Tag: Interns

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Mutual care

Folding sambusas

I fold the pastry diagonally, exactly like Alamnseh showed me, and yet somehow my sambusa does not turn out like hers. I watch as she quickly and expertly tucks the dough into neat corners, passing it between her hands like pastry origami. I set my sad sambusa in the pan, and rest my sticky hands on the garbage-bag-apron. Meanwhile Alamnseh has finished two more perfectly shaped sambusas and is pinching the corners on a third. She catches me observing and laughs. 

Most of my time with Alamnseh is spent driving to grocery stores, banks, and doctor appointments. She is patient with me when I make wrong turns–like the time I asked her if we could eat sambusas together, forgetting that it was Ramadan and she would be fasting until sunset. The next week, we still made sambusas, and she sent me home with a Ziploc bag to share with my roommates.

Mutual transformation is one of our core values here at Jonathan House. It means that we give and receive in our cross-cultural relationships. Mutual transformation can be the simple act of learning how to fold sambusas or it can involve a moment of vulnerability met with understanding and acceptance.

Sharing scars

John started volunteering at Jonathan House this January when he was still recovering from a full knee replacement surgery. As he started his new routine of meeting with residents, it took a little extra time to transition between sitting and standing. One afternoon, as he was meeting with Salana, John started the process of standing up, bracing a hand on the couch for support. Salana noticed his struggle and offered a hand. Taking Salana’s hands, John stood up quickly and started to explain why he needed the extra assistance. But he realized that with the language barrier, words were probably not the best way to communicate.

John pulled up his pant leg to show Salana his scar. Salana stepped back and smiled. He understood. Without hesitation, he pulled up his own sleeve to show John the myriad of scars on his arm.

“It was in that moment that two persons, initially strangers, connected as two human beings and opened the door to friendship and mutual care for each other.”

In our short time at Jonathan House, John and I have both been recipients of an abundance of patience and help. Alamnseh holds my hands as we wrap and fold pastry, and I hold hers as we navigate a busy parking lot. Salana offers his hands to help John stand up, and John helps Salana find his footing in a new country.

Mutual care.

I fold the pastry diagonally, exactly like Alamnseh showed me. I am on my fourth or fifth sambusa and getting better. Confidently, I reach for the pot of meat and onion only to realize that my cone-shaped pastry has fallen apart. Alamnseh giggles and hands me another triangle of dough.

She lets me try again, and I let her teach me.

World Refugee Month June 2024

Join us on the front lines of hope

Organize a Jonathan House presentation at your church for World Refugee Month!

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Lasting Impact: An IAFR Jonathan House Intern Reflection

lasting impact
Jaydon Crim (on the right) is an Intercultural Studies major at North Central University. Photo taken at Jonathan House with fellow IAFR MSP interns, Haley Merck and Elli Halloran (Summer 2021).

I have long been interested in cross-cultural ministry work with refugees and displaced peoples. For years, though, I naively assumed that I would have to work internationally in order to engage this kind of ministry. Additionally, before this summer, I had little knowledge about the asylum system in the U.S.A. I had never knowingly interacted with an asylum seeker.

Understanding through Relationship

My internship with IAFR Jonathan House allowed me to engage firsthand my passion for cross-cultural work with displaced peoples – here in the United States. It taught me a lot about the asylum process. I also saw what it looks like to effectively support, advocate for, and love my neighbors who are seeking asylum. 

It meant so much to get to know residents at Jonathan House. Throughout my two months of relationship and community-building, I had the privilege of walking alongside individuals through moments of joyous singing, dancing and laughter. I also found myself present for moments of deep sorrow, anger, and confusion. These various shared experiences aided in establishing strong friendships. Sharing in life together also increased my awareness of the realities and adversities faced by people who have fled to the United States in hopes of finding refuge from persecution. Such experiences have helped me to grow in my empathy for and understanding of those around me. 

A Community of Care

It was an honor to work alongside the IAFR Jonathan House team, too. Every single staff member and volunteer care so deeply for those they serve and for one another. Though I’m still an undergraduate and don’t have much ministry experience, the team treated me with respect and welcomed me as one of their own. They offered me fulfilling responsibilities and ample opportunities to use my voice and add my own feedback in team meetings. The team was a supportive community of coworkers and also friends. They’d frequently go out of their way to help each other when a need arose.

Interning at IAFR Jonathan House has been one of the most influential experiences of my life. I’m grateful for the things I learned and the people I met (relationships I continue to build!). I firmly believe that God used my time at Jonathan House to guide me towards my future, to further shape me, and grow my ability to love others like Christ.

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Welcomed by Asylum Seekers: An IAFR Jonathan House Intern Reflection

IAFR summer intern Elli Halloran recently graduated from Wheaton College with a master’s in Humanitarian and Disaster Leadership.

My name is Elli Halloran. I graduated this spring with a master’s degree in Humanitarian and Disaster Leadership from Wheaton College (IL). This summer I had the wonderful privilege to continue the learning and growth from my studies by interning with IAFR Jonathan House. My role included working on administrative projects and helping develop an effective structure for program monitoring and evaluation. Primarily, I spent time with asylum-seeking residents, sharing life and learning so much from them and the Jonathan House staff.

Incarnational Community

This internship has taught me what incarnational Christian community looks like. Jesus embodied his love and compassion for his people through relationship and his physical presence on earth. Rather than communicate his love through words, God demonstrated his love through action and the sacrifice of his only son.

The people that make up the mission and lived-out work of Jonathan House evidence this same love and compassion. Jonathan House staff demonstrated incarnational presence to me in the ways their faith transcends words. It manifests so powerfully through the sacrifice of their comfort, time, and space for the wellbeing of asylum seekers. Their desire to be in relationship with the residents they serve in order to provide a safe, welcoming, and dignifying home for asylum seekers beautifully represents how God’s family and presence transcend circumstance, borders, culture, and language.

Open Hands of Welcome 

The residents at Jonathan House have also exemplified incarnational presence to me this summer. They extend their love and care through time, generosity, and hospitality, even in a place so far away from home. Asylum seekers in the United States are met with unjust systems rather than open hands of welcome. Yet the ease and joy in which residents invited me into their space showed me what welcome and sacrificial love look like regardless of circumstance. They shared food, faith and stories with me and treated me as family. The Jonathan House residents contribute powerfully to the image of incarnational presence so evident within this family.

Interning at Jonathan House this summer has taught me that practical presence and relationships are core to God’s heart and manifestations of his love. I’m grateful for how this community taught me to reflect God’s character and live out my faith to better love, serve, and welcome others.