Bridge to Self Reliance 2000 refugees San Diego CA

Last month, two refugee families each asked for beds.  They did not know each other, for each had lived in a different area of San Diego County for the past five or six years.

Among those refugees who have lived in camps for many years before being brought to the United States, sleeping in a bed is often seen more as a danger than as a necessity,or a luxury; and sheets are not envisaged as a normal additions to a blanket on a bare mattress on the floor.  For these refugees, sheets and pillow cases are among the first new items that become "normal", but they also present difficulties, because they cannot be washed and dried conveniently, indoors. There are rules at almost all apartment complexes that washing cannot be dried outside. Most low-income apartment buildings do not have laundry facilities, and even those that do, have machines that eat large numbers of quarters before sheets can return to the bed.

We also discovered that since a white sheet for covering a dead body IS something familiar for them, some of the refugees ask for colored sheets only, to sleep between.

So when a family that has been here for five or six years asks for beds, that is a reason to rejoice and to scurry round and find them.  Their request represents a resurgence of hope - a recognition that by working more than one job, or having several members holding jobs, a family does have the means to become self-sufficient. With a down payment saved, they can move into a larger apartment, where there is room for beds.  Then they can see themselves as capable of saving for items that will make their life more comfortable, and a future where each family member can be successful. Beds, a more comfortable couch, perhaps matching sheets and pillow cases - these are small signs that these families have truly begun the climb upwards towards self-sufficiency.

Your interest in the work of the Episcopal Refugee Network, and your donations, have made it possible for our staff to be there for these families, to recognize and nurture these early steps. With your help, every family that is able to see itself as beginning to succeed becomes a beacon to many other families.  Two families asked for beds in September. Can we make that 6 families in October?