JUBILEE PARTNERS REPORT

Transcription

1 JUBILEE PARTNERS REPORT Fall 2018 When Jesus heard the news [of the death of John], he withdrew from there in a boat, into a deserted place alone. When the crowds heard of it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he had disembarked, he saw a great crowd, and he was moved with compassion for them to the depths of his being and healed their sick. Matthew 14:13-14, Barclay Translation What a dramatic demonstration of love by Jesus, especially at a time when he clearly needed at least a few hours of private time to deal with the tragic news about his beloved cousin, John. But instead of becoming furious at the people who followed him, he was moved with compassion for them and began to ease their suffering first by healing the sick, then by feeding them. In today s world there are so many people in need of help! For one thing, there are more than 25 million refugees, half under the age of 18, according to the United Nations refugee agency. Jesus taught and demonstrated that our response to all such people should be one of compassionate action, bringing love and light into the world. This June, hundreds of families were held in the immigrant detention center in Dilley, Texas. One of them was a young mother and her kindergarten-aged son, who had fled Guatemala and the man that threatened to kill her son if she ever left him. Like so many of the mothers that pass through the large baby jail (capacity: 2400), she was in a desperate position: afraid to go home but not welcome in the U.S. This mother faced an additional challenge. She had grown up speaking the Mayan dialect K iché and had little Spanish. She would need legal aid to prepare her asylum case, and that aid would need to be translated to K iché. A thousand miles away, a new Jubilee volunteer named Brenda was sorting blueberries when the call came. Brenda has lived in Central America and speaks K iché! Now her language skills were needed on the phone, to interpret the interview between the Guatemalan mother and a legal aid worker. The goal was to prepare the mother for her first hurdle in the asylum process: the credible fear screening. Enzo, Zara, Karen, and Yvonne make rolls together at the K-House.

2 As Brenda interpreted, she heard a story of domestic violence. The mother repeated that her son s life was in danger. But the two of them faced a steep road ahead. This summer, the Justice Department tightened the rules about what qualifies a refugee for asylum. And violence from a gang or an abusive partner are no longer grounds to stay in the U.S., the department decided. One of the most highly publicized issues in the U.S. recently has been the controversy about the treatment of families who are trying to escape widespread violence in Central America. In particular, the forced separation of thousands of children from their parents caused an outcry from great numbers of U.S. citizens. The government has since made efforts to reunite as many of the families as possible and then deport them or pack them into commercial prisons. But almost 500 children were still separated from their parents at the end of August, according to court filings. Most prominent among those who have protested the treatment of refugee families have been five mothers: Rosalynn Carter, Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, and Michelle Obama spoke out first and then Melania Trump agreed that she also hates to see children separated from their families. She added that we should have a country that is law-abiding but that governs with heart. In recent months, several Jubilee women have gone to Dilley, Texas to support the families in Community members gather to greet a new family from South America. detention there, volunteering with a legal aid group known as CARA. Sue Byler Ortman went to Dilley in February, followed by sisters Rebecca and Emily Smith this spring. Their work, like Brenda s work, was to prepare detained mothers for their credible fear interviews. How do you pass the interview? Passing means you have a significant possibility of convincing an immigration judge that you would face torture, persecution, or death if you returned to your home country. Unfortunately, asylum seekers from Central America face long odds as the immigration courts have tried to discourage migration from countries that neighbor the U.S. More than 75-percent of asylum cases from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras were denied between 2011 and 2017, according to a study from Syracuse University. Only 20-percent of asylum seekers from China were denied over the same period. We also had the great privilege this summer of hosting Irene Morrow. Irene was a close friend and co-worker with Sue and Blake Byler Ortman many years ago in war-torn El Salvador. Like Sue, Rebecca, and Emily, she recently worked with the refugee women and children prisoners in Texas. Of course, all of this brings back precious memories to some of us who were at Jubilee in the 1980s when we responded to a similar situation by launching the Año de Jubileo program. Working with Canadian friends and officials, we hosted over 1,300 Central Americans fleeing their homes in search of safety in Canada. We brought 60 busloads of men, women, and children from south Texas to Jubilee, where Canadian officials approved almost 100-percent of them for asylum in Canada! Page 2

