Tag: Refugees

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Post Its

photo credit: Tim Barnes, IAFR

I love Post It notes…especially the packets of different colors.  These small sticky pieces of paper are great for brainstorming or working on ideas, processes, or problem solving.

This week, I spent the first few days at the IAFR office in Minneapolis.  Tim Uthmann, who assists me with IAFR operations, and I spent some focused time sharpening and refining a few of the IAFR human resource processes.  I am sure people on the other side of the glass were wondering what we were up to.

As the IAFR team grows, it is important to us that we have clear and effective processes for bringing them into our team. We want to provide the best start we can, so they can be effective in this important work which we are doing.

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Sarajevo

As we move into the unprecedented so-called “Polar Vortex “ here in the Midwest USA, I am in preparation mode.  Next Sunday, I head to Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina to participate in the Europe Refugee Highway Partnership Roundtable. 

Besides spending time with IAFR team members working in Europe, Doug Marshall (IAFR Malta Ministry Leader) and I will be facilitating a workshop.  The Roundtable draws missionaries, church leaders, humanitarian workers and others, who are specifically working with refugees throughout Europe.  They come to learn, to share their experiences and to find encouragement.

But between now and then, there is much to clear from my desk… so back at it.

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Mondays

IAFR Leadership Team (Tom Albinson – US, Tim Barnes – US, Laura Dobrowlski – Canada, Rob Perry – Canada) – Photo Credit – IAFR

After a week of meetings near Minneapolis with our Canadian colleagues and then a weekend that saw 12-14 inches of snow in our Central Illinois area, Monday was a day to dig out…literally and figuratively.  Mondays also means connecting with the IAFR Service team, the small group of people who serve the organization and its members.  As we met today in our online call, updates were shared, as well as burdens and challenges.  Our call also provided a time to declare our weekly priorities and where we might need input or help from one another.

There are a lot of balls in the air, such as responding to inquiries about IAFR, helping with projects that are being launche, providing training for new staff, preparing for travel to ministry sites or to present at gatherings…just to name a few.  2019 is off to a fast and good start.

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A New Year

It’s a new year and I am working on ramping up my IAFR blog.  Most of my December was spent in a cold and flu-induced fog, leading to a lost month.  But I’m back and ready to push into all the opportunities and challenges that a turn of the year provides.

So this week finds me near Farmington, Minnesota, in meetings with the leadership of IAFR Canada.  Mount Olivet Conference and Retreat Center (the picture is from this past August), is like a second home for IAFR US.  It’s our go-to venue for conferences and off-site meetings.  The facility provides a wonderful setting to work through all the ins and outs of working internationally to help people survive and recover from forced displacement.  The displacement challenges continue to heat up around the world and close to home.  

We believe that IAFR is uniquely positioned to be a conduit of hope and help.  Pray for us as we plan, listen, and work together to respond to all that God is calling us to do!

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Complete

The UNHCR NGO Consultation is complete.  The time was challenging, stimulating, and informative.  To see more than 600 people representing 350 organizations focused on the refugee crisis was so encouraging.  One of the highlights was participating in a workshop/discussion on Faith Sensitivity in the Humanitarian Space.  There is a recognition that faith plays a significant part in helping refugees survive and recover from their displacement.  And we must help those working, in what is often seen as a secular space, to understand the important role faith plays.

I come away from this gathering with a strong sense that IAFR is positioned well to make a significant impact, both in word and action, in the continuing refugee situation.  With that in mind, Tom and I are spending focused time today in Geneva, working on sharpening the vision of IAFR and looking ahead.  Not a bad place to be working.

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68.5 Million

Dzaleka Refugee Camp, Malawi – photo credit: Tom Albinson – IAFR

The new displacement statistics came out this week.  68.5 million.  That is the number of people who are forcibly displaced globally due to “persecution, conflict, or generalized violence” (UNHCR Global Trends – Forced Displacement in 2017, p. 2).  This is an increase from 2016 and again, a record-setting high number.

