Letter from the CVRAN President: Independence Day
July 4, 2022
Dear CVRAN Community,
Today our nation celebrates its national independence, self-determination, and the chance to make choices with fireworks, parades, and speeches.
What better day to think of those immigrating to our shores who also want freedom and self-determination, but most of all want a life free of fear. No-one chooses to leave home and country on a whim. Asylum-seekers are only allowed to stay here if they have been persecuted; refugees are fleeing country-wide tragedy. Their journeys here are fraught with trauma. The purpose of our Central Vermont Refugee Action Network is to welcome them in to Central Vermont, to a new beginning. What bravery it takes to arrive in a new country, not knowing the language or the culture, not knowing how to support oneself and one’s family, or even whether the US immigration will allow them to stay long term. Yesterday I heard a quote from a Warsaw ghetto defender, “the opposite of despair is not hope but struggle” (Anielewicz)
How do we make ourselves a welcoming community for others? We move from thinking about the world crises in the abstract to working with individuals we meet. We hold a toddler in our laps, communicate in broken phrases and gestures as we walk down the sidewalk to a coffee shop, or drive another to the mosque for Friday prayers. We may be talking to people who walked three months to get here, through the jungles of the Darien Gap, or spent many months in a detention center after having been apprehended at the Mexican border. Now they are no longer paragraphs in the news, but people who are becoming our friends, with whom we might share shy smiles or a handshake. We might pass along a children’s toy, dust off our rusty language skills, take someone out for driving practice, or paint some walls of a new living space. We learn more about being a Muslim, world geography, or the savory smell of a special South American dish on the stove. We learn more about navigating the many helping agencies in our community. We work to build bridges, even in times of uncertainty.
What do we need? We sometimes need goods, and you are very generous when the call goes out for a bicycle. We sometimes need money, and we have received many donations, small and large. But what do we need the very most? We need people who will pitch in, people who will help a little or a lot, as much as they are able. If you become involved, your friends or family may also take an interest. Wendy Dale became involved with the Afghan families, and then her husband Steve Dale joined in. Then a person Steve Dale used to work with joined in. In another instance, Shaun Stephens and his family hosted 2 asylum seekers in their home, and when Shaun and I spoke to his church congregation about CVRAN, others expressed an interest. Here’s one comment:
I commend your organization’s, well, organization. You manage so many vital needs from the urgent to day-to-day. It’s a very big accomplishment…. I feel like we have so much to learn about coming together in a just, healthy community. You motivated me to think about what and when I can volunteer. I’m sure other people who heard you are thinking about that too.
Spread the word!