Kristen's Fundraiser for RAA

In 2017 I met a Syrian refugee family of five (soon to be six!) who had arrived in Miami the year before. They were forced to flee their home in Syria due to the civil war and spent three years living in Jordan before being resettled in the U.S. In Jordan they were not allowed to work or attend school, so they were relieved when they finally received refugee status and were selected to come to the United States.

However, they quickly learned that life in the U.S. would not be easy. They found daily life to be very difficult without the necessary English skills to communicate. The cost of living was astronomical, and it was nearly impossible to find a job in Miami without English or Spanish.

“When we arrived in America, we thought it would be the best feeling. But instead, it was one of the hardest times in our lives. We felt we were living in silence. We didn’t have the language to communicate with anyone. We would go to the store to buy milk for our kids, but we couldn’t ask anyone where to find it. It felt like the world was passing us by, like everything was just out of touch. We felt so isolated, so alone.”

I met the family for the first time when I went to their house to teach English. I spent three hours with them, and we never touched my English lesson. They brought out a huge stack of mail that they had been collecting for months. They didn't understand it. Was it important or junk mail? Next they brought out a huge stack of papers the kids had brought home from school over the course of the year. Again, they didn't understand anything.

I felt overwhelmed for them when I left their house that day. They had only known for two days that I was coming. Who were they saving those questions for? If I hadn't come, who was going to help them? 

I put myself in their shoes. I could not imagine being forced to flee my home, leaving behind everyone and everything I knew, and going to a country where everything was completely foreign, and I didn't speak the language. I would be desperate for a support network -- for someone I could ask questions to -- for a friend. That is why I started RAA. 

"People often think that the refugees who are here have it easy, that now they are here, in America, they will be just fine - but I am in a Community Support Team of 5 members, supporting a very young family, and it's been crisis after crisis. It's very emotional - if we weren't here, they would just go without."    --RAA Volunteer

Please give today to help us continue building that support network for refugees as they build their lives here in South Florida. Your gift enables us to provide English, education, job assistance, and friendship to a newly arrived refugee family.