A Day in the Life of a CRIS Intern: Opening our Doors

Today, we drove a van stuffed with clothes donations to an apartment complex where many newly-arrived refugee families live.  We parked in the center of the parking lot, unloaded all the bags, and watched as Somali families - most with many children - appeared out of nowhere.  They came and went through all the bags, tried things on, smiling and laughing as they searched for the right sizes,.  It was a beautiful, joyous chaos.  One father had his four year old son try on some nice button-up shirts.  “YEAH!” he would say as his little boy transformed into a GQ model.  He is a father of nine, and was so grateful, as the family does not have much.  He thanked me, and jokingly offered me one of his kids in return for the clothes.On our way out, an Eritrean woman wrapped in colorful cloth, with a gentle face worn by the sun and etched with wisdom and life, came outside and began speaking to us in Italian!  She spent two years in Italy before coming to the US.  My co-intern Rachel attempted to communicate in Spanish.  Next thing I knew, Rachel was inside her apartment, and I was being ushered in too, by the woman’s 28 year old daughter who speaks some English.  They placed a piping hot plate of Injera  (a crepe-like flat bread) and a red, tomato-ey dipping sauce in front of us, then offered us coffee.  The mother brewed coffee in a metal flask on the stove, plugged it with a piece of sponge to filter it, and, after scooping two giant spoonfuls of sugar into our little cups, poured us the most delicious coffee I’ve had since traveling in Italy!  We drank it on a beautiful little wooden table, carved by her son back in Eritrea.   Before we left, we helped the daughter understand and explain to an elderly neighbor the instructions for a hair-dying kit.I was so touched by the hospitality and generosity of this family.  Though they have few possessions, they shared so many gifts with us: the gift of their food, their culture, their home, their kindness.  All this offered with joy to two strangers!  I thought, “What if we all opened our doors to each other?  What if we shared our food, our possessions, our homes, our cultures with open hands?“ This Eritrean mother and daughter were an incredible witness to me that we all belong to each other, we are one human family.  It is such a blessing to work with an organization like CRIS, to spend my days discovering the richness of the refugee population in Columbus!  Each day gifts me with a new neighbor, a new friend, a deeper understanding of the experience of the poor and vulnerable, and a stronger sense of my identity and responsibility as a member of a global community.Kaitlyn Kiger, CRIS Summer Intern 2010