Posts Tagged ‘Chicagoland’
Why We Welcome: The Joy We See
Please hear from Sarah Adnan, World Relief Chicagoland Staff Member I am Sarah Adnan and I work in a program that works with Afghan women that provides them extended cultural orientation classes teaching them many different topics like digital literacy, pharmaceutical care, laws in the U.S., and schooling options. Some of these women have never…
Read MoreWhy We Welcome: The Hope We Have
Piece written by Joseph Mosse, Ukrainian Support Case Specialist Procrastination is a dangerous thing. All the way back in August, I was asked if I could write a piece for a newsletter coming out in December about hope. The specific wording of the prompt was to write about “the hope that I have.” But I…
Read MoreWhy We Welcome: The Prayers We Pray
Written by Isoken Aiwerioba, Director of Operations for World Relief Chicagoland Suffer not the little children – a former colleague once told me how he had spent over 19 years in a refugee camp from when he was very young. He said though he spoke the language of his host country, he always felt like…
Read MoreWhy We Welcome: The Gift of Giving
By Cory Whitehead Ten years ago, I intentionally moved into a neighborhood where I was – and am – the “other.” Very few people look like me or have a white-collar career like me. Yet, I feel at home here. On my daily walk, my neighbors remind me of their own giving spirit, as simple…
Read MoreLife-on-Life: Why Being a Friendship Partner Matters
Please meet Rick Hayden, who volunteers with World Relief Chicagoland as a Friendship Partner. Friendship Partners make a 6-month commitment to provide practical and relational assistance to newly arrived immigrants or refugees. The volunteer visits approximately once a week to help practice language, understand culture, navigate services, and most importantly, to be a friend. Here…
Read MoreA Mother’s Journey to Self-Sufficiency
Please hear from Emily O’Connor, Intensive Case Specialist in our DuPage Office: I met Usman Ghareeb and his mother, Madina, in February 2022. They had just arrived in the U.S. a couple of months before in the wake of the crisis in Afghanistan. Usman was born with what was later confirmed to be cerebral palsy…
Read MoreFalling Into God’s Plan
An Interview with an English Language Volunteer Below is an interview with Barb Olker, a long-time volunteer with our English Language Learning program. How long have you been volunteering with World Relief Chicagoland, and specifically with English Language Learning classes? My husband and I have been doing this since the 90’s. It’s been a long…
Read MoreHow to Love Sacrificially
Greetings! Recently some members of my church reminded me what it means to love sacrificially. One of them would travel 90 minutes one-way to the church every week. When I asked why she didn’t find a church closer to home, she responded “I know I need to love God by loving this church and the people in it.…
Read MoreA Syrian’s Journey
Humanitarian crises can be triggered by any number of causes: violent conflicts, natural disasters, famine, or epidemics. But some humanitarian crises have their roots in the loss of civil freedom where citizens can’t speak openly about political and economic issues for fear of retribution. We often partner with Syrian refugees and asylum seekers who want…
Read MoreWorld Relief Praises the Re-Introduction of the Bipartisan Afghan Adjustment Act and Urges Swift Passage
July 14, 2023 CONTACT:Pinkston Teamwr@pinkston.co BALTIMORE, MD — Today, World Relief praises the bipartisan re-introduction of an Afghan Adjustment Act in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives and urges swift Congressional passage of the bill. This important bill acknowledges the plight of Afghan nationals who faced an urgent threat of persecution…
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