3 Jubilee neighbors join hands to give thanks at our annual Neighbor s Field Potluck. (Hey, we send warm greetings and love to all of you friends in Canada who were part of that adventure and have been reading these Jubilee Reports for 30 years since we shared in it!) A lot of things have changed in three decades, of course. Like many of you, we struggle in knowing how to best respond. We thank God for the opportunities for hospitality and advocacy that have come our way. Please pray for us as we explore how to respond to this ever-changing situation. Even though the usual flow of refugee families coming to us through the international agencies has slowed, we continue to work with a wide variety of people from vulnerable situations. It has been a joy to host these people, especially many beautiful children. In particular, two little guests brightened our summer days. Heidi left Guatemala in December, bringing along her little brother Pablo and the hope that they could join their mom in the U.S. They traveled north through Mexico, without a parent or legal guardian. Immigration officers stopped them at the Texas border. According to the Department of Homeland Security, 4,000 unaccompanied alien children were apprehended last December. Heidi, who was nine, and Pablo, who was five, were two of these children. As December turned to January, the brother and sister were shuffled between states. First it was Texas, with its chilly holding cells, known as hieleras or ice boxes. Next a holding facility in Pennsylvania, then New York, before they were released to their mother in Georgia. In June, Heidi and Pablo visited Jubilee for a couple months. They rode bikes, worked on their English, and learned to swim in the pond. Before leaping from the dock, Heidi made a special invocation: In the name of Jesus, no snakes! She picked Jubilee blueberries and sold them at a nearby church, to save up for a bilingual Bible. As her language skills progressed, Heidi looked for new conversation partners. She often zoomed by residents on her bike, calling out, Hello, how are you today? She loved to celebrate community birthdays, picking sunflowers or baking muffins. Pablo was watchful and shy, and usually found trailing behind his big sister. Page 3

4 Heidi also took on hosting duties. In July, Jubilee offered temporary housing to a single father and his five children. When the family arrived, Heidi marched up to their ten-yearold daughter. Are we playing volleyball? she asked the girl. I m ready. She also became an advocate for the new family s needs. Once, Heidi brought the family s ten- and twelve-year-old to a community elder. They don t have bikes, Heidi said. Can they have bikes? She was told to discuss it with the community bike coordinator. Heidi was not deterred. But when can they have bikes? she asked. Her hospitality made an impression a young girl welcoming others in a country that hadn t welcomed her. For her outreach efforts, she was given the nickname the ambassador. And like Heidi, we try to push ahead relentlessly with the work of compassion that Jesus has called us to do. Above: Fall 2018 Volunteers! Below: Tato Sumantri (Church of the Servant King, OR), Tim Otto (Church of the Sojourners, CA), and Marcus Rempel (Ploughshares Community Farm, Manitoba) lead us in an evening of music and fellowship. Jubilee Board of Directors poses by the giant bamboo: Missy Harris, Israel Nzulu, Natalie Schmucker, Steve Derthick, Solomon Smothers, Janet York, Christina Dyck. Page 4

5 Friends of Jubilee, Ta Hay Than and Ni Doh Wah, celebrated their wedding in June! Who we are Jubilee Partners is an intentional Christian service community in north Georgia. Our primary ministry is offering hospitality to newly arrived refugees. We are a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization; donations are thus tax-deductible. Your donations and support of our work are most appreciated. Jubilee Partners Box 68, Comer, GA View Jubilee s newsletter in color online at

6 Jubilee Partners P.O. Box 68 Comer, GA Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage is PAID Athens, Georgia Permit Number 14 Fall 2018 Families Belong Together participants (Chou, Emily, Robyn, Sara, Coffee) rally in Athens to demonstrate support for the reunification of children separated from their families at the border.