In 1998, our kids were growing up and leaving for college and our house was becoming too quiet. Bob and I didn’t have the money to travel internationally, but we wanted to add some excitement and culture to our lives. So, when we heard about hosting refugee families, we signed up. We would pick people up at the airport and bring them to live in our home for 1 – 2 weeks while an apartment was secured. Over several years we hosted 14 families from all over the world. Our house became livelier as we learned about our world and the people in it.

Our first family from Somalia looked scared to death, and we were, too, not knowing what this new endeavor might be like. But as we warmed up to each other, we became friends, even without a common language.

 

When Solia, a young man from Ivory Coast came, he sat at our kitchen table and cried and cried, saying, “These eyes have seen too much!” I was home alone with him and had just met him, but I put my hands on his shoulders and tried to give some comfort. He and Issa took our bikes out one day while we were at work and got totally lost, but eventually found their way back.

 

 

Semsa and her family came from Bosnia when their son, Denis, was one year old. He is now in college. I still love to call and laugh with Semsa. Last time we talked, she reminded me of the time without much English, she had to try to get me to understand that they needed contraceptives. She was calling them preservatives.

 

A Meskhetian Turk family of six showed us on a map all the places they had been expelled from over the years, traveling around without papers or a country to call their own. We went to their son, Zya’s, wedding. Such a festive dancing event!

Jean Claude, a young man from the Democratic Republic of the Congo came with his friend, Blaze. They had been attending college when war broke out. Where Blaze tried his best to communicate with us, Jean Claude was quiet and shy. But when he got on the phone with his friends, he would laugh and laugh and carry on in his bold native language. It warmed my heart to see his real personality. Blaze is now a social worker in my old school district.

Rose came with several children who had never seen snow. What a riot it was to see them making snowballs and having fun. And what a surprise for Rose to feel the cold skin of her children’s cheeks.

Bob and I took early retirement in 2007 and moved to Estes Park. We felt like we had made it to paradise. We hiked every day, just to breathe in Colorado’s beauty. But once the hiking was over, there really wasn’t much left to do. Our grown children had all moved to Fort Collins and we could have moved there, too. But we missed the experiences we had had in Illinois, so we moved to Golden to be closer to refugee agencies.

We volunteered at the Lutheran Family Services summer school. I remember a young boy from Iraq who would jump at any startling sound, his eyes huge with fear. And the little girls from Myanmar were so scared that there were ghosts in the bathrooms and hated the loud flush toilets. But day by day, they all made new friends and seemed to get used to their new lives.

We helped teach English at Emily Griffith where we learned about the daunting lives of so many of the students.

I remember one older woman from the Myanmar saying something like, “At my home, I tended my garden and my goats. I was outside all the time. Here, it’s just ABC, ABC, ABC.”

 

On occasion, I brought in ceramic pots for women at African Community Center to paint. For a couple of hours, they could try to forget their troubles and be creative. Some had never held a paint brush before, and they loved it!

When International Rescue Committee opened its doors in Lakewood, I was one of the first ones to enter, hoping to volunteer. It was then I witnessed how staff had to work feverishly to manage all the housing, employment, health, schooling, trauma, and everything it takes to see that families succeed in Colorado. I saw how the nuances of case management were often overwhelming, with no control over the endless difficulties that constantly popped up. Bob and I were doing all the fun stuff without realizing the complexities involved in refugee work. Some of the tasks that Jennifer Wilson asked me to do were more than I could handle. How could I try to find documents for families who were still in refugee camps? How could I help non-English-speaking clients navigate all the paperwork that they didn’t understand – that I didn’t even understand!

During this time, Bob and I were mentoring Kenyare and her children, Hawa and Bruno from the DRC. Hawa attended nursing school and Bruno attended Red Rocks Community College and was set on becoming a doctor. We tried to help Kenyare find housing, and got a first-hand look at discrimination. One landlord told us the place was hers until we came face to face and suddenly found the room to be unavailable.

Bob and I reached out to the Rotary Club of Evergreen and Calvary Church of Golden and found several people eager to join in with mentoring. (For years Calvary Church had been supporting IRC with annual donations.) We mentored two families from Afghanistan. Both families hit the ground running, getting jobs right away and becoming self sufficient before the end of our six-month commitment.

Well, that was pretty easy, so we thought we’d take it a step further and become co-sponsors. This required financial backing and a lot more responsibilities. The Calvary and Rotary teams would be taking on a lot of the tasks that tend to bog down a case manager. (One case manager may have 30 families to deal with!)

We are now co-sponsors to the Qasim family – a single mom, a 21-year-old son, and a 17-yearold son who is severely handicapped. We marvel at how Khawla was able to flee in Iraq, more than once, with Amjad carrying Ameer. And how did they manage in Turkey with so few services and so many dire needs. Her resilience astounds us all.

Our Home Team has grown to love this family. One of about ten of our volunteers is always ready to step up to help them navigate the health care or school system, bring them food, explain their budget, give them rides, or just be there as friends as we guide them to self-sufficiency. It is awesome to experience such love and selfless kindness from everyone involved. Beyond all this, I have the honor or being the volunteer assistant to Jennifer Perry Daly, the volunteer coordinator at IRC, a perfect niche for me.

 

I do have other interests, like getting together with my friends to be creative with pottery. Swimming, reading, hiking, that’s all great. I love taking trips to the beach to laugh with my four sisters. And don’t get me started talking about my sweet family with my awesome husband, three kids with spouses, and six quirky and fun grand kids, all within easy access in Fort Collins.

But the privilege of getting to know and love so many people from all over the world has undoubtedly made my life richer in so many ways!

 

Written by IRC volunteer Carol Rose 

Edited by Hanna Simmons