Author: Bethany Ringdal

A.A. learned to clean the house at the age of five. At age six, her mother taught her to cook bidena (a type of bread) and sauce. “In our country a girl gets married at an early age,” she explains, “so we learn housekeeping as children.”

“I wouldn’t go out and play. I preferred to be in the house cooking.” A.A. smiles at the memory. “My mother and neighbors blessed me when they saw that I worked like that.”

A.A. remembers with particular fondness cooking a special meal for Eid, the day after Arafah, a Muslim celebration to commemorate the Hajj. “It was like a test,” she says, “You had to cook bidena, chicken, sauce, and kineto.” She worked beside her mother to produce a feast that sustained more than her family. “Our neighbors were invited,” she shares, “and the poor would be fed.”

As A.A.’s story reflects, food is more than a basic human need; it expresses culture, community, history, and personality. For someone who is seeking asylum, having consistent access to nutritious and culturally-appropriate food is an important step in recovering both physical and mental health in the midst of forced displacement.

However, many asylum seekers in the US find themselves in a situation where basic survival, including food security, is at risk. Without access to government assistance and barred from legal employment for an extended period of time, asylum-seeking individuals must rely on others to meet their basic needs. This can result in inadequate or inconsistent access to nutritious food, culturally-inappropriate food, or disempowering dynamics between the individual and those she must rely on for assistance. This was the case for A.A.:

“Before I came to Jonathan House, I was living with another family from my ethnic community. They gave me food, but it wasn’t always well prepared, and they would give me a begrudging look when they gave it to me. My social worker offered me food from their center’s pantry, but when I took it home, my hosts told me, ‘We don’t need outside food’ and put it in the trash. After that, I would keep food in my purse and eat it at night after other people had gone to bed.”

The dependency and isolation of her situation became a psychological burden to A.A. “They would tell me, ‘You need to leave our house,’ and I would just cry, because I didn’t have anywhere to go. What life was like before I came to Jonathan House, I felt like it wasn’t much different than what I suffered in my home country. It even got to the point where I wanted to put myself in front of a car.”

Thankfully, A.A. shared her struggles with a friend, and he counseled her to stay hopeful.  Soon after, her social worker told her about a new house opening for asylum-seeking women. “She told me, ‘Wait, because maybe they will have a place for you.’” A.A. became the first resident at Jonathan House’s site for women and children after its launch in March 2019.

The day after her arrival, church partners helped welcome her with groceries and a special griddle for cooking bidena, the bread her mother taught her to make as a child. “I cooked and enjoyed my meal in freedom,” she says. 

Monthly food assistance provided through the generosity of partners like you now allows A.A. to purchase her own food at a neighborhood ethnic market owned by her friend. “I’m able to go to the store and buy everything that I need. At Jonathan House, I’m able to live, eat, sleep, and go in and out in peace.” A.A. has also put a lot of care into tending a small garden at Jonathan House, where she’s planted peppers and tea plants she knows from her home country.

When asked what she desires for the future, A.A. expresses a hope to be granted asylum and work authorization soon. “Being reunited with my kids must also be part of my journey,” she adds firmly. ”I eat good food now, I sleep good sleep, but my kids are scattered all over the place.” Her children, still in a place of active conflict, face their own serious problems of food insecurity.

As she waits for this longed-for reunification with her children, she continues to bless, love, and welcome others at Jonathan House with her gardening, her cooking, and her friendship. “I don’t have any relatives nearby except God and Jonathan House,” A.A. says, “I am a woman who didn’t have a home or relatives. You made that woman settled, made her safe.”

Thank you for helping our asylum-seeking neighbors access healthy, culturally-appropriate food as they recover from forced displacement. Your support of Jonathan House residents has a life-changing impact.

Photo: Jonah Broberg, senior writing major at University of Northwestern, St.
Paul, served as a web content intern with IAFR Jonathan House this semester.

My name is Jonah Broberg, and I’m a senior at the University of Northwestern, St. Paul. Part of my professional writing major includes working for an organization of my choice on their communications: writing and creating content for them and helping them find their voice. For the past semester, I had the opportunity to serve as IAFR Jonathan House’s communications and social media intern. 

Every week, SJ Holsteen, the IAFR Minneapolis-St. Paul Ministry Leader, and I went through The God Who Sees by Karen Gonzalez and talked through the discussion questions. It was a spiritually enriching experience that shaped my views on asylum policy both as a citizen and a Christian. It helped me see myself and all of us as citizens of the world instead of just citizens of the United States. I now understand more what the role of Christians should be in this world, as our loyalty lies not primarily to our country, but primarily to God. 

One of the highlights of this internship was meeting one of the residents at a training day. I was fascinated to learn that he spoke five languages. As a student of linguistics, I have to say I was a bit jealous!

