How do I sign up to Walk / To End Human Trafficking.

So, you want to Walk / With World Relief to end human trafficking in Durham. What are the next steps?

1. REGISTER

5k Walk To End Human Trafficking, 3/24

UPDATE: Here’s how to register for the race and set up your own, personal fundraising site.

President Obama has declared January to be National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. In the course of his declaration, Obama outlined the essential components of any effort to effectively end modern day slavery:

A Picture is Worth…: free portraits for refugees (2/4)

Photo by Franklin Golden

UPDATE: We still need volunteers to greet,  direct refugees to the right place, provide refreshments, and just assist as needs arise. Please SIGN UP to help out.

Having your portrait taken is always a memorable event. We want to share this joyful–and occasionally awkward–experience with refugees in Durham. On February 4th, we’ll have a free portrait event, similar to Help-Portrait. Refugees and will be able to come and have their individual or family picture taken by local photographers for free.

The event will be on Saturday, February 4th in the afternoon (1p-4p). The location will be at All Saints Anglican Church, on 15-501 and Garrett Rd, in the shopping center next to Oak Creek Village Apartments.

We need all kinds of volunteers to help with this event.

Service Opportunity: World Relief Durham’s First Ever Employment Skills Workshop

Employment Skills Workshop: a great opportunity to meet refugees and help them gain skills for employment!

As you know, jobs are hard to find these days, especially for people with little English or previous work experience. We’re putting together our first ever Employment Skills Workshop to assist refugees as they look for work.  This is a great chance for you to help refugees and also to raise awareness and excitement in your church and your community. Here are the details:

God of the Displaced: World Relief in Durham

He secures justice for the orphan and the widow; he loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing. Therefore you are to love the foreigner, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. Deut. 10:18-19

A refugee wanted us to meet with his friend. We asked if this friend was another refugee. He said no. His friend was a man who immigrated to the U.S.A. years ago, and whose visa had expired. This friend was now an undocumented immigrant. After we asked what he wanted to meet about, the refugee shared: this man’s boss knows his friend can be deported. He makes him work long hours, for very little money, and threatens to turn him in to the police if he complains, tries to leave, or tells anyone. He’s very scared, but I told him he could trust you.

Giving Thanks and Eating Kimchi

Last Sunday, I worshiped with the Hanmaum Church in Durham, a Korean-American church. It’s always fun to be in a church where I need an interpreter. They also fed me some great food, including kimchi, so that’s a bonus.

Earlier that week, I met with a Kenyan pastor. Their church wants to work with refugees from Nepal. He told me of a recent meeting he had with a Burmese pastor in Raleigh. Apparently, this Burmese pastor was trained by a Korean missionary in Thailand.

It’s a small world. And that is what I’m thankful for this year. I am thankful for all the unexpected and unusual connections among diverse peoples right here in Durham. God is obviously doing things far greater and more unpredictable than we could ever imagine. 

This Christmas: Giving Refugees the Gift of Giving

Refugees opening gifts Christmas 2010.

I have a simple idea for Christmas this year. Instead of collecting gifts for refugee kids, what if we help refugee parents shop for their kids themselves? It’s one thing to see your kids receive gifts from others. It’s different when you get to pick out the gifts yourself.

I assume everyone agrees that this is a good idea, so the question is, how do we do it? How do we give the gift of giving?

In Their Own Words: A Refugee From Ethiopia

Dahir Bedel had been in America for ten days at the time of the interview. The views expressed do not represent those of World Relief Durham or any affiliated partner. The interview has been edited to correct grammatical inaccuracies while still preserving the refugee’s distinct perspective and voice.

Where are you from?

My nationality is Somalian, but I just say I am from Ethiopia. I have been living in Ethiopia for almost 20 years. I traveled from Somalia when I was three years old, in 1991, when the central Somali government had already collapsed. I have been living there since. So I just say I am from Ethiopia. I have been living in a refugee camp in Ethiopia.

In Their Own Words: a Refugee from Eritrea

An Eritrean refugee, who had lived in refugee camps in Ethiopia for six years before coming to the U.S., tells how he became a refugee. He had lived in the U.S. for about two weeks at the time of the interview. The views expressed do not necessarily represent those of World Relief Durham or any affiliated partner. The interview has been edited to correct grammatical inaccuracies while still preserving the refugee’s distinct perspective and voice.

Can you tell a little bit about what it was like in the refugee camp in Ethiopia?

Yes, in Ethiopia, once you get to come or are sent from Eritrea, there is a refugee center that accepts Eritreans, and they put you in camps. Many Eritreans will be given a shelter and food. Then you earn your life through that process.

Why did you have to leave Eritrea?

Dadaab and Durham: Preparing for Winter

I want to tell you about the big picture, about the 43 million refugees, internally displaced and stateless persons. 43 million. The refugee crises are multiplying, becoming more unpredictable and harder to resolve. One camp has more people living in it than Raleigh does (more pictures of Dadaab, by Brendan Bannon).

I want you to be concerned. I want you to be shocked, to be heart broken, to be, most simply, motivated to make a difference. And to tell everyone you know, and even those you don’t know, about it.

But I need to write about something much more mundane, about something right here, in Durham. The weather, in fact.