The Road Less Traveled

There are approximately 16 million refugees on planet Earth today.  (There are an additional 26 million persons who are internally displaced, meaning they have not crossed a national border but are in hiding within their own country.) Approximately 77,000 refugees will be resettled in the United States this year, and approximately 450 of these persons will be resettled by World Relief Nashville this Fiscal Year. 

Last week, I greeted a family upon their arrival to America . This family escaped from Bhutan crossing over the border into Nepal to a refugee camp over twenty years ago.  They lived in the camp in Nepal in huts made of bamboo for eighteen years, which is approximately the average length of stay in a refugee camp.

Eventually, after years of waiting, after having their stories verified, their credentials checked and their health and employment status deemed acceptable, they boarded a plane in Katmandu bound for Delhi.  In Delhi, they had a 9 hour layover in a very crowded and chaotic airport.  From Delhi, they flew to Brussels where they changed planes again for their flight to New York. In New York, they changed planes for the 4^th time and flew to Chicago.  In Chicago, they boarded their final plane for Nashville.  When they arrived here, they were joyful and elated but exhausted, overwhelmed and hungry. Yet, even as their journey out of Nepal was ending, they would soon begin again a new journey, orientation and adjustment to life in the United States.

--Caren Teichmann

Caren is a student at Vanderbilt University Divinity School currently interning with World Relief Nashville for the 2011-2012 academic year.

The Church Next Door

The apartment across the hall had about 50 pairs of shoes outside the door.  I asked a gentleman who was standing nearby how many people lived there.  He shook his head and said, "No, only one family. These (pointing at the shoes) are here for devotion."

He opened the door and I looked inside to see an apartment full of Bhutanese refugees praying.  He invited me in and I sat down in an open chair by the door. After the prayer, the man beside me began playing the guitar and everyone started singing in Nepalese and clapping and smiling. 

More and more people came into the apartment and miraculously an opening on the floor, or on the sofa, or on the table or even under the table would appear and the newcomer would sit down and begin to sing and clap.  Not one person walked past me without extending their hand and smiling warmly.  The second song they sang (I recognized the melody) was "Seek Ye First." I sang along in English because no one could hear me anyway,

Seek ye first the kingdom of God
And His righteousness
And all these things shall be added unto you
Allelu, alleluia

Ask and it shall be given unto you
Seek and ye shall find
Knock and the door shall be opened unto you
Allelu, alleluia

They really sang out on the Alleluias. I was overcome with emotion and started to cry. I was so embarrassed but they just kept smiling and nodding their heads in agreement, or sympathy, or solidarity with me. I felt like they understood my tears. Then suddenly, this hits me, it was almost like I heard a voice, my own voice, say, "Oh, this is what church is."

--Caren Teichmann

Caren is a student at Vanderbilt University Divinity School currently interning with World Relief Nashville for the 2011-2012 academic year.