Though I could not understand French, I was able to hear his story translated into English, and I was shocked to hear that upon arriving in America, he was detained arbitrarily for five months (read more about A.S.’s story here). Through hearing his story and seeing the way that Jonathan House’s staff welcomed him in, helping him with his asylum case and English-learning, I could tell that they were fulfilling God’s role for Christians in modern America.

During my time at IAFR Jonathan House, I’ve learned more about its mission to extend shelter, hope, and healing to asylum seekers in Minneapolis/St. Paul. This has informed my own views on an increasingly complex crisis. As a Christian, this semester has been a period of strengthening for my faith and figuring out how to integrate it into my daily life and actions. I now have a renewed perspective for what it means to follow God’s commands in our political climate. I will aspire to write with the same compassion and care that I’ve seen exemplified by the staff of Jonathan House.

As I close my internship, I’d like to share a verse that especially stuck out to me throughout my internship:

James 1:27 says, “Religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

I understand the need better now—the need to extend a welcoming hand to asylum seekers in the US, the need for a better system that doesn’t wait so long to grant people work permits and the need for a system that doesn’t detain people arbitrarily when they come over.

When the world falls into crisis, we have a choice. We can let ourselves be overwhelmed and crushed by the world’s chaos and panic, or we can remember Christ and know that, whatever may happen, He’s in control. We can remember God’s command to love one another, helping those in need.

** All photos and details used with the permission of the individual.

For A.G., IAFR Jonathan House has been more than a safe, stable place to stay while she rebuilds her life as an asylum seeker in the United States. It also provided a protective community when she became critically ill.

In February, A.G. started having sharp pains in her abdomen. One day she became very sick. Her housemate called their neighbor Lynn Thompson, a Jonathan House volunteer who the women know and trust.

Thompson took A.G. to a nearby Urgent Care, but when her symptoms became more serious, they decided to call an ambulance. An IAFR staff person met them in the hospital emergency room, to be present with A.G. while the doctors ran tests to identify the issue. “Everybody came together to save my life,” A.G. says.

Even beyond the physical cure, when facing illness in an unknown land far from family, community is healing. Asylum seekers often face social isolation and marginalization from basic need services like healthcare. Because of your support, Jonathan House residents like A.G. have access to community partners and resources that ensure they receive medical treatment and sustain good health.

IAFR staff and Thompson continued to visit A.G. during her hospitalization. A.G. asked staff to pray with her before she went in for procedures. She gets teary-eyed as she recalls it. “You were with me night and day,” she says. “You were such an encouragement to me; you helped me more than the doctor.”

A.G. gives thanks to God that she was able to receive the medical care she needed and return healthy to IAFR Jonathan House. She was recently granted asylum and is working toward finding independent housing. She hopes someday to be reunited with her family.

The current global pandemic clearly shows the tie between being able to “shelter in place” and safeguarding our health. But what if you have been forcibly displaced? What if you have no shelter? This is the reality for many asylum-seeking individuals in Minneapolis-St. Paul. The importance of housing and quick, easy access to healthcare becomes ever clearer, particularly for vulnerable populations such as asylum seekers. 

Because of supporters like you, asylum-seeking individuals can have their healthcare needs met in safe, stable shelter with supportive community. 

 “Jonathan House helped me a lot with my health when I was sick. They help fulfill all my needs. Even when I move to my own home, I want to stay connected with Jonathan House.”

In the meantime, A.G.’s place is woven into the fabric of IAFR Jonathan House. She is quick to laugh with her housemates, helps care for her roommate’s infant, and enjoys crocheting in her downtime. She recently completed a large colorful blanket crocheted from various sources of yarn, including some knitted clothes she unraveled and repurposed.

She wraps herself in the blanket like a hug. “It’s my ‘record’ of Jonathan House,” she says. “It is really a Jonathan House memory for me.”

** All photos and details used with the permission of the individual.

A.S. didn’t know what would happen when he reached the US to seek asylum. “I thought that they would receive me as a refugee,” he said, “but instead I found myself in prison.” 

A.S. was held in immigration detention for a total of five months. He would remain there unless he had someone willing to welcome him to a home outside his prison walls. But he didn’t know anyone in the U.S. – how was he going to find help?

“I didn’t know how to apply for asylum. After I passed the credible fear interview, the judge gave me the application form, but it was in English and I didn’t know how to fill it out. I was given a list of lawyers’ phone numbers, but you have to pay to use the phones in prison. I didn’t have any funds.”

“I thought too much about what happened back home,” he said. “I kept thinking, ‘Why did I suffer back in my country and come here seeking safety just to be put in prison?”

Thankfully, a group of pro bono immigration lawyers visited the prison one day, and two of them agreed to represent A.S. for his bond release. They then reached out to see if IAFR Jonathan House would sponsor A.S for release from detention.

“I will go on from Jonathan House to live my life. It’s my desire that many asylum seekers after me would be able to receive the same welcome and love that you have shown me.”

