The Kindness of Strangers

Last week was a whirlwind here at Refugee Resettlement. In less than 24 hours, we had eighteen new arrivals, beginning with a family of twelve. Our case managers and donations coordinator were stretched thin, so I stepped in to lend a helping hand wherever I could. This ended up being a trip to Wal-Mart with Refugee Resettlement’s program director, Toc.

Toc and I were given a list of items to buy for the family of twelve and set off for the store. We decided that our plan of attack would be to fill a shopping cart, check out, and then do it again. We ended up filling five shopping carts with items such as pillows, blankets, toothpaste, rice cookers, microwaves, and towels for the family; things that would make their new apartments feel like a home.

As this was our first experience doing the shopping for an incoming family, we had no idea as to what to expect. What we found, was a store full of wonderful employees very willing to help out and even take an interest in what we were doing. Toc and I returned to the same cashier twice because she was full of curiosity about refugee resettlement and wanted to know about working with refugees. It turned out that she came to the United States as a child from the Soviet Union. It’s a small world.

When it was time to take all of the things we bought for the family to the apartments, two complete strangers volunteered to help us carry things from the car to the second floor apartments. The men were standing around not doing anything and just jumped right in and carried some very heavy items for us. They served as a great reminder that even though the world can seem cold sometimes, there are some wonderful people out there who are willing to help whether there is something in it for them or not.

The apartments for the family of twelve were completed mere minutes before the family arrived. Their long journey from Somalia to Kenya to Portland, OR came to an end with a lot of help from store clerks, new neighbors, and the Somali community members who brought them dinner. It was an exciting twenty four hours to get to see all of the help from total strangers and to be part of the arrival process.