoken within the walls. After the tour of the building we went down to the field and walked through the community garden. We helped in the community garden by laying mulch and then we dug a trench. Fillip was the gardener at the community center, who was from France, was so thankful and impressed at how fast we got the work done. Fillip is the one that organizes all the vegetables that will be used and sold at the monthly market. Once we had finished this task, the students for the  Family Literacy Program showed up and we got to spend the next couple of hours with them. Some of us talked with high school students about college and our experience while the rest of us headed outside to play with the elementary students.
Now it was time to head back to the Redeemer House for dinner and to wrap-up the night. We made our own pizza's and sat around eating and sharing stories from the day. Wrapping up the day and hearing everyone's stories about their experience from the day was great.

Photo Album

Interested in seeing additional photos from the Atlanta team?  Check out the album below for more!

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.