An Appreciation of the Hankins Family – Three Time Hosts!
On October 14th, a potluck was held for the wonderful Hankins family. They have hosted three asylum seekers over the past three years in a roomy, light-filled apartment over their garage, with a private entrance. Their hosting includes lots of companionship, shared dinners, garden space, and strong relationships among each guest and all five members of the Hankins family.
On this Friday night, both the asylum seekers and the hosts reminisced about the highlights of their time together, while former team leaders looked on. For confidentiality’s sake, we will not list the asylum seeker names here, and we needed to remove one of their faces from the group photo for the same reason. We can share however, the power of some of their words, randomly caught on video.
Speaker 1, who arrived in time to quarantine for COVID, said to Anna Hankins: “And she speak a little bit of French…I spent a couple of weeks there in my apartment. I can’t be with you. It was hard, but it was a relief after trouble. Means you’re my family.”(“Forever, right?” responds Anna Hankins.)
Speaker 2 said this about his arrival and welcome by Dinah Yessne, his team leader: “I landed on this very small airport, smaller than an Airstream in (home country), and wondered where the hell I am going, saw trees, but instead of leaves, they had snow. My very first time of snow. I came to the lobby and met a lady with a big smile who said, S. you’re welcome”
Anna Hankins: “Jeremy and I don’t do anything. We see all the work of driving people and arranging. There’s a tremendous amount of behind the scenes work that allows us to do this because it is not like we could just say, you know, we’d kind of would like someone to stay in our apartment who needs it! So that’s what I see it as, that it’s a thank-you for all the work that everyone in here does that has allowed us to have this experience and to have all 3 of you with us.”
These are random words; many more were said… too many to capture on video clips. Hugs were exchanged. It is lucky indeed for these men, for CVRAN, and yes, for the Hankins too, that their home had this extra apartment and they were so generous to share the space and their hearts to these newcomers. We wish them well on their next adventures.