Paradise Valley s Friendships for Hope (Formerly known as Refugee Assimilation Project) October 2015 Update

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1 Friendships for Hope 2808 E. 7 th Street National City, CA info@friendshipsforhope.org Paradise Valley s Friendships for Hope (Formerly known as Refugee Assimilation Project) October 2015 Update Refugee Ministry Begins Fifth Year of Service On November 7, Paradise Valley church s refugee ministry will officially begin its fifth year of service to refugees from around the world who call San Diego their new home. Now called Friendships for Hope, the ministry was begun and known until recently as the Refugee Assimilation Project (RAP). Church members established RAP in the early autumn of 2011, discovering the need for such a ministry as they carried out their weekly Community Services and food distribution activities. They expected to begin English classes immediately. However, it took a few more weeks to receive San Diego County s approval to open a school. The first class, which soon numbered 20, started studying English on November 7. They included refugees from Bhutan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad, Colombia, and Russia. Home countries of subsequent students have included Burma, China, Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq. During the past four years, English language classes and job-training opportunities have launched more than 100 refugees into a better life in America. While the majority of them have remained in San Diego, others have found jobs as far away as New York, Alabama, and Texas. With a dedicatory prayer and ribbon cutting, Paradise Valley Thrift Store opened on November 6, 2011,

2 The day before the Refugee Assimilation Project (now known as Friendships for Hope) began English language classes, we opened our thrift store. Its mission is twofold: to provide income and to give refugees a place to practice speaking English and acquire job skills to list on their résumés when they look for employment. Clothing, furniture, and decorative items sold in the store are donated by individuals and estate sale companies. We re continually amazed by what the refugees achieve once they gain a few basic skills, says Will James, Paradise Valley church pastor. Those who have been here a while are providing for their own families now and no longer are dependent on welfare. Several take evening college classes so they can get better jobs. They speak English with confidence. They re educating their children. And we re happy that a number of them have chosen to become part of our church family. (See Charlin and Eugenie s story below.) Yet operating our ministry is not without its challenges, James adds, particularly on those days when one of our buses breaks down or the money in the bank doesn t look like it s going to last much longer. But I believe that God led us in establishing this ministry, and if He wants it to continue, He ll provide the resources. Leocadie came to the United States from the Congo Just a year and a half ago Leocadie arrived. She spent last year studying English. Now she works at Paradise Valley Thrift Store, where she steam presses incoming clothing and does numerous odd jobs. Soon she will learn to use the cash register and spend more time serving customers. After being there only a few weeks, she says, I m happy here. At school there were others who spoke my language, but here nobody does. I have to speak English, and I am learning so much!

3 Would you like to become a part of our refugee ministry? To donate online, go to and click on Donate. While there, enjoy some of our featured videos about our ministry! What will your donation do to help our refugees? $1,000 will provide one week s worth of employees salaries. $200 will provide one month s pay for a refugee at Paradise Valley Thrift Store (the State of California matches this with $600). $200 will help a refugee child get a Christian education at San Diego Academy for one month (parents pay $150 a month). $150 will pay for one week s worth of bus fuel. $100 will pay one week s worth of utilities for the English language school. $50 will buy one week s worth of food that has to be purchased, beyond what is donated by the food bank or grown in the garden, for English students breakfasts and lunches. Charlin and Eugenie Build New Lives in San Diego Brandishing Sabbath morning smiles, Charlin, Eugenie, and their three children, Rodolph, Rosiane, and Leticia, worship at Paradise Valley church. As a Christian, Charlin felt that he could not join the rebel army that was forcing young men to join its revolt against the government of Chad. He and his wife, Eugenie, fled from that Central African country with their two children, Rodolph and Rosiane, and were accepted as refugees to America. Their new home in San Diego was an apartment on Delta Street, near Paradise Valley church. Charlin and Eugenie joined the Refugee Assimilation Project s first English class, having been recruited by Ephraim Bendantunguka, RAP director. Charlin, a quick

4 learner, was one of the first two students to work at Paradise Valley Thrift Store on a work-study program. Charlin now has a full-time maintenance job at Paradise Valley Hospital. Eugenie is a caregiver at Cedars, an assisted living facility at nearby Paradise Village. Both continue to attend college classes. Another daughter, Leticia, has joined their family, and they have moved to a larger apartment. Charlin and Eugenie s family worships at Paradise Valley Church on Sabbaths. And thanks to generous assistance from donors, Leticia and Rosiane attend grade school at San Diego Academy. Thriving Summer Garden Provides Food and Income Friendships for Hope s prolific garden produced enough greens and other vegetables to more than meet the needs of the refugees who ate fresh food grown in it this summer. They had enough extra to sell on Tuesday mornings to Community Services clients. Greens sold for a dollar a bunch; potatoes for a dollar a plastic sandwich bag full, cabbage for a dollar a head. Jalpi, who gardened in her home country of Bhutan, showed weeds no mercy as she tended the community garden this summer. Temporary financial assistance from Manpower gave Friendships for Hope the money to pay three students to tend the garden during its months of heaviest production. They more than doubled its size and kept it weed free. Weekly income averaged $60. That money will be reinvested in seeds and plants for a winter garden possible in San Diego s mild climate according to Ephraim Bendantunguka, who leads out in the garden project.

5 Consolee had no trouble selling freshly picked greens to Community Services clients on Tuesday mornings. The green vegetable on the left side of the photo is known to the African refugees as lenga-lenga, but Filipinos know it as kulitis or kalunay. Americans call it amaranth. Friendships for Hope Paradise Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church 2701 East 8 th Street (Mail: 2727 East 7 th Street) National City, CA Phone: Web: click on Donate to leave a donation Giving by E-check increases your donation as it does not cost us for credit card fees.