Stories
Farzana’s Story
In 2021, a young Paralympian, Afghan girl arrived alone in the U.S. without her family. Kabul had fallen to the Taliban. One year later this same girl sits confidently in front of an intimate crowd at a coffee shop and openly shares her experience – leaving the only home she knew and adjusting to a new life in a foreign country.
Read MoreHope in the Tension of Waiting
Dear Church Leaders, The peace of Christ to you! Advent is in full swing—and Christmas is around the corner. What feelings does this season stir in you and your congregation—excitement, sorrow, joy, stress? Rhythms change a bit this time of year, freeing many of us up to gather with loved ones. Personally, I am really…
Read MoreChristmas in a Myanmar Village
Christmas traditions vary across the globe. In Tanzania, families attend church, then come together over a meal of fufu, rice, and goat or cow. In Myanmar, Christmas is celebrated throughout December as a holy month. And in the U.S., sometimes we don’t get to celebrate as long as we’d like. Here, Hanna Niang shares her…
Read MoreRefugee Employees Celebrate 10 Years at XPAC
“Where am I going to find work?” is a question that weighs heavy in the minds of refugee arrivals. Over the last 10 years, XPAC has led hundreds to gain peace of mind and self-sufficiency through employment. The decision to become an employment partner with World Relief Quad Cities came in 2011. “The relationship…
Read MoreWelcoming the Stranger by Opening their Home and Their Hearts: Q&A with Tim and Gretchen Foley
By Nathan Spencer // How we answer God’s command to welcome the stranger varies from person to person. For Tim and Gretchen Foley, it meant opening the doors of their home on a literal and spiritual level. Tim, who has traveled extensively in the past, said the experience of being welcomed into another’s home left…
Read MoreWorth the Wait: Newlywed Refugees Love Remains
For seven years, Congolese refugees (and newlyweds!), Mbimbi and Goreth, didn’t know if they would ever see each other again. Separated by continents, Mbimbi was stuck in Burundi while Goreth resettled and began her new life in America. In spite of the long wait, the two of them never lost hope, their love growing by…
Read MoreHonoring our Immigrant Neighbors
For the Lord’s sake be subject to every human authority, whether to the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing right you should silence the ignorance of the foolish. As servants…
Read MoreImage Before Immigrant
Earlier this year, for the first time on record, the number of forcibly displaced people in the world hit 100 million. What that means is that one in every 78 people on Earth is displaced from their home as a result of war, violence, famine, and human rights violations each day. We’ve welcomed over 3,500…
Read MoreWelcoming in Muscatine: Pascal
WRQC has partnered with Muscatine to assist with Ukrainian refugees and launch its first pilot office. For Pascal, this opens a world of opportunities. Work that Hits Home Pascal Ramadhani is Congolese, but has never lived in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He was born in Tanzania. His family fled the war in Congo a…
Read MoreWelcoming in Muscatine: Ketsia
WRQC partnered with Muscatine to assist with Ukrainian refugees and launch its first pilot office – it also become a place of refuge for Ketsia. Time Running Out On August 25th, Ric Smith received a phone call from Laura Fontaine, WRQC Executive Director. One of Fontaine’s former interns, Ketsia Faraja, desperately needed a place to live. A…
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