We have been told that most people cannot comprehend that number of people.  The number is so large, that it is too difficult to get a sense of it’s impact.  Maybe it’s like looking at a large forest and not really seeing the individual trees. 

But those 68.5 million are individuals…moms, dads, brothers, sisters….some young (52% are under the age of 18), some old…some come in families, some come alone.  Many more children are fleeing on their own.  Most come running for their lives and the lives they love.

But one thing…they all come as Human Beings.  Just like you and me.  And we Must Do Better in how we respond as individuals, as families, as churches, and as countries.

By the way, tomorrow (June 20 – World Refugee Day) I will post a link to the UNHCR Global Trends if you want to get a sense of the whole picture of forced displacement.

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Monday Meetings

3030 Coffee shop, Peoria, IL – photo credit: Tim Barnes – IAFR

Mondays usually mean meetings.  But I had two additional meetings today, one planned and one unexpected, at one of my favorite local coffee shops.

The first meeting, which was scheduled, was with a journalist from a local community paper.  She is very interested in the work that I and the rest of my colleagues do with IAFR and has a huge heart for the refugee crisis.  Her desire is that more people would learn about what is going on.  We are looking at the possibility of a series of articles and stories.  Stay tuned.  More to come.

At the same time, I unexpectedly ran into a friend who recently booked me to speak at his church this summer.  We have a long history of friendship, and it was great to catch up and discuss a little about my upcoming talk.

Can I also just add, that I am excited about the opportunities that I have been given to speak about my work with IAFR, both in and outside of Peoria.  If you are interested where I will be speaking or traveling the summer, you can check it out on the tab labeled “Where I Will Be”.

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Education

Meeting with leaders in Uganda – photo credit: IAFR Canada

Education of refugee children is an incredible challenge in refugee environments…an issue that has moved a number of us in IAFR.  The topic comes up repeatedly in our discussions with refugee church and community leaders during our visits to refugee camps. 

A few of our colleagues from IAFR Canada and Jake Tornga, from IAFR USA, are currently visiting refugee environments in Uganda…and once again the issue of education has come up.  How do we help refugee children receive an effective education so they can become influencers of future change in their countries?

Here are some things IAFR is doing:

Partnering with a church in the DC area to provide scholarships for several refugee girls to attend boarding school outside the Kakuma Refugee Camp.

Finding resources to help support pre-schools started by refugee churches in Dzaleka Refugee Camp.

Working on a possible project that would allow the Dzaleka Christian Churches Union (DCCU) to start and operate a primary school in the Dzaleka Refugee Camp.

Exploring other educational opportunities for asylum seekers in the European context.

Education is a significant avenue to help refugees survive and recover from forced displacement.

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Grief

There are some days that grief comes in this work.  I received a message over the weekend from one our pastor friends in a refugee camp.  His sister-in-law and her family had been deliberately burned to death in their dwelling in the country from which my friend and his family had run.  

A country in Europe is drafting laws that would make it a crime, including jail time, for giving a cup of water or a sandwich to an asylum seeker in this country.

In our own country, we are separating children from their parents at the border and apparently losing track of where some of the children have been placed.  Many of these coming across the border are fleeing for their lives from violence and murder in the countries from which they come.

All these could be politicized.  That is not my intent.  I grieve that we have lost touch with the fact that all these are real people, created in the image of God, the same as you and I.  

Lord, have mercy.  

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Gathering

Today I am thinking about our team scattered around the world and in North America.  We now have over twenty team members giving themselves in service to those who have been forcibly displaced. Each one is having a significant impact in their locations. 

We gather our team together each year for a few days of refreshment, spiritual encouragement, training, learning, and connecting with each other.  Our gathering this year will take place in August, just south of Minneapolis/St. Paul.

So today I am working on some of the details of the IAFR Annual Conference.  And I am having lunch with our Spiritual Director for the week, my good friend Pastor Marty Hunt, to discuss his role with us.  I am already excited about August.