~ A.S., Jonathan House resident

Jonathan House believes that access to safe, stable Shelter is critical to survival and recovery from forced displacement. In particular, supporters like you allow Jonathan House to be a just alternative to immigration detention, so asylum-seeking individuals can live in supportive community, with access to the resources they need to win asylum, heal from trauma, and rebuild their lives.

Jonathan House gladly agreed to sponsor A.S. out of detention. A local African congregation alerted by the lawyers to A.S.’s situation then mobilized to pay his bond. Nonprofits and church all played a role to secure his freedom.

“Jonathan House is the best place for me,” A.S. said. “They help me at each moment. At Jonathan House I have a place to sleep, food, water, and electricity… Thanks to Jonathan House I’m connected to new lawyers for my asylum case, and to other organizations that give me support with medical care.” He also found a supportive faith community at the church that paid his bond.

A.S.’s dream is to be able to receive asylum so he can live in peace in the US “if God wills.” He hopes that other asylum seekers who remain in detention will also be able to win asylum and be released to freedom.

A.S. thanks Dr. Linus Chan and Maddie Sheehy of the UMN Detainee Rights Clinic for their work in securing his bond and connecting him to Jonathan House. He also expresses his gratitude for individuals like you who contribute to IAFR Jonathan House. 

“I will go on from Jonathan House to live my life,” he said. “It’s my desire that many asylum seekers after me would be able to receive the same welcome and love that you have shown me.”

*All photos by Grace Ogihara

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FRENCH VERSION:

“Que vous leur recevez avec le même accueil, le même amour que vous m’avez donné…”: Un Résident de Jonathan House Trouve L’Abri Après La Détention 

A.S. ne savais pas qu’est-ce qui se passerait quand il est arrivé aux États-Unis pour demander l’asile. “J’ai pensé qu’on me recevrait comme un refugié,” il a dit, “mais je me suis retrouvé en prison.”

A.S. était détenu pour cinq mois en totale. Il resterait là-bas s’il n’y avait personne dehors du prison qui pouvait l’accueillir. Mais il ne connaissait personne aux Etats-Unis – comment pouvait-il trouver quelqu’un pour lui aider?

“Je ne savais pas comment demander de l’asile. Après que le juge a reconnu que j’ai une crainte crédible, il m’a donné l’application, mais je ne savais pas comment le compléter. J’ai reçu aussi une liste des numéros pour les avocats, mais vous devez payer pour utiliser les téléphones en prison. Moi, je n’avais pas du crédit.”

“J’ai pensé trop en ce qui m’est passé dans mon pays,” il a dit. “J’ai pensé, ‘Pourquoi j’ai souffert dans mon pays et puis je suis ici seulement pour être en prison?’”

Grâce à Dieu, un jour un groupe des avocats gratuits est venu en prison. Deux avocats ont décidé de représenter a A.S. Ils ont contacté à IAFR Jonathan House pour voir si on peut recevoir à A.S. dès qu’il soit déchargé du prison.

À Jonathan House, on croit que c’est fundamental avoir un abri sauf pour pouvoir recouvrir du déplacement forcé. En particulier, les gens comme vous qui supportez la mission de Jonathan House offrez une alternative juste à la détention pour les immigrés. Les gens à Jonathan House qui demandent l’asile peuvent vivre dans une communauté de soutien avec accès aux ressources pour gagner l’asile, guérir du trauma, et se rétablir.

Jonathan House a dit avec joie qu’on pouvait accueillir à A.S. du prison. Les avocats a raconté l’histoire de A.S. à une église africain à St. Paul et l’église a mobilisé pour payer le lien. Des ONGs et l’église a travaillé ensemble pour libérer à A.S.

“Jonathan House est le meilleur endroit pour moi,” A.S. a dit. “Ils m’aident à chaque moment. À Jonathan House, je reçois un lieu pour dormir, de la nourriture, de l’eau, l’électricité … Jonathan House m’a connecté aux nouveau avocats pour mon case de l’asile et des autre organizations qui m’aident avec l’assurance médicale.” Il a aussi trouvé une communauté spirituelle à l’église qui a payé son lien.

A.S. rêve à recevoir l’asile donc il peut vivre à l’aise ici aux EEUU “si Dieu veut.” Il espère que les gens qui cherche l’asile qui restent en prison peuvent aussi gagner l’asile et être libérer. 

A.S. remercie beaucoup à ses avocats Dr. Linus Chan et Maddie Sheehy de UMN Detainee Rights Clinic pour leur travail en obtenir le lien et pour lui connecter à Jonathan House. Il remercie aussi aux individus comme vous qui contribue à Jonathan House.

“Un jour je quitterai à Jonathan House pour vivre ma vie,” il a dit. “Je désire que les gens qui viennent à Jonathan House après moi, que vous leur recevez avec le même accueil, le même amour que vous m’avez donné.”

*Photos par Grace Ogihara