You know those WWJD bracelets...

Before the boys came along and soon after we moved to Texas, we volunteered with IRC to help a refugee family from Afghanistan settle in the Dallas area. This family - a mom, dad, and two sons - came here with virtually nothing although they had been successful business owners before they had to leave everything behind. I often hear people complain about how much it costs us "to support these people" and how "they put a strain on our resources" and even comments related to handouts. What I will say is that the people that come here get very conservative financial help and are also given very short turnaround times to repay that money - yes, you read that right... they have to repay the money.
I will say that during every meal or visit we shared with this family, their questions were primarily geared towards how much certain things cost here so they could start planning a timeline for getting a business off the ground here - so they did not have to rely on anyone else to support them. So they could repay what they owed as quickly as possible. So they could regain some semblance of the life they once knew.
This picture that people have somehow developed in their minds of what a refugee family looks like is not the picture that Jose and I have in our minds. It's actually of a family not so unlike ours, circumstances that could have been ours had we just happened to have been born somewhere else, and the very human need and desire for love, safety, and community. The need to protect our children and give them the best life we can... including saving their lives.
For people who have always wanted to contribute in some way with your time but haven't known where to go,  this is a great organization. My hope is that when the boys are older and our crazy schedule is more manageable that we will once again be able to volunteer with the IRC. And I really hope this organization is still working in the US and that we have not lost our ability to empathize and show compassion and have closed the doors on people who need us, because I worry we are becoming a society of indifferent individuals... putting on blinders while ironically wearing our WWJD bracelets.