A Vacation– It’s Not

What comes to mind when you imagine arriving at a hotel in a Southern California beach town?  A pool with sunbathers enjoying brightly-colored drinks under umbrellas?  Tourists in shorts and hats unloading piles of luggage?  A family heading out to enjoy the beach, loaded down with bags of chips and boogie-boards?

This month, the picture is very different:  This hotel, and several others in our area, are home to dozens of Afghan refugees.

Many of them arrived with no luggage, not to mention swimsuits or boogie-boards.  If parents were fortunate enough to have all their children together, that was enough!  We participated in an outreach event with some of our ministry partners and were glad to be able to offer a little bit of help and a few smiles to these people who have been through so much.

Since Afghanistan erupted in chaos last summer, thousands of Afghans have arrived in the US under a special humanitarian program.  Hundreds of those have landed here in our city, and with affordable housing in extremely short supply, hotels with “suites” are filling the gap.  I’m grateful that hotel managers and staff are willing to do their best to be welcoming to these newcomers, many of whom speak little or no English.

On the day of the outreach, our partners had coordinated with area church groups to bring volunteers and supplies.  There were tables with food, toiletries, and cleaning supplies.  A tent was set up with children’s clothing, and another one with toys.  I sat in the front, checking people in using a list supplied by the hotel, with a sweet Afghan teenager helping me as translator.  One thing we gave out that was especially appreciated was a roll of quarters per family—for laundry!  From an ice box, we handed out frozen chickens.

So many little things are needed when you’re starting from scratch in a new place!  Memories came to mind of our arrival in Africa for the first time…so much we didn’t know, so many questions we couldn’t even ask!  How do I do laundry?  Where do I get chicken?  And a pot to cook it in?

On that day, we only spent a few hours with the Afghan newcomers, but the supplies we handed out and the smiles we gave helped move them forward a little in their transition to life in the US.  Much more will be needed, over a long time.  My transition to life in Africa many years ago, and then the transition back to life in California, were made smoother by the kindness of strangers.  May that be their experience, too.


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