Finding a Common Thread
CRIS Health & Wellness Groups Connect and Empower
Juditte Cheka has spent over half of her life in perpetual transition. At 14 years old, she was forced to flee her home country of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She found herself in a refugee camp in Uganda. Like so many displaced people around the world, what was intended to be a temporary situation for Cheka turned into year after year of an uncertain future.
Living in this camp in her formative teen years, her educational opportunities were limited. However, she did gain some practical skills that have served her well ever since. She learned to sew, knit and crochet. She used these skills and her natural business savvy to earn income in multiple ways. Local schools hired her to make sweaters, using a knitting machine, for their pupils’ required uniforms. She also taught others in her community how to do similar work, charging them a small fee for sharing her expertise.
Cheka’s teen years progressed into her 20s while still living in the uncertainty of the Ugandan refugee camp. She continued to develop her practical, income-earning skills and became a mother. At the age of 28, after 14 years in the refugee camp, Cheka got the news that she would finally have a permanent home in the United States. She and her two young sons made the long journey around the world in the summer of 2022 and were resettled here in Columbus.
Though she no longer had to live in the seemingly unending limbo of the refugee camp, Cheka’s first months here in the U.S. were challenging. Limited English proficiency, lack of transportation, and health issues all contributed to a deep sense of overwhelm. And beneath all of these difficulties lay a foundation of loneliness. Cheka recalls, “I felt very alone, isolated in my new apartment. Life in Africa is community-oriented; here it is different.”
In the midst of these trying circumstances, Cheka was connected with the CRIS Health & Wellness Program. This program assists refugees who may be facing physical or mental health challenges in achieving self-sufficiency by addressing their identified areas of vulnerability. One of the ways the CRIS Health & Wellness team works toward this goal is through small groups such as sewing, knitting, crocheting, health and wellness, and pregnancy groups for expecting mothers. Groups are typically organized based on client interest and native language to foster the sense of community that is so critical to successful integration.
By September 2022, Cheka was regularly attending a CRIS sewing class with other Kiswahili and Kinyarwanda-speaking women. The language, the tools, and the environment of the sewing class were all new to her, but she found a sense of comfort in the familiarity of using skills she learned so many years ago. She also began to reclaim a sense of community through friendships with the other women in the class.
The comfort and community afforded Cheka by these small group experiences slowly began to forge newfound confidence within her. She quickly progressed in her English as a Second Language classes, learned to independently navigate public transportation, and garnered new sewing skills as quickly as CRIS volunteer Vivian could teach her. She has even become an indispensable tutor to other women in the sewing and knitting groups with less experience than her. From Vivian’s perspective as a volunteer sewing instructor with CRIS, she explains, “It is so rewarding to see the progress each woman makes in her journey through this class.” Melissa Miller, a seasoned registered nurse who now serves on the CRIS Health & Wellness staff, also experiences the joy of witnessing the transformative power of these small groups.
As a beautiful, full-circle life experience for Cheka, she will once again have the opportunity to earn income through her sewing skills. On Saturday, May 6th, she will be one of nearly a dozen international vendors selling handmade goods at Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church’s first-ever Culture and Artisan Fair. In partnership with CRIS and the Upper Arlington Community Relations Committee, St. Mark’s will host sounds, tastes, and sights from around the globe, including Eritrea, Ukraine, Peru, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Sudan, Bangladesh, Uganda, and Mexico. Make plans to join us at this vibrant event for a chance to meet Cheka and see her handiwork in person.
